unpaid invoice

[IDENTIPRINT]

Hi again everyone,
I have a problem at the moment with one of my customers in Ireland that won't pay their outstanding invoice which was issued in November last year.
Despite numerous phoning, emailing and mailing I am having no success in getting paid.
Can anyone shed some light on how I go about getting this back through the court?
many thanks
Amanda

 

[aviemorebusiness]

Hi Amanda

we had similar issues last year ourselves, depending on how much the outstanding amount is will determine your mindset on recovering the money. We used a company who charged us £50 per customer to send a few letters out on our behalf threatening action, sometimes this spurs people to pay because they see the letter coming from someone other than you and makes it look more official. However, I have to be honest and say in the end because of the stress it was causing me, and for the amount of money (total £1500) we did end up writing it off. This was after nearly a year of chasing, and yes I would do pretty much anything for that amount of money right now but life goes on, and my life felt lighter after making the decision.

The problem is that you get to the point where you think you want to name and shame people, or report them to Inland Revenue 'just because' but if the amount is less than £2k I would probably cut your loses. I could be completely wrong but that is my opinion and believe me if I had seen either of them in the street (unlikely) then I am not sure I would have been able to control myself.

I really do hope you manage to sort it out, sorry I cant be much more practical other than to give you the link of the small claims system in Ireland http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/courts_system/small_claims_court.html - let me know how you get on.

Katie

 

[aviemorebusiness]

Hi Amanda, me again! I just saw a new member http://www.scottishbusinessforums.co.uk/members/rdcfs.2050/ who is a debt collecting service - have mentioned that you may require some help

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Hi Amanda,

We hear stories like yours and Katie's all the time. It's hard not to take it personally as after all it is your money!

Hopefully Rico from CFS will be around soon to offer some help. In the meantime though you could also take a look at www.debtscotland.com. Yuill & Kyle are a firm of solicitors in Glasgow that specialise in chasing bad debt. The Debt Scotland site is a fantastic resource and i'm sure they could also give you some advice should you need it. Sometimes third party intervention is all it needs to chase a debtor on.

Keep us posted in how things go and if anyone has any suggestions then please speak up

 

[RDCFS]

Hi Amanda,

Happy to discuss your situation with your non paying customer, please pm me if you need any help in trying to collect on your outstanding invoice.

thanks

Rico

 

[Wills]

I was owed a substantial sum of money back in 2002, no amount of calls or talks moved me any closer to a settlement. Eventually I passed it on to a debit collector (it was a fix fee) and within a week it was in my bank account. As long as the cost isn't more than the lost of writing it off it's worth putting the maximum pressure on non payers, after all they are hoping you will drop it.

 

[stugster]

I chased a home user through the courts for non payment once. Eventually doing it just for the principle and not the money. It was also a good lesson to be learned.

Unfortunately, I've no idea what the legal implications would be as the client is in Ireland and you're in Scotland. Which court would you go to, should it get that far...?

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

I'm pretty sure you can actually start some sort of action in Scotland. It's when you get judgement that things start to get a bit complicated. As far as I understand the Scottish judgement would have to be converted into the equivalent in Ireland and then you would use the services of a collection agency in Ireland to execute.

 

[RDCFS]

Hi All,

You would hope that the involvement of a third party collection agency would prompt them to start paying, statistics over the years have proven that 65% of people pay their outstanding debts once a collection agency is appointed, although this doesn't guarantee payments what it does do is open communication channels with the debtor, with a view to getting your money back.

In this world we have 2 types of debtors, 1 = "wont pay" 2 = "the cant pay" the first thing you must do is establish which of these you are dealing with and that will give you an indication of the type of action you should be looking to take.

We always advise clients to review their credit control process as it needs to be robust and more importantly structured so if legal action is taken you can demonstrate you have given the debtor the opportunity to settle his outstanding bill.

Thanks

Rico