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 sorry you've had such a battering on here @SixtySomething Don't take it to heart. I know the majority of posters have disagreed with you, but I suspect in real life, the opinions would have been more split/balanced.

As I said earlier, I agree with you that someone sending a reminder 36 hours after sending an invoice is a bit OTT when you are a regular customer who pays quickly normally... But don't stop using the company/person just because of this though. Maybe it's just what they do.

I think I'd leave it now if I were you, and just accept that most posters on the thread don't agree with you. (Although a few do.) Don't let it get to you.

All the best.

Good job they didn't forget

Well they were hardly going to forget were they? 🙄

This. 36 hours is nothing. Sending a reminder after that amount of time is rather odd IMO.

I really doubt that will happen.

It's a reminder, it isn't (I assume) masked individuals barging their way into your home and aiming a gun at your kneecaps.

It's entirely reasonable to send a payment reminder. I am sure people sometimes forget.

It's nothing personal.

Just pay.

Op: am I being unreasonable?
MN: 97% yes
Op: No, I'm not

Honestly, what was the point in asking if you're not going to listen to the responses

Well then the reminder served its purpose?

Do you not pay the same day once you’ve checked the work is done and satisfactory? I would never take days to pay after a job is done or need reminding to pay. I don’t walk out of my hairdresser’s telling her I’ll pay in two days. It’s no different if the job is done in my home.

If you forgot then they did the right thing reminding you 🤣🤣🤣

also you have no idea how they do their accounting. They may have needed your payment to consolidate their earnings

I'm sorry you've had such a battering on here Don't take it to heart. I know the majority of posters have disagreed with you, but I suspect in real life, the opinions would have been more split/balanced.

Nope.
I am a similar age to the OP (presuming that her user name is describing her age). I live in "real life". I ALWAYS pay for work done as soon as I know the amount, unless I am out of the house (I don't do banking on my phone) in which case I set a reminder on my phone to do it when I get in.
Maybe it is a throwback to when any jobs done within your house would be paid in cash (or even a cheque - remember them?).
Or maybe it is just because I respect the fact that the cleaner / gardener / mobile hairdresser / person servicing the boiler / person tuning the piano / dog walker is usually a sole trader, trying to earn a living and they don't have admin teams or finance teams to be chasing payments. They will have to do all that in their own time. But they wouldn't have to if everyone just paid them when the work was done. So I just pay them, the same as I would a taxi driver, or the shopkeeper when I use their services.
That really is a very, very normal thing to do.

Thanks very much @Zov and I appreciate you're putting yourself under fire for taking my part, which I think is quite heroic in the circumstances. What you say is clear sighted and realistic.

As I'm living the situation of my post, I'm in a position to see the reality of it, and in a position to judge the value of these comments. It's quite a shock to see the the virulence of the posts and their sheer number. In fact I've decided not to respond to any more posts , and just thought I'd take take a look to see how many more people had come on to say that I should pay up.😂
As you say, in reality, the view would be more split, and many people are replying to things in their own head, not relevant to the situation.
No I won't stop using the company; they are neighbours and I'm not particularly put out by their reminder, just found it a bit pushy ... .

It will probably

So if you don't believe MN is an accurate reflection of the "real world", then you just wasted your time posting in the first place didn't you?

So, the only actual truth of the matter is that you didn't get the answer you wanted and now you're pretending you don't care, which is obviously nonsense.

In reality, you had forgotten to pay a bill and then got uppity because you got reminded. If you think a tradesman or similar having to remind someone to pay up is unreasonable, that makes you a bit of a shitty person and there really isn't an argument otherwise.

“ a little bit pushy”

it’s their money they’ve earned it 😂😂😂😂 who even do yu think you are why yoh so entitled don’t use a service if you won’t pay up on time

Quite. The OP should try not paying at the supermarket because they're a regular customer. Or a restaurant.

Ludicrous entitlement.

I run a service based business, with clear terms that all invoices are due within 48 hours my biggest bugbear is having to chase clients. You may only be one client but sometimes I have several clients who take a week to pay and can have 1k or more outstanding and overdue. Chasing clients is awkward and takes time just take the effort to pay promptly once a service has been delivered.

You know it's weekly?
You didn't forget, you chose to feel affronted by a reminder to pay for your weekly services, it's rude and dismissive, your attitude sucks. Do you ask for delays in your own wages?

What a splendid opportunity 'Zov' gave you to deliver that, and of course, you are absolutely fine with it all, and of course you won't be reading any further

No. This thread is the 'reality' that you speak of. People are replying to your situation and I'm afraid that you've been a fair account of how most people see this sort of thing.

There is no complicated set of facts to be distorted. You forgot to pay, you were reminded to do so, and you didn't like it. That's it. No one is misunderstanding some veiled nuance or mitigating circumstances. It's something people do every day and it is very unremarkable.

The only remarkable thing is your unshakeable belief that you were right, when you were, without a shadow of doubt, absolutely in the wrong.

I pay people who do work in my house instantly as soon as they hand out email me the invoice. You wouldn't eat a meal in a restaurant and tell them you'll pay during the week, would you?

That is why you needed a reminder.

But you didn’t.

You also have called them Greedy.

Have you considered that they may have had their own bills to pay and needed that money?

Going in hard hat: this seems to be a typically british trait. Taking it as a personal insult when it is suggested that you have broken the unwritten social rules.

There is so much emotion bound up in it. In this case, someone doesn't pay, is reminded and feels slighted enough to complain about it online. The OP has tried to justify it by calling them "pushy", saying that they don't need the money, talked about "goodwill" and has considered not using them anymore (but will continue).

Honestly, what is the big deal? A reminder is neutral. Although I swear the reason that people get so defensive is that they know there is probably judgement going on, or they are judgemental themselves.

I live abroad now. When I come home (and look on mn) i see encounters that would be a non-issue elsewhere result in a totally disproportinate reaction.

The OP is not in the wrong for paying late - it happens. The reminder was not wrong. Just say "sorry - here's the money".

Make your mind up! You usually pay promptly but then you say you’ve forgotten before and they’ve reminded you 3-4 day later!
Stop being sloppy. Pay immediately and stop being so dramatically offended when you don’t and they remind you!

So many businesses have gone under because debtors haven’t paid up.