Not been paid - help!

So the customer was trying to assist by doing a faster payment after their digit switch error but your bank won’t accept it?
It doesn’t sound like your bank is great tbh, making you switch accounts then not accepting a standard form of payment.
I’d email customer and explain and politely ask if payment could be made again.

It will likely be in a suspense account in one of the banks which will have to be processed manually, hence taking more time.

However, communication between your direct contact and their admin/finance departments is worth flagging up. We have had similar with a particular academic institution beloved of Mumsnet, which is appalling at paying people. DH does some guest lecturing for them on a niche subject each year, but last year refused to do it as previous payments took several months to come through. This was passed up the academic food-chain and pressure brought to bear on the admin/finance teams, so when he finally agreed, payment was made within a couple of days of the lectures taking place.

I agree

I’d expect your clients system to reflect the date the payment was processed. It then likely went into a payment run to be made.

There are then multiple reasons why it’s not actually been paid. It could be sitting unreconciled somewhere waiting to ve allocated back to your account to show it’s not been paid.

it’s definitely your clients responsibility to find the payment though.

What did bank say when you spoke to them?

If the client has sent you proof of payment , with all correct details on it , the bank is now who needs to look into this for you and follow up where the payment is sitting .

@Aprilx & @Dixiechickonhols I suggested a letter/email giving a date by which payment should be made. Perfectly reasonable action given that the payment is overdue.

I then said if no payment received by the future date a letter before action. By that stage there could be no doubt if they were honestly resolving a mistake or not paying.

On 28/11/23 the wrong sort code was used but it’s 3 days to do a BACS payment. If this was done on 18/12/23 then payment should have been received by 22/12/23.

Yes it is late, but isn't that due to the OP changing her bank account details? If they've been good clients for 4 years I'd definitely give them the benefit of the doubt! Follow up with your bank and find out what's going on. If I was the client and had paid, I'd be very annoyed if I kept getting hassled!

If Op goes in all guns blazing when the company have already paid her twice easy solution is to find another supplier.
One glitch caused by Op changing her bank in 4 years doesn’t make them a bad client. Presumably Op isn’t overrun with clients if payment from them not arriving on time is causing major stress.

I don’t think you are in letter before action territory here.
They have been a customer for 4 years and presumably paid on time or you wouldn’t have continued to work for them. You switched accounts. They pay but due to an error (easily done) switch a digit and you don’t receive money. You tell them they pay again and send you proof.
You need to look into it with your bank.
If there’s an issue at customer’s end I’d speak to customer when they reopen after Xmas.

I am well aware of the original payment date, but I have read the OP in full and there was an error with the sort code. Of course errors are not good, but mistakes can happen sometimes and it is not worth blowing up a four year business relationship for. It is an explainable delay, the company have not refused to pay. So the priority should be on tracking the payment that was initiated on the 18th December and letters before action are not going to help with that. It would be useful if OP could confirm what the screenshot was of.

What have they actually sent you a screenshot of? Is it their online banking, or their purchase ledger system?

Waiting since the 28 November to be paid is ridiculous

The payment is barely a day later than expected anyway considering the holidays

It's a month late. OP said due 28 November, not December.

I cannot see any evidence that OP is being fobbed off. The payment is barely a day later than expected anyway considering the holidays and the bank have said they are looking into it. It is premature to be even thinking about letter before action, the initial payment didn't go through because of an error, these things happen. Threatening a client with legal action because a payment may have gone astray is excessive. If a payment has bounced for whatever reason, it could still take a couple of days to reappear.

Money will not have vanished. It’ll be somewhere most likely bounced back to payer as the receiving bank was unable to allocate it properly. They can’t retain it if they haven’t settled it.
Payer screenshot just show amount leaving their account does not prove it settled properly which it clearly hasn’t. More than likely the bounce back hadn’t arrived when you last spoke to them. I’d ask them to double check their account that the money hasn’t returned. If it hasn’t ask them for the Swift of the payment. They can get it from their bank. It is like a tracker of where the payment goes from leaving their account to final settlement. Once you have that you’ll be able to see where the money has gone.

@skintselfemployed if they are fibbing you off then as I suggested a letter/email with a date for payment. Followed by a letter before action should yield results.

@Aprilx is right if they paid via BACS then it is 3 working days.

Your employer (as the originator of the funds) needs to contact their bank to trace the payment, sending a screenshot is not good enough. Your bank (as the receiving bank) won't do anything until the originators have looked into it.