Recently been bouncing emails back and forth to the accounts department of a company that I do work for, trying to get payment for the last jobs I did for them. Finally, after all the usual excuses of illness / new accounts system / company been bought out and so on, The erk who deals with my account sent a remittance advice, and the money was BACs'd into my account.
So being the nice forgiving guy that I am, I sent another mail thanking him for his efforts. A reply has just come back ...
My spelling is reasonable but I would not consider myself good but I can tell when a word does not look right so will look it up in the dictionary, use a spell checker but I don't take it as gospel (bit like a SatNav) Maybe that is the problem nowadays, too much spoon feeding and not enough thinking for oneself. As for Accountants aren't they all trained to withhold payment for at least 60 days, at least the ones I deal with are, plays havoc with the cash flow.
Over the years, this particular company has changed hands probably four times, and each time I am back to square one 'educating' another new erk as to how they are going to pay me. Recently, they hadn't been too bad, but then they changed hands again, and I got another new 'account manager' who hadn't started to shave yet ...
I told him that my terms were 30 days net, and that by putting that on their purchase order, they were agreeing to those terms. So he tells me that purchase orders have got nothing to do with him ! I tell him that I don't care who they've got to do with, and it doesn't matter who's responsible for what in which department. It's all the same company, and by putting my payment terms on the purchase order, they are agreeing to them.
So he then tells me that 30 days net means that they will pay the invoice 30 days after the end of the month in which the invoicing period falls, so I suggest that he goes and looks the term up, and advises his accounts boss that he is labouring under a misconception. His final shot is that my terms don't matter. Theirs are 60 days no matter what, to which I politely respond that again, he is wrong. I tell him that they are *my* customer, not the other way round, so they need to abide by my terms, or there will be a parting of the ways. That got the desired result, and I should now be back to where I was previously. I guess we'll see when the next invoice goes in.
I've found over the years that it doesn't do to just roll over with these accounts departments, and accept what they say. I suppose it requires having a degree of bravado (stupidity ?) to stand your ground and risk upsetting the company and losing their business, but in general, I've found if you apply this policy with enough force, persistence and politeness, it's more often they who eventually roll over. And if the worst comes to the worst, you can always inform them that a stop has been placed on their account and that no additional work will be accepted, until all outstanding invoices are paid. Further, all work on any items of theirs already in the system, will also be suspended. They don't know in accounts whether you currently have any work of theirs 'in the system', and would prefer not to bring the wrath of an engineering manager down on their heads because he has not received some item back from repair, that he's waiting on. Usually does the trick ... ! :-)
Same here, though I do have some black spots. That I'm slowly working through as I become aware of them (to - too, were - where, loose - lose, etc)
Quite possibly, miss spoll a word, the chucker highlights it and offers the "correct" word which the user blindly accepts.
Are these regular clients that you don't want to annoy or one offs? Wave the "Late Payment of Commercial Debt Act" under their noses. For small debits the defaults are payment within 30 days or a =A340 surcharge plus interest calculated daily at 8% above the "Reference Rate" (BoE rate on the 1st July or 1st Jan IIRC)
I don't 'do' monthly accounts at all. For large companies I will allow them a few days to get the cheque signed or send the invoice to another office, but never, ever longer than a week.
I explain this very clearly before I accept any job from a company & turn down the work if they can't comply. I've lost maybe 1 or 2 jobs over this, but I've seen what bad cash flow does to small business's.
If I work for a landlord who rents out a local property, but lives elsewhere, I e-mail the invoice same day on the understanding that a cheque is sent by return post.
Only had one problem. Bloke kept me waiting for 10 days for a replacement fence panel job. I threatened to go round & remove my panels, got the cash delivered next day. If he asks for any more work he will have to give me money up front.
There used to be a builder that I did work for who was a bastard when it came to paying me.
Eventually I wanted nothing more to do with him so on the last job I did for him I got his customer to pay me directly and knock it off the builders bill. He called me for several weeks after this promising that things would be different from now on. I never worked for him again. The last time I saw him was on Rouge Traders or something similar (the one with Melinda presenting it).
All very well if you can afford to turn down work, unfortunately I am in the position where work has been scarce since the recession kicked in. A couple of my clients who provide me with regular work tend to pay quite quickly but they are friends who subcontract me, they pay within
30 days even if they have not been paid themselves. Other companies I deal direct with are very much slower, these tend to be the larger organisations who call on my services once in a while, the only leverage I have is when they need help & I point out that they have still not paid me for the last job to the engineer who calls me, this normal resolves the problem. It is the Accountants which drag their heels, I had experience of this at the last full time employment company I worked for, I used small companies for specialised equipment to get the best deal but they often phoned to say they had not been paid. I regularly had arguments with the chief accountant to pay the bills but it did cost me my job in the end as they are the ones that work out the finances when cost cutting & redundancy comes around
Thats the problem with late payment, it spreads down the chain. Its very good of your friends to pay you when they haven't been paid, but why should they have to?
I tell people I have a deal with my bank manager - he won't fit shelves, I won't lend people money.
The squeaky hinge gets the oil.
About 4 years ago I had a woman who was deliberately hanging on to payment. She stopped answering my calls after a while, so I sent her a txt message every hour 9am to 10pm. She lasted 2 days before she gave in & paid in cash.
Last month I spent an awful journey with a removal van as they followed the Gospel according to SatNav and drove from Whitby to mid-Aberdeenshire via A1, A68, A66, A74, M74, M80, A80, M9, A9, A90 into Aberdeen, out the other side towards Inverness... I kept telling them: A1, M90, A93, but no, the SatNav knows best.
I would have reported you for making harassing calls. You wouldn't be on the recommended list if the council knew you conduct business in an illegal manner. You shouldn't post such claims in public when so many people hate you either.
A good SatNav can be a boon in an unfamiliar area, particularly if you are without a navigator, but that route seems particularly stupid. Even my ancient AA Milemaster sees a 40 minute advantage in the eastern route. So what brand of SatNav was it?
I used to use a Garmin which drove me mad by forever opting for single track short cuts on the mistaken impression that you can drive down a single track road at at least twice the safe average speed. Swapping to a TopmTom has given routes I am much happier with and ETAs that are beatable in good conditions unlike the Garmin which even on major roads seemed aimed at the faster than average driver.
I removed the wheel nuts from the car of a non payer. I could not be arsed to take him to court. Unfortunately I was not there to see him set off for work in the morning:-(
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