Unpaid Invoices & Paying Suppliers | on ElectriciansForums
Guest viewing is limited

Unpaid Invoices & Paying Suppliers

Post new thread

Discuss Unpaid Invoices & Paying Suppliers in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

N

nlbhoy

Hey Guys,

I'm looking for a bit of advice from anyone who may have been in similar situation, at one time or another.

I'm a one man band, I've been set up as a limited company since I started in 2015. I had been
doing a lot of work for a big contractor at the tail end of last year, I have outstanding invoices
totalling £6500 which I may never get (apparently this has happened before). This has put me
in a bad spot with one of my suppliers as I have outstanding invoices due to them for about £2800,
which I'm struggling to pay back anytime soon. I tried to work out a payment plan with them,
but they seem to have blanked the request, as I keep getting letters about taking me to court etc.

I'm looking for a little advice on how to proceed with this.

Thanks
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Invoice factoring may help in future, but I'm not sure you can factor an invoice you've already issued, I've got a friend in the business who I am hopefully seeing tomorrow morning, I'll make some enquiries.

For the now though, check your insurance. Some policies include cover against not getting paid I believe (certainly my policy does). Could be you could make a claim to cover the debt with your supplier. Is the supplier a big company, if it's a smaller company you may be able to appeal to the head honcho, could be you're dealing with jobsworth bean counters who are following policy to the letter.

As for the client... you say it's happened before... to you or have you heard through the grapevine they are bad at paying up, or is it just an administrative error? Maybe a letter to them threatening court action may work (depends I guess on whether you want to work form them again)?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Just another thought... what about having a chat with your bank? I don't expect you to divulge any details, but if you've not got one already an overdraft may help particularly if you go and see them and explain the situation. And the credit card idea from @sparkdog isn't such a bad one, there are normally good 0% deals on personal ones... use it to inject some capital into the business, your accountant may have some ideas too.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hi bud,there are many,many details,the majority of,with respect,are your private business,which would affect the advice offered.

Things like,if you had any written contract with your debtor,are they still trading,reasons given for non payment,etc.
If the work was 3 or 4 months ago,have you been using the supplier for other work,since,and are they chasing for all or some.

If you are going to remain trading,do NOT ignore the legal aspects,tackle politely,head on.
Putting these to one side,even when you are fully in the right,will only allow the situation to develop,to a position where nobody will care about the original cause or any culpability.

With the utmost of respect,for your particular scenario,these issues run from the company holding out due to perfectly understandable,and legitimate reasons,right up to them being serial abusers of subbies...

You may find,a small amount of money spent gaining a specific legal advisers opinion,to be cash well spent.

If my legal expertise was sought after...i'd have softer hands,and more houses ;)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Your creditors may be threatening to take you to court, however if the court sees you have made an offer to pay they will not take sanctions against you. If your debt is greater than your assets then techinically you are insolvent. That is a liquidity ratio of below 1:1. It is illegal to operate insolvent. Of course this is the loophole many people in your postion use! As maybe your debtors are or will! They go into liquidation then form a new business, not good I agree but it is part of the cut and thrust of the business world. Do you have an accountant? Ask them what your liquidity ratio is. Explain to your creditors they may force you into liquidation if they do not agree to a scheduled payment plan. They should understand they will get nothing if that is the case or perhaps a settlement of .05 p in the pound. In your position I would pay over what I can as and when I can. Regular payment of even £50.00 per month will stave off court action. Just do a BACS transfer to their account. It is a little known fact that there is not much the court can do about debt.
Get a debt collector onto recovering the money owed to you TODAY! do not delay. Factoring is probably not good in this case as the debt will still be on you, it will just be the bank as well as the wholesaler after their money.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 0 Downvote
In fairness £2800 isn't that much. I know of a sole trader who has £45,000 owed to him. His words to me were that he was too busy to chase it up. (I think I'd find the time)

If the supplier wants to try and put you out of business over this he'll never get his money back. The supplier should be ashamed of themselves, threatening legal action over a piddly amount such as this. You'll be able to pull the money back on new jobs going forward.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rapparee said:
In fairness £2800 isn't that much. I know of a sole trader who has £45,000 owed to him. His words to me were that he was too busy to chase it up. (I think I'd find the time)

If the supplier wants to try and put you out of business over this he'll never get his money back. The supplier should be ashamed of themselves, threatening legal action over a piddly amount such as this. You'll be able to pull the money back on new jobs going forward.
Click to expand...
Where you been hiding Rapp.?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Have you sat down with the branch manager and explained the situation? I got in to a little situation about 5 years ago and owed my wholesaler (which was/is a multi national)10K as I was knocked 28K and just chipped it down as much as I could over a few months or so.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

Reply to Unpaid Invoices & Paying Suppliers in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Similar threads

lozarus
  • Question
Private Jobs whilst Employed
It's actually not as those are accidents outside of work, if you suffer an injury whilst working for someone else or doing private work then...
Replies
12
Views
1K
davesparks
D

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

YOUR Unread Posts

This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by untold.media Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top