Anyone got any advice on what to do please? I'm owed nearly £400 for various work for a customer. The work included replacing light fittings and accessories, all of which I supplied. I also, soon after doing this work, did two EICRs for her. To cut a long story short she was very unhappy that I'd failed them both, despite being for very good reason. Unknown to me she got another electrician to do the inspections a few days later who apparently passed them both, which I find hard to believe. When I sent the invoice she replied and said she'd give me £60 for my time and that was being generous. I pointed out the price is for all the work I did before the inspection and that I was being generous for not charging for those. She seemed ok with that but two months have since passed and not had any response to two reminders, so now working out what to do next.
Why are you not charging for the inspections?
L
loz2754
Send a letter of intent to take her to court.
Give her 7 days to cough up.
If she doesn't, then start a claim with Money Claims Online. I did this for £220. The customer eventually ended up paying nearly £300.
Give her 7 days to cough up.
If she doesn't, then start a claim with Money Claims Online. I did this for £220. The customer eventually ended up paying nearly £300.
I wish I had now to be honest.
I made sure that when doing EICR test .I would warn the client that it might not "Go to plan" And they might have to accept spending money and in some cases a lot .Most had properties that needed very little .Some had not spent any money on the electrics for years and these needed lots of work. By making sure they are aware and getting that confirmed before saves a lot of time .
D
Dustydazzler
Charge for EICRs upfront , Charge for materials upfront , if the customers smells fishy then take a 50% deposit for the work upfront
Too many chancers out there these days who want to 'renegotiate' the invoice once the work is complete
OP take them to court , non payers are worse than dodgy people
Too many chancers out there these days who want to 'renegotiate' the invoice once the work is complete
OP take them to court , non payers are worse than dodgy people
I've had similar experiences myself many times, for much higher amounts on occasion.
Follow the advice been given so far, however, be prepared for possible disappointment also. Most importantly learn from this experience and apply measures that will help to avoid this situation in the future.
Unfortunately some folk are just a**e holes.
Follow the advice been given so far, however, be prepared for possible disappointment also. Most importantly learn from this experience and apply measures that will help to avoid this situation in the future.
Unfortunately some folk are just a**e holes.
Most importantly... Follow up on the 7 day letter, or she'll think you're not serious
Depends what you mean by 'dodgy people'
In most cases they're stealing..... criminals in all but name.
THis ...never ever make a threat/promise and NOT carry it out .So many expect you to just forget it . But when you dont, they tend to fold unless they are crazy
MCOL - Money Claim Online - Welcome
set up an account on day 5 so you are ready and when day 7 has elapsed, send the court documents.
I have done it before, is fairly quick and easy.
9 times out of 10 they will fold and pay up.
lets face it, so many people "with money" are actually up to their chins in debt for all the fancy things they have to show others how rich they are.
if they loose, and they likely will if you have sent invoices for work done in good faith, then the following will happen to them.
A CCJ (County Court Judgement) will be made against them that gives them 30 days to pay you both the original invoices plus any expenses you have incurred trying to get the money.
This will mean the following for there lifestyle.
Mortgage interest will go up because the good deals are not available for people with a CCJ
credit card payments will go up for the same reason (you can no longer switch to a better deal)
the new Jag that they were about to sign the paperwork for will no longer be coming because the credit company will not provide it.
the list goes on, from household bills to holidays and mobile phones.
anyone who runs a life on credit is ---- (another word for poo) scared of a CCJ
your 400 is nothing compared to the other things they may loose out on.
lets face it, so many people "with money" are actually up to their chins in debt for all the fancy things they have to show others how rich they are.
if they loose, and they likely will if you have sent invoices for work done in good faith, then the following will happen to them.
A CCJ (County Court Judgement) will be made against them that gives them 30 days to pay you both the original invoices plus any expenses you have incurred trying to get the money.
This will mean the following for there lifestyle.
Mortgage interest will go up because the good deals are not available for people with a CCJ
credit card payments will go up for the same reason (you can no longer switch to a better deal)
the new Jag that they were about to sign the paperwork for will no longer be coming because the credit company will not provide it.
the list goes on, from household bills to holidays and mobile phones.
anyone who runs a life on credit is ---- (another word for poo) scared of a CCJ
your 400 is nothing compared to the other things they may loose out on.
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As she clearly doesn't want to pay I would send an invoice for the EICR's and then when that is not paid make a claim for the lot.
With the offer of a payment of £60, if it does materialise be careful how you accept it, if payment is made direct to your bank account I would push the payment back if you do accept it make sure you you make it known that it has been accepted as a part payment "without prejudice", the part payment thing or I'll pay you what I think it is worth is a stunt that solicitors and others in the legal profession use and can put them on a very embarassing sticky wicket if you know how to hit back
Spot on, send her the bill for the EICR’s on top you’ve offered and provided you’re professional services for the cheek of her not willing to pay make sure you charge the going rate of your services she won’t have a leg to stand on and you should be paid for the rate recommended don’t back down ?
Is her company a limited company
Check her company out on the Companies House website and some of the other sites across the internet to see how viable it is
Get everything you have done invoiced on terms of payment within 7 Days
When they are not paid take action
If all else fails seek a winding up order on her company to stop the winding up order she would have to pay you
Send the Boys around? joke
Why a joke... ? Sometimes its a lot quicker .
Hi, when I had this situation, I researched what to do and I found this on a UK governmet web site :
www.gov.uk
Here is an extract. It is for companies only I think but not sure. Mine was company to company.
