If payment is due ‘by 29th’…

[BuddlesOfMine]

…when would you start chasing for late payment? It’s a small gripe (which I would never mention) that I have with a service I use but wondering if I’m being unreasonable.

I would be irritated too OP. I do some freelance work myself so I know it's annoying if people pay you late, but it's not at all unreasonable to pay in accordance with the payment terms. If you want payment faster you change your payment terms (eg I ask for payment within 14 days rather than the more usual 30).

Some of these messages are automatic.

My rent is similar but they send a letter out on the day it was due which obviously takes a couple days to arrive, and at the bottom it says please ignore if already paid.
It used to irritate me so now I’ve changed the day I pay it.

If I was you I would set your reminder for the day before just so you don’t get these texts anymore.

No reason given for the sudden change in dates. They just send an invoice mid month with the date they want to be paid by that month. It’s always been the last day of the month but as I said seems to have been more random recently.

They are direct messages to me, not automated.

As I said it’s a small niggle which I wouldn’t mention. Just wondered if you’d be niggled by it too or if anyone may think I was in the wrong paying on the due date, which I knew I wasn’t really.

if payment is due on 29th it should be in their bak account on 29th withonline banking transfer payments are normally within 2 hours so echnically as long as done by 10pm tonight it is paid on time tomorrow is late,
if I get a bill that says due on 14th January I set it up to be paid on 14th
some people for personal reasons pay every bill asap to enable them to budget better, but it is absolutely OK to pay a bill the day it is due

For bills that are sent 2-3 weeks before they are due, it's common to receive a reminder 2-3 days before due date with a disclaimer that they apologise if it's crossed over with payment (common in the days of cheques). It's late on the 30th but I wouldn't personally chase until 2-3 working days later or I would spend far too much time chasing (many people just pay 1-2 days late habitually)

No reason given for the sudden change in dates. They just send an invoice mid month with the date they want to be paid by that month. It’s always been the last day of the month but as I said seems to have been more random recently

Do you have anything is writing about the payment date? It would annoy me if the date suddenly changed, especially as it's been consistent for the last 2 years.

We run a business, everyone that doesn't pay via direct debit pays us late, I chase after 2/3 months of non payment . But we have a healthy cash flow and I can afford it. They're clearly struggling with their cash flow, just pay them when you the the invoice. There's one company we use who will chase payment within a week of sending the invoice, I try to pay them the day they send the invoice because they clearly need it.

@BuddlesOfMine

No reason given for the sudden change in dates. They just send an invoice mid month with the date they want to be paid by that month. It’s always been the last day of the month but as I said seems to have been more random recently.

They are direct messages to me, not automated.

As I said it’s a small niggle which I wouldn’t mention. Just wondered if you’d be niggled by it too or if anyone may think I was in the wrong paying on the due date, which I knew I wasn’t really.

I probably wouldn't be niggled - I'd know I was going to pay and I'd just ignore their messages.

I also wouldn't think you were wrong to pay on the due date.

@TinyLittlePandaSneeze

Reminder on the 29th A telling off for being late after close of business on the 29th

Yep, this. A gentle nudge on the last day, demand for payment on the day after.

Payments shouldn't be late, full stop. Nobody should have to chase for payment.

If it is due by the 29th then it's late any time from 00.00 on the 30th surely?

I’d be inclined to reply and clarify the dates. In a rather passive aggressive way.

@TicTacHoh

Payments shouldn't be late, full stop. Nobody should have to chase for payment.

Except if you ask someone to pay and give them to the 29th to do so you equally can't be crossed that some of them will choose to pay on the 29th. Those who do are no more late paying than someone who chose to pay on the 28th as the deadline for payment has not passed.

I think I'd be tempted to reply and explain that you intend to pay on the due date, the 29th, and that if they mean "by 29th" to be "on or before 29th" please could the make that clear and you will arrange your finances accordingly?
I used to use a service where the payment terms were by the end of the month but I was always chased for payment ahead of the end of the month in August and December. It always annoyed me as I was never late with payments and it wasn't my fault that the person couldn't manage their income sufficiently in a 31 day, expensive month. In the end, as I got paid on 24th, I offered to pay for the service on 25th and that seemed to solve the (non-) issue.

