To be pissed off that clients haven't paid me and it's Christmas :(

[Simplecountrygirl]

As title. Just a rant really as I need to vent.

I'm self employed. Sent 3 invoices out last week, none of them have been paid (payment terms are 48 hours as these are regular customers that get invoiced fortnightly) Sent another 4 out yesterday (with the same terms) and I'm yet to receive a penny there either.

When it's just the odd one or two fine but that's 6 people that I have a feeling I won't be getting money from (some of them are regular late payers!) and that adds up to a lot I'm really struggling this month anyway and I could really do without the hassle I don't want to chase, I HATE having to chase and even if I do I don't know if I'll get paid but it pisses me off that people put my in this position in the first place.

Argh!!

Share your frustration. Think you need to reneg the contracts with late payment penalties.

Scummy behaviour from them

I feel your pain! Self employed artist who does a lot of work for borough councils and arts organisations.... quite often I've discovered anninvoice has been sitting on someone's desk waiting to get stamped, or the person in charge is off sick/ on holiday and no one else can possibly do their job..... grrrrrrrrrr

Send a 'polite reminder - this is outstanding our terms are 48 hours ' email tonight - ie now ... this is bad form on their part and you need to nip in on the bud !

Simplecountrygirl, don't hesitate to remind customers that payment is due.

Snap so frustrating, isn't it! Hope yours gets sorted soon!

Feel your pain. Am also self employed & get this loads. Sometimes I long for the good old days of a monthly big BACS payment into my account and paid holiday & sick pay & all the things I took for granted when I had a 'proper' job. But then I think of all the suckers working to make someone else rich & then I feel better Hope you get your money ASAP OP - there's still tomorrow & Friday - you might have to start proper chasing. Fingers crossed for you!

Send a late payment notice with a late payment penalty in red.

Cheeky fuckers need telling, there's no excuse for it.

I'd sent out a reminder and state that as from January late payments will have a late payment charge added.

Call them.

People who hassle them get paid first.

Nice polite people who make no trouble get paid last... or not

You have to be firm and nip this in the bud. If you're invoicing fortnightly I'm assuming it's a regular service you provide - generally threatening to withdraw provision until they cough up works.

As someone with a similar kind of business, I think you need to chase these up now. Do the reminding by email, if necessary (ie if no immediate response) followed up with a phone call. Do it in a nice, friendly way but make sure you get over the point that you need the bills to be paid now. The invoices are probably sitting in an in tray/inbox somewhere and may not be paid until after the New Year if you don't start chasing now.

I would also start stating on all future invoices exactly what the payment terms are and add in that you reserve the right to charge an x% surcharge on late payments. (I don't think you can do this for your current amounts due unless this is part of your existing contract terms.) I think you are also legally entitled to charge "statutory interest" after 30 days although I have never done this.

Good luck!

I'm Surprised people pay within 48 hours. We only run payments once a month - would be inefficient to do as and when invoices come in.

Refusetobeaaheep - what about people like the OP?
Relying on that money to live?!
Surely you should pay a bill within a reasonable/agreed timeframe? I would be extremely unimpressed if I was made to wait a month to be paid for a job because the customer thought it 'inefficient'

Can you call? In case the person who normally deals with your emails is off, make it clear that's not your problem and you need to be paid

If your payment terms are "within 48 hours" then what is laid out as the penalty or repercussions to that not happening?

Are you a childminder ?

Late payments are part of the reason I stopped

Perhaps Purplefizz the clients don't have the money themselves yet, because they are also waiting for people to pay them. I'm self-employed and have to manage my own cash flow to cover peaks and troughs. Most businesses pay within 30 - 60 days, so 48 hours would be exceptional. Sometimes I can nudge a client, but I would rarely do it until the following month.

OP I agree it's a pain, but whoever hasn't paid you is probably juggling their own cashflow before Christmas as well. It's not personal!

Some people take the piss. My dh was self employed for years. We did a small job for a contractor who was doing a multi million pound contract for the local council. They wanted him to quote for a huge job for us over £200k and we would supply materials. I invoiced, 30 days they said. I invoiced again after 30 days and again and again. They promised but it never arrived. I ended up suing them. Local foreman rang one day with an emergency job, needing my dh right now. I refused as they'd not paid. It's not my dept payments so not my problem he said. It is now as I'm not sending him I can get him loads of work working for free I told him. He screamed down the phone that I'd better send him immediately I told him under no circumstances were we working for them until the first invoice was paid and hung up. If we'd took the big job we'd probably have lost the house.
Nip it in the bud now, some clients aren't worth having.

Did they pay Lynn?

Sorry to hear that.

Think there are apps now that send invoices out, ask for notification of payment and also send automatic reminders by email after a set time. That could help you with the embarrassment angle.

Have late payment penalties - but be prepared that that negotiation might involve you extending your payment term to e.g. 14 days. So someone can't get caught out just by being on holiday/away for a few days or I'll.

Next year, have an "all 2017 payments due by x" rule.

And seriously think about having a push for new clients so you can ditch the late payers.

Maybe offer a "discount" for prompt payers or payment up front ( at least in part). Or have a loyalty scheme- and it only counts toward that if payment is on time.

I work part time for a small business owner and I literally chase invoices all day. The owner can't face doing it themselves - I really enjoy it though Where are you based? I'm available for freelance

This is why I gave up freelancing. Took my biggest client 3 months every time I invoiced and I always had to chase. It was the county council ffs. It's totally crap op

48 hours does seem short. My terms are 30 days and most clients are good. The worst ones are the big multinationals who expect me to sub them a few thousand in expenses while they take 5 months to settle a bill

I think you should chase them all up using Christmas and being away as an excuse for it needing to be done now. Then nobody needs to feel awkward (although they bloody should if they've agreed to pay and haven't) and you should hopefully get your money sooner.

I always pay up straight away. Then I don't have to think about it any more :)

I'm surprised anyone pays in 48 hours actually. Many of my clients only gave a bookkeeper in once a week to write cheques or make payment runs.

I have never heard of payment within 48 hours - in our industry it would not be viable.
However if those are your terms, very very annoying to have a late payment at this time of the year.