And here is an example of how to work it out:
If your business were owed £1,000 and the Bank of England base rate were 0.5%:
I mailed the accounts dept. of the company and told them a new invoice would be written after 30 days using these calculations and this worked for me. Did not have to action the threat.
Hope this helps
JohnC
Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery
Late commercial payments - interest and debt recovery costs you can charge businesses for late payments
Interest on late commercial payments
The interest you can charge if another business is late paying for goods or a service is ‘statutory interest’ - this is 8% plus the Bank of England base rate for business to business transactions. You cannot claim statutory interest if there’s a different rate of interest in a contract.And here is an example of how to work it out:
If your business were owed £1,000 and the Bank of England base rate were 0.5%:
- the annual statutory interest on this would be £85 (1,000 x 0.085 = £85)
- divide £85 by 365 to get the daily interest: 23p a day (85 / 365 = 0.23)
- after 50 days this would be £11.50 (50 x 0.23 = 11.50)
I mailed the accounts dept. of the company and told them a new invoice would be written after 30 days using these calculations and this worked for me. Did not have to action the threat.
Hope this helps
JohnC
Being PC mate that's all but totally agree
It applies to any business to business transaction. You could include something in the contract to cover late payments for a business to consumer scenario though.Hi, when I had this situation, I researched what to do and I found this on a UK governmet web site :
Here is an extract. It is for companies only I think but not sure. Mine was company to company.Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery
Late commercial payments - interest and debt recovery costs you can charge businesses for late payments
Interest on late commercial payments
The interest you can charge if another business is late paying for goods or a service is ‘statutory interest’ - this is 8% plus the Bank of England base rate for business to business transactions. You cannot claim statutory interest if there’s a different rate of interest in a contract.
And here is an example of how to work it out:
If your business were owed £1,000 and the Bank of England base rate were 0.5%:
Send a new invoice if you decide to add interest to the money you’re owed.
- the annual statutory interest on this would be £85 (1,000 x 0.085 = £85)
- divide £85 by 365 to get the daily interest: 23p a day (85 / 365 = 0.23)
- after 50 days this would be £11.50 (50 x 0.23 = 11.50)
I mailed the accounts dept. of the company and told them a new invoice would be written after 30 days using these calculations and this worked for me. Did not have to action the threat.
Hope this helps
JohnC
Don't forget under Late Payment of Commercial Debts legislation you can charge statutory compensation on top of the interest also.
I've had to make a claim a couple of times. Hope it all works out for you.
Small claims court, charging for everything plus interest, plus lost time to sue, plus advice taken to sue, plus damages to reputation, plus mental and emotional stress.
You have to take these people on otherwise they will just keep trying to drag our industry down to the pits.
Once a court summons lands on her mat she'll pay up. Always take photos and have evidence of work too.
Update:
She's paid the full original amount this morning, 2 days before the 2 weeks from date of being served would be up and I could apply for judgement. Cutting it fine, I was honestly expecting her to ignore it. Only thing is I've lost 50 quid by making the claim, don't know where I stand on that but I won't lose too much sleep over it.
She's paid the full original amount this morning, 2 days before the 2 weeks from date of being served would be up and I could apply for judgement. Cutting it fine, I was honestly expecting her to ignore it. Only thing is I've lost 50 quid by making the claim, don't know where I stand on that but I won't lose too much sleep over it.
Bill her for the £50 for the claim. People like you are too nice and it lets them get away with it. Do you think a proper company would swallow the court fee and pay it themselves?
Make her pay for your time, effort, energy and costs.
That cost should be included in the claim, you can reject it and demand the full amount including court costs and interest.
She is trying to be clever, most business people know you have to pay the court costs
She is trying to be clever, most business people know you have to pay the court costs
Interestingly, had she been daft enough to go to court with it, she would have had to produce those EICRs as evidence of your "wrongdoing" (I'm assuming she was taking the line of "your EICRs were rubbish and therefore you're incompetent"). At which point, if you were certain of your ground, you'd be able to report the other electrician - to their competent person scheme if they were a member.
Even solicitors will try it on. Maaany years ago (with some friends) I had a computer business, and we used the services of a local solicitor while setting up the business. We never noticed that they hadn't billed us for their time. Roll forward a few years, the original business had failed (lets say, more enthusiasm than business acumen ?), and a couple of us had set up a different one. Then we got a demand from the solicitor for some money - a partner was retiring and they realised we'd not been billed, so they billed us and demanded payment. They soon shut up when I pointed out that we had engaged them as officers of the first company company (which had by now been wound up) and our current company was not liable for the debt - and threatened to report them to their governing body if they persisted. They would have known before they even asked for it that they were in the wrong.
PS - I've also used the statutory interest thing in the past, you'd be amazed at the reasons/excuses some companies can come up with as to why it "doesn't apply to them".
I've had them try to omit the statutory interest and compensation from payment before. Seemingly the meaning of "statutory" is beyond some...
If it's possible for me to get it off her then I'll certainly try, she had ample opportunity to pay before even after warning I'd take legal action, I agree I shouldn't be out of pocket to get what I'm owed. Just not sure what the next step is, it's not very clear on the MCOL site. I don't even know if the letter sent to her included the court fee.
Had something like this years ago and I was advised that when it would still go to court and the court would award the fees only.
On a side note- if you get a CCJ / Decree wait 31 days before you hassle them and it will stay on the credit file
If a person settles a CCJ / decree within 30 days then it is not marked on the credit agencies, better to wait a few weeks to hammer a point home
On a side note- if you get a CCJ / Decree wait 31 days before you hassle them and it will stay on the credit file
If a person settles a CCJ / decree within 30 days then it is not marked on the credit agencies, better to wait a few weeks to hammer a point home
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