AIBU to feel annoyed by a payment reminder after 36 hours?

[SixtySomething]

We have a weekly service at our house. The company sends us a bill a few hours after finishing the work and we pay by bank transfer. The cost can vary so we don't pay by direct debit.
Recently, we received the regular bill but didn't pay immediately. The bill was followed up with a reminder 36 hours later. We are longstanding customers.This left me feeling really narked. AIBU?
YABU: They did the work, so you should pay them straight away.
YANBU: They should give you a week to pay. This is pushy behaviour.

I'm guessing it's a cleaning agency? We have one where we pay a quarterly fee to the agent and then we pay the cleaner direct by bank transfer immediately after each visit. The reminder is probably automated. Don't take it personally. Oversights happen, but if you don't pay straight away after the 36 hour reminder they probably put a stop on your service until you are up straight again, which is fair enough. Too many people think they can just ignore their bills until it suits them and run up debts that cost other people their livelihoods and their businesses.

My cleaner works really hard for her money, she's got children to feed and I would feel terrible about forgetting to pay her straight away. I would be thankful for the reminder, frankly.

I love a reminder. But maybe as I’m a millennial so don’t take this as a criticism. Sometimes things do get forgotten accidentally, so fair enough on people to remind us. Especially if it’s a small company/sole trader, that might be the difference between them getting fuel or paying a bill on time themselves

In fairness I’m self-employed too and I also have a 100% pay rate. To have 5% of customers not pay at all is pretty shocking!

It does sound as though you’re a bit lax with payments though. You said further up the thread that when you have trades come to your house and they don’t send reminders within two days. So that implies that you don’t pay them within two days either, or else how would you know….

I do think that speed of payment can depend somewhat on the service. I’m a copywriter and rarely do I get paid the same day. If I were sent a bill by a large company, I’d pay that within a couple of days. But if I were sent an invoice/bill by someone who’d done work at my house, then I’d pay them the same day. It’s a bit rude not to pay it straight away imo - especially when those jobs historically would have been paid in cash on the day.

If this couple do weekly work for you, and you don’t pay them for six days - you’ve said that up to seven days to pay bills is reasonable in your opinion - you’re expecting them to always work a week in hand. That’s not fair. And I know this mystery service doesn’t have any costs but as a general principle, it’s even worse to not pay someone where they’ve incurred costs to do the work, like a tradie.

I know what you mean about MN being in a different world sometimes but I really, really don’t think that’s the case here. With instant bank transfers so easy to do, there’s no excuse not to pay what you owe.

You have admitted that you've forgotten before and were reminded after 3-4 days so you have a habit of forgetting. They just reminded you it's not personal.

Our cleaning company do this if I forget. I find it slightly annoying as the invoice they send me says I have a week to pay (fortnightly service) but I can also appreciate they need the money to pay the staff so just pay up. I’d much prefer a standing order but it varies and I also want to check the work has been done before I pay.

That's what reminders are for
It worked didn't it
What's the problem?

Tbh, the 'my husband just chuckled' and this kind of comment - He seemed stunned and commented he'd never be paid so quickly et al always reminds me that people can just type any old imaginary rubbish to support their ailing threads.

OP, I haven't read the thread, other than your responses, so that I'm not swayed before forming my own POV. The fact that you had forgotten, then called this couple greedy for simply reminding you about payment speaks volumes. Whatever your protestations, they thought you needed reminding. Indeed, they were right, you had forgotten. Their system worked.

I know enough freelancers and self employed people to understand that they can't afford to not be paid, simply because you view yourself as a valued customer. You are BU, but you're determined not to listen to anyone apart from your chuckling husband, or the minority of posters who agree with you. I wonder how much of this part of your character spills out unconsciously into your everyday life, and this couple have privately taken their own view?

If this is something like dog walking, pet sitting, cleaning, babysitting etc, payment is always expected immediately.

A week to pay at Easter? That then gets pushed back because 'we're on holiday', two weeks later 'we're just back from holiday, give us a chance' and the next week's service also gets bumped 7 days.

No, you should pay by direct debit. The whole point of a DD rather than an SO (standing order) is that the amount can be varied without the payer having to do anything.

This post is extraordinarily unpleasant.

You are woefully ignorant

YABVVVU to take it personally. You forgot to pay. They reminded you. Big deal.

Oh come on, OP! There's a world of difference between a company issuing an invoice to another company, with, say, 30 day payment terms, and someone like a babysitter or dog walker coming around weekly who gets paid the same day.

Of course you were sent a reminder 36 hours later because it was obvious you'd forgotten. If you hadn't, they'd have had their money immediately.

If you are so convinced you are right, text them back and tell them you don’t appreciate being reminded after 36 hours. Then come back here and tell us what response you get.

It really isn't.

You've started an AIBU thread.
Found you are
Then said you don't believe all the people who have replied as you are obviously still in denial that YABU.
You've (politely) argued with everyone who has tried to explain why YABsoU.

This poster has not been unpleasant at all - just laid out the same facts everyone else has been trying to point out to you for 10 pages.

So you needed a reminder?

That post really, really is not unpleasant in the least, but I strongly suspect you think it is because it's touched a nerve of truth.

You are being absolutely unreasonable and you really don't like hearing it.

Does there not come a point @SixtySomething where you realise on most threads you are invariably swimming against the tide and arguing with posters and think to yourself “perhaps I am being unreasonable”?

Ever?

exactly do you want a week to pay for your food shop as well lol

Because of clients like you, I switched to payment upfront or no service. It's not me who's 'greedy' expecting a prompt payment for my prompt service, it's clients like you who are entitled. I don't run a charity, I don't expect money for free, I'm a business. It often goes with the usual contempt: 'I'm a customer, I know best and I'm entitled to do whatever I want' and 'without clients like me you'd be on the breadline'. Oh, and 'I'll just take my custom elsewhere, shall I?' - yes, yes, PLEASE DO.

And I'm far from the stereotypical MN 'saint', but I always pay for services right then and there. Precisely because it's easier. I pay, my part is done, and then I can forget about it. Instead of waiting days to pay (what the hell would be the reason?), then I might seriously forget it.

Surely it’s lucky they reminded you then?

I always pay my window cleaner the same day (I’m at work when he comes and he leaves the card).

I forgot once and it was a week later I found the card and remembered I had t paid.

I was mortified - apologised profusely - and said please never worry about reminding me knowing I usually pay within hours.

It's just not what I've always been used to.

You need to move with the times. Prompt payment is the new norm in these days of instant bank transfers. Don't be like my gran who complained about decimal currency right up till the day she died.

But you said you forgot! As you usually pay straight away, they obviously guessed you had forgotten and sent a reminder. For fuxake - they haven't taken your kid hostage! I can't believe you are offended by being asked to pay for a service you have received.

But only because they reminded you!

It's showing just as much bias to pretend every business in existence gives a bill and then requires instant payment because that's just what a business does.

Especially when talking about one that doesn't require that, one that has never done this before, and one with an option that means all their payments will come 10 days later if chosen - not 36 hours later being as late. All contexts neatly stripped out of your comment.