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Getting paid for Late submitted invoices

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7 years 4 months ago #1997 by mariumzain
Hi,

I have been doing some steady work for a consultancy who is usually been good about payments of invoices. I usually would submit invoice every 2 months for 8 weeks worth of work until Oct last year (2015). For work done between Nov & De 2015 I submitted invoice in July 2016, which got paid, then Jan- Feb 2016 in Sept 2016 which also got paid but now when I submitted invoices from Mar - Oct 2016 (broken down into 5 separate invoices) they cleared the one of them and are asking for following:

Option 1: Balance will be cleared in one single payment if I provide 35% discount on remaining amount of £4000
Option 2: Balance will be cleared in two monthly payments if I provide 15% discount on £4000 balance

Although I am OK to arrange a payment plan but, I don't want to give any discount because I provided my services at discounted rate and spent more time on project that I have invoiced, both of these are in knowledge of the consultancy.

1. What I want to know is if there is a law / clause about how late can one invoice a company for their services?
2. My usual payment terms are, full payment within 7 days of invoice.
3. There was no signed contract between me & the consultancy (but their website includes me on their panel of experts and all communication of project has been done through the company email account).. How does this effect me and when there is no signed contract what terms to our arrangement?
4. I know for sure that the consultancy has already billed their clients (3 x my invoice amount) and have also been paid in full now.

Really appreciate you can help me understand this situation.

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7 years 4 months ago #1998 by j.salmon@cpa.co.uk
Hi,

If your terms are seven days then those are the terms. They can't impose on you their own terms after the event.

However if there was no signed contract then the law assumes payment is due 30 days from the date they receive the invoice.

From the sound of it they have accepted your work and they agree the invoices are correct. They therefore cannot demand a discount or a delay in payment. You may choose to accept installments or you can simply demand they pay up now.

It is a commercial decision but you are within your rights to turn around and say that you are not prepared to offer a discount and o ask that they pay your invoices within 30 days of receipt.

if you want any assistance with collection, please feel free to email me and we would be able to act on your behalf.

James
CPA

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7 years 4 months ago #1999 by mariumzain
Thank you for getting back to me.

I have chased them again and its already been 30 days since the company acknowledged the receipt of these invoices. If they don't reply within this week should I :

-contact you for collection or
- Send letter warning to add statutory interest or
- Go through the gov gateway route?

M

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7 years 4 months ago - 7 years 4 months ago #2000 by j.salmon@cpa.co.uk
Hi,

Once you have you rejected their request and told them that you require payment in full, if they fail to respond then you could communicate again to say that you are now adding interest and late payment compensation. You could also add that if payment is not received within a set period then you will be passing this matter to either us or the courts as you choose. Point out that any additional costs of collection you have to incur will be added to the claim.

That choice is down to you, how you proceed. Obviously we would love your business. If you pass it us then we will add our fee and any other costs to the claim which will be payable by your debtor. We will also be available to you to provide professional guidance and support. However you could certainly go the government gateway route or choose another collector or firm of solicitors to act on your behalf.

James

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7 years 4 months ago - 7 years 4 months ago #2001 by mariumzain
Thank you so much. I'll keep you posted on how it goes and seek your help if it comes to it.

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7 years 4 months ago #2002 by j.salmon@cpa.co.uk
You are welcome.

I look forward to your update and hope you are able to resolve this satisfactorily.

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