Payment late for work

[Greenfingered1]

My husband and I own a small decorating company and have a selection of clients who we regularly do work for. One couple who are retired in their 70s we did some work for on monday. They generally pay about 2 days later by bank transfer, I think it's a case of when the husband checks his emails and sees the invoice. Anyway, it's now Thursday and we haven't received payment. AIBU to text with a polite reminder or should we wait another day or two?

What are your terms and conditions agreed before the job starts? What does your invoice say about when payment is due?

What Belta said.

If it's payment on completion, but they are known to you & usually reliable, I'd chase on Monday if needed.

However, If you need the cash today or you will default in your mortgage then, yes, chase.

That's why it's tricky. The invoice doesn't say when payment is due and definitely something we needs to add.

It could have been held for a fraud check by their bank, maybe even reversed and they haven't realised, let them know it's not come through and ask them to check with their bank

Doesn’t sound like you actually run a company then. More of a hobby you charge for?

Anyone running a company will have payment terms which are made clear before work is started, and then repeated on the invoice (including steps you take when payment is not made like the number of reminders you will send after X number of days, then what day does a late fee get added, then when you take legal action).

Why on earth don’t you have T&C’s in place?

Generally people have 30 days to settle an invoice unless they’ve agreed otherwise so you could have a while to wait yet.

Thank you for your definition of a company. Ours is a company, not a hobby, we just haven't stated our terms on the invoice (which will be amended). Our terms are made clear when we start work with new clients. Two years of doing work for this couple, they have gradually become 'more relaxed' with when they pay. So, going back to my original post, I asked if i'm being unreasonable to remind them, given their loyal custom over the years? (despite the terms stated when we originally began work).

I asked you what payment terms were agreed before you stated the work AND what is on the invoice.

You only answered that your invoice doesn’t have any terms. You didn’t answer about the agreed terms before starting work.

No one can answer you until you answer that. What terms did they agree before you started work? Not work you did two years ago, but the work you just did… what price and payment terms were stated before you started?

If you only did the work on Monday, I’d say it’s a bit early to remind them.
Send them a message after the weekend.

What terms did you state before the work started and how were these communicated - if verbally, then presumably you followed up with something in writing? It's unusual to only give people three days to pay. When I ran my own freelance company I gave people 30 days and this was on the quote paperwork, on the signed contract and on the invoices.

Unless they’ve signed something to say that they’ll pay on completion you don’t really have a leg to stand on.

You say it’s a proper company but you don’t appear have any legal protections in place to ensure you’re not messed around.

I have answered and it's pretty clear.

I would think it's pretty obvious that I am asking from a moral perspective.

Ugh. Who said we don't have legal protection? It just doesn't say it on the invoice. It's clearly stated on the elsewhere

I simply asked if it's reasonable to remind them

A moral perspective? Morality works in both directions - you are morally obliged to give people clear expectations for payment and morally, provided the clients are happy with the work, they are obliged to pay by the date/time agreed. I don't understand why this ratty tone is creeping into your posts - most of us would find it weird that having run a company for two years, this very basic issue is unclear, both in terms of how you agree it upfront and the fact it's not on the invoice.

I'd give them a little nudge. When I was self employed people easily 'forgot' invoices despite very clear terms as to when they were due and any financial penalties they would incur.

If the invoice doesn't specify date for payment then they aren't late paying it. In my experience it's pretty common for businesses to give 30 day to make a payment. If you want immediate payment on completion you really need to ah e set out those terms prior to completing the work.

2 days after receiving an invoice is not a huge amount of time, i think it's premature to be chasing at this point. If you desperately need the money then that is an issue with how you manage cashflow.

But, as a professional company, you should have policies and terms for this in place, and not have to revert to asking a bunch of randoms on the internet.

It depends what the agreed payment terms are.

Payment within 3 days of invoice would seem an unusually short deadline to me, but if that's what's agreed then it's OK to chase after 3 days.

If there isn't a deadline specified then I guess it'd come down to what would be considered reasonable for them to assume, and I'd guess it'd be reasonable to assume quite a bit longer than 3 days.

Op, if they are regular and loyal customers who normally pay promptly, I’d leave it at least a week before getting in touch. No-one wants to feel hectored for money, and you don’t want your company to look as though it’s such a shoestring operation that it has to send out a reminder for payment after only four days.

You haven’t answered at all! Do you actually want advice? Just answer.

Are your payment terms that they must pay same day as invoice, day after invoice, within 48 hours? How long do they have to pay? Did you actually tell them a timeframe before you started work?

A reminder should be sent out once that time lapses. If you didn’t give them a timeframe then we can’t help you. I’d give it 7 days.

Helpful @sesquipedalian thank you. I'm going to leave it until Monday.

Yes reasonable to remind them, an example is a scaffolder has just been to my house today, so I’ve paid immediately as he’s done the work!

Thank you. Going to leave it until monday.

By this response I'm guessing you haven't actually set out terms for payment prior to undertaking the work which they agreed to?

If so you should change this approach ASAP. It's very unprofessional and also leaves you at risk of not knowing when funds are going to be coming in as they haven't got a date when they need to pay it by.

Yes. We just had our car looked at by a mechanic in the garage and paid them immediately. Wasn't sure their terms were but they had completed everything so I paid when i collected the car. Thank you