@SheWoreYellow

I’d be inclined to reply and clarify the dates. In a rather passive aggressive way.

Yes - something along the lines of "hi, I received several payment reminders from you but I thought the invoice said payment was due by 29th. Please could you confirm as I wouldn't expect to receive a reminder until a payment was actually late - ie on 30th".

And no, I wouldn't expect a nudge unless someone was persistently late. But then I might not continue to provide the service to them.

One of my clients is fantastic and usually pays me the day I send the invoice over or the following day.

The other prides itself on being "ethical" but has 45 day payment terms and doesn't even manage to pay within those. And I had another client who didn't pay my invoice at all and then asked me to do more work, so I just said I couldn't do any more work until the first invoice was paid.

I'd be annoyed by the messages, one reminder is fine but any more and it's unprofessional. I've worked in roles dealing with payments and paying on the due date is fairly standard. I'd probably find someone else.

I had a gardener who would let me know when he'd been and I'd transfer that day. He'd come every 2 weeks while I was at work , drop me a message saying he'd been and I'd transfer when I could (but still same day). After a few months I'd get the 'I've been' message, then 10 thumbs up sent minutes apart, then 'pay me, have you paid' 4 or 5 times a few minutes apart. All in no more than 30 minutes since telling me he'd been, I'd explain I was at work and can't always pick up messages instantly but he was always paid within a couple of hours. Then he wanted payment before coming- fine, he'd tell me a day or 2 before, I'd transfer and then he'd come.... until I realised one day I'd paid 3 times and he hadn't been and he was hounding me for another payment. Dropped that service immediately and found a new gardener who send an invoice by email after he's been and i pay later that day. No follow ups, no passive aggressive thumbs up.

What are the payment terms? Most businesses offer either:

Payment by return
14 days from invoice date
30 days from invoice date
30 days from the end of month following invoice date
Some will do 60 days also
Or something like that

Does it say on the invoice what the payment terms are?

I suspect that they have a new accounts person doing credit control, who is actively seeking to reduce their debtors and enourage bad payers to pay up sooner, but is being rather too enthusiastic in chasing people who do normally pay on time. The reminders are probably automated.

One of our suppliers gives us 14 days from invoice date, and I have noticed that just lately they have started sending us their regular invoice earlier and earlier each month. Cheeky.

I see both sides of it as I do credit control as well as paying the bills, and I wouldn't chase regular payers unless it was around ten days overdue. You don't want to irritate good customers, it isn't good for business relations.

Is it a childminder? If so I’d just ask when they’d like paying by as they keep reminding you when you didn’t think it was due

@BuddlesOfMine

No reason given for the sudden change in dates. They just send an invoice mid month with the date they want to be paid by that month. It’s always been the last day of the month but as I said seems to have been more random recently.

They are direct messages to me, not automated.

As I said it’s a small niggle which I wouldn’t mention. Just wondered if you’d be niggled by it too or if anyone may think I was in the wrong paying on the due date, which I knew I wasn’t really.

Is the date change getting to a particular day of the week, e.g. avoiding weekends? I have one supplier who stipulates "last Thursday of the month", I presume to help cash flow on for bills due at month end.

Based on what you describe, I would suspect they're having cashflow issues so are getting anxious the money isn't going to come in by the deadline. I would either just ignore any future messages so long as you're still paying on time, or else drop them a note asking them to clarify if there are any issues because they keep sending reminders even though you are sticking to the payment terms.

can you not clarify the date of payment again if it keeps changing

@whynotwhatknot

can you not clarify the date of payment again if it keeps changing

It’s not the date that’s the problem. It’s irritating that it keeps changing, yes, but not a big issue. The issue it that I keep getting messages (text and then WhatsApp) asking me to pay before the due date, whatever that date may be that particular month.

I can’t see any rhyme or reason to the change in dates but I do expect it’s regarding cash flow.

As someone above suggested it sounds like they are having cash flow issues.

I wouldn't be bothered by the reminders because it sounds like they have lots of people who need reminding.

From midnight when it becomes 30th date.
I would change service provider immediately if they said due date for payment was 29th and chased for it any earlier than 11:59pm on the 29th.