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?

Isn't asking a bunch of randoms their opinions the point of Mumsnet?

As the consumer, it is your responsibility to understand the terms before or at the point of booking. I had my tyres replaced - all details of the ways to pay are on my garage's website: https://www.protyre.co.uk/legal-advisory/terms-condition

Thank you to everyone who helped me decide. I am going to leave it until Monday.

We always aim to be clear and transparent with our customers. Before starting any work, we make sure to explain in writing our terms and conditions so there are no surprises. All are on our website too.

While these aren’t repeated in full on my invoices, they shall be going forward.

Whether it’s stated elsewhere or not is irrelevant - if they haven’t signed a contract or received an invoice that states they need to pay within X amount of time, then the general legal position is that they have 30 days to pay.

You can “ugh” all you want but as a business owner it’s your responsibility to know this stuff. Morals don’t come into it - if you choose not to write proper contracts and invoices then you open yourself up to all kinds of problems.

As a dog walker, my clients have until Friday each week to pay me. It’s in the contracts they sign when they start services and is written on all invoices. If they don’t pay me then services are suspended until they do. If no payment is made after 30 days then they can be taken to small claims.

Sorry you're not being very clear? Is there a part in your terms and conditions that they agreed and signed that specifically states how long they have to pay upon the work being completed?

What's the length of time stated on your website?

x-post. You need to get them to sign and say they agree to your terms.

On completion

Ok well in that case I'd be following up today or tomorrow.

Right, but have they signed anything to say they agree to that?

Yes.....at the beginning. I just simply wanted to know if despite this, and having had their loyal custom for 2 years, AIBU to remind them.

In your shoes I would send a reminder 24 hours after payment is due - especially if they’ve signed to say they’ll pay once work if completed.

I think your problem then is that in the past you've not enforced this by giving them several days to pay.

If the payment is due upon completion then surely they should be paying before you leave?

So why didn’t you answer that after the first time you were asked?

Some people send out invoices and payment terms are 7 days, but they’ll send reminders on day 2 and 5, leaving customers feeling harassed. I was asking in case you’d given them a payment window but wanted to nudge them earlier. Just since your OP said he usually pays within 2 days, so maybe you were expecting the money in 2 days and didn’t want to wait for the full payment window.

If you’ve give them payment terms which they agreed to (on completion) then it is not unreasonable to send a reminder on day 3. It would be unreasonable to send a reminder if the payment terms were 7 days or some other number.

Ugh. They have signed.
I just simply wanted to know if despite all that, AIBU to remind them given their loyalty as customers.

Ugh. You didn’t say that until after I replied 😏

I didn't think i needed to. We're a business. Of course they signed, of course there are terms and conditions. I said we are company.

I have written this many times now. All i wanted to know is AIBU reminding them given their loyal custom?

Surely anyone can see that's a dilemma? Regardless of terms and conditions in place. These are customers of two years who we regularly do work for. Is a reminder unreasonable? Simply that.

D

Don’t make the mistake of thinking loyalty means you owe them a kindness. Payment is now several days overdue so of course you should remind them.

Another way that you can avoid the hassle of chasing for payment is to take on-the-spot payments by credit/debit card. There are numerous providers that can facilitate this and it is particularly useful for small businesses and trades. Checkatrade has a good article on this approach > How To Take Card Payments For Your Trade Business | Checkatrade

The point being that you should have policies in place already and the client should be informed of them so everyone knows where they are, without having to make things up on the spot.

We do have those in place.

Thank you

If they've signed something then I wouldn't hesitate.
Hi Sue and Bob just a reminder that payment is now due
Regards
Decorator

Well then follow them. If I get an invoice which is due for payment in say 7 days I would not be impressed to get a reminder after 2.