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.

If it's personal messages then keep asking questions back. eg 'I thought the due date was 29th, am I mistaken?' or 'Had you asked me to pay early this month for some reason?' or 'Do you have some sort of anxiety that makes you feel that on time payment is late payment?' OK, that last one is sort of rude, but then so are they with their passive-aggressive 'let me know the date so that I can check again' thing.

I'm guessing that's it's some sort of small scale service, like a cleaner or child-minder, so perhaps a direct conversation about how unnecessary it is to harass you for payment when the due date hasn't passed.

I just read that back, I mean 'personal' in the sense of not automated but rather written individually by one person to another. Not 'personal' in the sense of asking what colour your knickers are.

Honestly I'd just set my own reminder (as you do) but for the day before. Problem solved, but then I tend to pay invoices as I get them rather than on the last day.

Set up your automated payment to go out a day earlier than the due date.

You could tell them it’s really annoying- you’re probably not the only person to have this issue.

I'd fuck off their service and get it else where

[quote JustUseTheDoorSanta]I'm not sure what part of "persistent late payer" has got people confused. Is it the word "late" that you didn't understand?

It isn't ridiculous to charge statutory interest, it's a legal right: www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery. Businesses that are very strapped for cash may have to leave payments until the very last day, but late payment affects the company rating and avoiding weekends or a banking system blip affecting rating means most companies pay a few days early; they agree longer payment terms contractually if they can't make 30 work. You can even search payment frequency here: www.gov.uk/check-when-businesses-pay-invoices.[/quote]
No, what's ridiculous is your suggestion that waiting for the last day within the dates given to pay is "being a dick"

Paying late is being a dick. Paying on time is not being a dick.

I understand, OP. I wouldn't mind one reminder message a day before the payment deadline, but any more than that before I was actually late would be v annoying.

This would irritate me too. We recently had some building work done and the builders broke our garage door. It took ages and lots of chasing to get it fixed so when it still hadn't been done by the time I received the final invoice, I paid most of it, keeping some back that I said I'd pay when they fixed the door. They were happy with this, but every time they made an arrangement for it to be fixed they'd then ask for the remainder to be paid. No! You'll have your money when the repair is satisfactorily completed, not when you put a date in the diary to do it! (Especially as several times no-one turned up when agreed.)

I would feed this back to the business owner. It's not OK to chase payment (or send payment 'reminders' before the payment is due.

This would really annoy me too OP. Not just the harassment but the implication that I was being irresponsible and lax WRT paying money I owed someone/a business. I fell out with a friend over something similar - she lost it with me at a party because she'd asked us all to contribute money for an event by a certain date and a week earlier I hadn't paid her. She wanted cash. She mentioned that I still hadn't paid. I offered to transfer it electronically immediately if she was now desperate for it earlier than agreed and she went crazy. It was the final straw in a long list of weird behaviour by her and I cut ties. I'd be tempted to do the same with this business if you can, OP. Find another company who provides the same service

I get this with my phone contract. I start to get reminders 5 days before the due date. The app shows a big red ‘UNPAID’ next to the bill 5 days beforehand too, and on the actual due date I get a message that as they still haven’t received payment they will shortly divert all my outgoing calls to their payment line, add late fees etc.

It’s really annoying but I just continue to pay on the actual due date. I have tried to set up a DD several times, and gave up in the end.

This would also really annoy me! I wouldn’t be able to resist messaging back to ask why they are chasing me before the due date has passed!

Chasing that assidiously when you've always paid on time, morning texts on the due date when you are still in bed and they've sent a reminder the day before? combined with bringing the payment dates forward?
Sounds as if the business has cash flow problems, I'd be looking for an alternative provider.