Invoice received after due date to pay and late fee charged

[PiffleWiffleWoozle]

Can anyone advise of the legal position here please.

We receive regular invoices from a service management company. The amount varies each time, they send an invoice and we then pay. The most recent invoice did not arrive until after the due date - they send by post so suspect it may have been delayed.

We paid the invoiced amount promptly as usual once we had received it, however they are automatically adding a late fee. The late fee is for a deadline date BEFORE the actual invoice arrived by post. We have challenged this with them but they say they will apply the late fee anyway.

Are they able to do this legally?

What date was the invoice sent? Afaik if it's dated before the due date and was sent in sufficient time the company would reasonably expect it to be received before the due date then I believe they'd be within their rights to apply a late fee although given the strike action and delays it would be a good faith move to waive any fees.

The 'reasonably expect' however should account for known strikes/delays. So if they sent it late knowing there were strikes then absolutely challenge.

What are the contractual payment terms? Eg is it 30 days and they've posted the invoice on day 29?

The invoice is calculated from the day it was posted, not from the day it arrived so if it was held up by a postal backlog then yes they are within their rights.

However if you are a good customer, call your account manager, explain you paid it the same day it arrived and you don't expect to pay the late payment fee. If they value your custom they should waive the fee. You won't be the only ones!

if they insist on sending invoices through the post, I challenge them to prove they sent it when they did. Otherwise they could send late charges out anytime to anyone

I had the same thing the other way round, a client saying they'd send a cheque in the mail and then refusing to pay my late charge when it never arrived. I just challenged them to prove they had sent it (eg recorded delivery) and they couldn't.

Ask for it to be emailed?

Sod paying a fee that isn’t my fault - I’d just pay the original amount and tell them to whistle for the fee.
I’ve started, run and sold a successful small business and dealt with this many times - the invoicing company will always fold if you threaten them with loss of business in ridiculous situations like this.

They aren't worried about loss of the OP's custom as it's a management company and customers in such scenarios usually can't just move their "business" elsewhere!