To think it's rude to commission work unless you have the money ready to pay for it

[LeaveMyCatOutOfThis]

Me and DH own a business and I'm so sick of people commissioning work and then taking forever to pay up after it's finished. Some will take weeks to pay and clearly be waiting for the money to come in, pay day etc...

AIBU to think this is incredibly rude and you should not commission work unless you have the money there and ready to pay as soon as it's finished (providing you're happy with the finished product of course)?

We have a customer at the moment, work was completed three weeks ago and he still hasn't paid. All work is quoted and agreed prior to commencement so it's not as if the cost is a surprise.

When asked if there's a problem, he replied to say not at all he's really happy with it but can he have a breakdown of the price for his records which we provided two weeks ago.

The majority of customers pay on schedule but it's a scarily large minority that do this and are clearly waiting for the money to come in before paying. It's our livelihood at the end of the day, you shouldn't expect someone else to wait until your pay day.

It goes beyond rudeness, it’s dishonest.

Can anyone add on late payment fees/interest and are there set amounts you can charge?

Are you set up to take credit cards? That would be worth the percentage fee to get the payment at the end of the job.

There are specific charges and interest rates, more here: www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery/charging-interest-commercial-debt

OP, as it's property stuff, can you do 25% up front, 65% on completion, 10% for snagging? There's an incentive for them to pay the 65% so you'll come back and do the 10% finishing up work.

I’m self employed, a childminder actually, and it’s so frustrating when invoices aren’t paid in time. It’s never seen as a priority bill, and it can be really hard. I have insurance and I now charge in advance of the month, but I realise these can’t really help you.
It’s the downside of not being an employee!

NorthernRunner that's even worse. How can paying the person who makes it possible for you to go to work not be a priority bill. Mind boggling.

I would say it’s the same in any business.

Hardly. Try going into Tesco's and expecting to walk out with a trolleyful of expensive goods on the basis that you may get around to paying for it three months later.

Gamerwidow, I know, it is a minority of people but does happen 3/4 times a year and it feels like a kick in the stomach when people just ignore your texts and calls

A lot of people are juggling and pay what they can when they can

But, again, they don't expect to do that when they buy goods from a shop. If you can manage to wait till you can afford one type of purchase - or can put it on credit - why can't you do that for all purchases?

@burritofan
Thanks!

It's crazy!

We've had people trying to say 'oh I've spoken to my wife now and she isn't really happy with the price' AFTER we've finished the work and the husband had already agreed the quote and let us complete it.

Sorry but tough... Sort it between yourselves! You can't expect to not pay the person who's already done the work for you because your wife has seen the invoice after completion and decided to object.

Instead of a late payment fee I would offer an on time discount, just add £20 (or whatever is reasonable based on the cost of the product) to your invoice, if they pay on the day work is complete they get a £20 discount and if they pay within 5 days they get a £10 discount. After that you need to be chasing them every day for payment, it’s really not on to not pay, whenever I’ve had work done on my house I’ve paid by bank transfer before the tradesman leaves my property.

Its not a charity - if it's fabrication work it's not even something that's an essential item so people are choosing to employ the services for a luxury item.

I'd set the client expectations at time of quotation. I'd charge a 40% deposit on booking, for materials charges then the remaining balance due 7 days prior to job being done. Failure to pay the remaining balance means they lose their deposit.

I think you'll find you no longer have any problems. No payment, no service.

Too many piss takers out their thinking the rest of the world owe them a living.

There not their

What type of work is it?

Where I work, it’s not uncommon for us to pay a 50% deposit, 25% when half the work is done and then 25% on completion.
We have a standard 30day payment but we can (and do) pay smaller companies within 24hours if that’s what they require.

It’s bloody rude to not pay you on time unless previously agreed prior to the work starting. Yes things do come up but people should have that money in their account ready to pay you on completing the work

oh I've spoken to my wife now and she isn't really happy with the price' AFTER we've finished the work and the husband had already agreed the quote and let us complete it

If it’s work on peoples property then you could state that you need permission from both before works will start. I have known of windo companies do this

DH is self employed and we’re currently waiting on probably £1000 of invoices to be paid. Luckily we don’t need that money to survive, but his customers don’t know that! Those who are slow to pay but ask him to do further work will be pushed to the bottom of the list (he’s booked up weeks in advance) or won’t get the job done by him.

I totally agree, if you don’t have the money there and then, don’t ask a tradesman to come round.

We are self employed also, and for every invoice we send we have payment terms. We state that payment must be made within 7 days of the work being carried out or there will be a 10% late payment fee charged for every 7 days the payment is late. Usually stops people paying late when the threat of being charged more is there. Make sure you put terms on each invoice

Years ago I worked for someone who told me she didn't pay for anything until she was asked (money was demanded!) At the time I was shocked as she could easily pay for things, she would just rather have the money in her account as long as possible.

I suspect a lot of people have this attitude. Demanding they pay or a late fee is probably the way forward.

Personally I prefer to pay everything ASAP.

What guinea said. It works really well. I'm considering using it in my own business.

You ANBU. We're having roofing work done and skylights replaced next week. The money's been in our checking account for weeks. When the work is done you should be paid promptly.

We've had people trying to say 'oh I've spoken to my wife now and she isn't really happy with the price' AFTER we've finished the work and the husband had already agreed the quote and let us complete it

This is why double glazing salesmen and the like insist on having both parties present, but don't imagine I'm suggesting it's your fault, OP ... if it hadn't been this excuse it would have been something else

I was self employed myself and found you can't put prices up to cover this because of staying competitive, and neither do "late charges" work unless it's an ongoing client and you can put the surcharge on a future invoice. Short of factoring the invoices it's often down to getting a decent deposit and hoping for the best, but let us know if you ever find a real answer ...

This is why double glazing salesmen and the like insist on having both parties present

I thought they insist on having both parties present so they can hammer both with the hard sales pitch, rather than one, only for that one to turn round after 3 hours and say " I'll need to check with my husband"

Like LynetteScavo says, I had a colleague who admitted doing this, she didn't seem ashamed at all and urged me to do it as good "business practice".

I've been self employed and could never do this, but even if I hadn't I still wouldn't. I would feel too bad about it. Why don't people have consciences?!

But that's just the point, Rachel ... OP's client used the fact his wife wasn't present for the quote as an attempted get-out

As I said, though, it wouldn't have made any difference; if this excuse hadn't worked another would have taken its place only too quickly