Are there any freelancers who have advice for following up late payments? I’m struggling to make contact!
Replies28
- my method that always gets a response is to email with the title "Are you not going to pay me?". It always prompts a response and at least gets the conversation started again. IT comes form a great negotiating book called 'never split the difference'
- Years ago a ad agency didn’t pay me, eventually I went to their offices and spoke with the owner, stood at his door ensuring it was open and asked him why he wouldn’t pay me, he made a lot of excuses, paperwork problem etc, eventually I asked if he was having money issues, his employees all went quiet and listened for the answer, he then instructed his secretary to write me a cheque. Some people like to play the big man and screw with others lives but they don’t like when the table is turned. Since then if I don’t know the person or company it’s half money up front and half on delivery.A lawyer told me, yes you are a freelancer, but it’s your business, you should treat it like one… get legal advice… contracts etc to protect yourself
- @Peter Jackson thanks Peter I’ll have a look!
- @Abigail Baldwin oh that’s helpful. It’s kind of one step up from a gentle nudge via email. Thank you!
- Commenting to bookmark xGood luck Kelly!
- Put this message at the bottom of each invoice.Invoice due in 30 days or late payment fee will be incurred at the statutory rate of 2% per month pro rata plus a fixed sum recovery charge of at least £40.There’s is a company who I believe can help collect, like a legal body but recall what they are called, maybe try to google them. I would suggest to look into signing up with underpinned app. If you have a contract with your client they can help you recover your payment.Other than that discuss half of the fee upfront and the rest delivered before you deliver the work, they know no payment now work. And if client has a problem with you def should not be working with someone like that.Hope this helps!
- I don't have much experience of this, but was made aware of this site recently:https://goodbusinesspays.com/They deal with non and late payment to small businesses - may be helpful?
- Hi Kelly, follow your legal rights! This usually gets the non-payer moving. Go through small claims like Anna has suggested below. Before pursuing court action, you should issue a "letter before action". Citizens Advice offers templates and support on this: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/Problems-with-goods---letter-before-court-action/I hope you get paid soon. :-) x
- @Anna Negrini oh wow! That’s good to know for the future! I haven’t been paid yet, but thankfully have now made contact so I’m hoping a payment will follow soon. Thanks for the info!
- I've been in a similar situation. My suggestion is - if clearly the person is not in good faith (you can miss one email but after 4-5 emails where maybe you've proposed payment plans or similar it's clear you're trying to avoid the payment) - to send email every 15days or so saying if unanswered you'll go for the court claim https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/. They'll ask you reasons to claim (email, contract and so on) and will send an email to the person. I've been paid the same day.
- @Megan Harvey thanks Megan I'll have a look into it!
- Rubbish that you have to chase them @Kelly Jaghai - hope you get a resolution soon :) (Do give https://www.waveapps.com/ a look though - it is free, unless you want to subscribe to receiving payments etc.) and you can download the invoice and attach to your own email. It does an excellent job of keeping track of everything and doing the math! :)
- @Mike McCoole Hi Mike- no I don't use any invoice systems yet. I'm just starting out so all just done via email, and everything is quite informal! Which is fine for the moment, it's just how do you handle someone who is refusing to communicate with you?! Some great tips from everyone here though.
- @Kelly Jaghai Ah, gotcha! I ended up using the money from the client who paid late to get a contract sorted (I wasn't using one either).Definitely worth having one either way. If you're not sure who to go with and don't want to use an online template, I used http://www.sovranolegal.com/contactus.html & highly recommend. Komal is super thorough and talked me through the entire document on completion.
- Some great advice here especially the contracts/late fee/added interest/smaller payment methods. Do you use an online/automated invoice system like waveapps? This would do the 'dirty work' of sending out an automated message of late payment, which you could then follow up with a more human response like "Hey, the system has just flagged up a message re:invoice - is everything okay with the invoice?" etc.Ideally though you wouldn't have to chase!
- @Joana Ascenso I don’t but that’s a good idea! I’m just assisting an individual who is self employed. So I just invoice them once the job is done.
- @Megan Harvey hi, no I don’t. So it’s just me getting emails to ask if I’m free to work with one person who is self employed. No contracts as such its just ad-hoc work when they need me.
- @Geoffrey Bunting thanks Geoffrey. Hoping to get a reply soon and not have to escalate. It’s just one self employed person that I am invoicing, not a business so going down a legal route feels really excessive and it’s also not a huge amount of money. It’s more about the principle. I just want to be able to handle it firmly but nicely and not burn bridges because they have been nice to be up until now!
- @Mehmet Turan thanks for such an in-depth reply! This is all very helpful. I’m only just starting out freelancing and have only had a couple of jobs but I feel like the person who has booked me is possibly taking advantage of the fact that I don’t have much leverage here! But going forward I’ll definitely implement some of this where I can- you really have to know your worth don’t you?
- My contracts state very clearly that invoices need to be paid in either 15 or 28 days, depending on from where they're issued. If clients neglect to pay in that time and haven't given me a reason, late fees are applied.If enough time passes without payment and without contact, the matter becomes a legal one.It's why my contract asks for contact details as well as a signature, because that's how the courts get in touch with them when they've ignored me.So, you should be citing your contract to folks if they're not replying. Whatever penalties you have listed therein, now's the time to remind the client of them. You'd be surprised how quickly clients get back to you when you mention possible additional fees for late payments.
- @Stefan Jakubowski yes so I think from now on I will put that on the invoice so they are aware from the beginning. But 7, wow! Thanks for your reply!
- @Ria Mckelvey this is great thank you. I will keep this as an option if/when work picks up and I’m doing bigger projects! Hope you don’t have too many situations like this though.
- Hi KellyI have had a couple of overdue payments.I reached out and suggested they let me know if they were struggling to make payment in full and if this was the case we could arrange smaller payments over a period of a few months.Whilst this is not the ideal scenario as we also need to support ourselves.On each occasion, I felt this option would mean I actually would be paid eventually.I got a quick response each time I used this method and was paid in the agreed new time frame. I kept it understanding but professional.Just an option, each client is different.
- Charge interest and then invoice them for that! Or email to say that you're going to start charging interest if you're not paid by a certain date. You're legally allowed to do so under the late payment of commercial debts act 1988.I hope you get it sorted! I've been there and know how stressful it can be. My record is chasing 7 late invoices at once and that was not fun. After that I cut my payment terms from 30 days to 14 and that seemed to help things a bit.
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