Customer Refusing To Pay.........

[akajonnyg]

Hi. I have a customer who is refusing to pay us. We did a job for them in October 2013, invoiced them by email (as they requested), unfortunatly we emailed the invoice to the wrong department (although the correct department still eventually received the invoice). They are now refusing to pay us due to the 6 month time frame. They are quoting their SLA which states all invoices must be sent to them within 30 days. We no longer do any work for them as this is a typical example of how they behave. We only have this one invoice outstanding and have absolutley no intention of ever working for them again. Where do we stand legally? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks in advance

[pixie373]

Do you have any records/e-mails that show when the invoice was received?

[New Judge]

I take it by "SLA" you mean "Service Level Agreement". Were you party to this or is it simply part of their own processes and procedures?

[Graham-W]

Small claims court. Even a threat of small claims court could be enough to do the trick.

[akajonnyg]

All emails are recored and still available

[akajonnyg]

I was party to the SLA, signed it etc.

[New Judge]

What does it say about invoicces and payments then?

[New Judge]

I only ask because whilst Graham is quite right (although "Money Claims online" may be a better starting point: https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim-online#before-you-start) the matter may be slightly complicated by the SLA. However, debts do not "die" after six months whatever they may contend. Provided you can show that the debt is properly owed and that it has not been paid despite your efforts to secure it then "Money Claim Online" should do the trick.

[akajonnyg]

It dose say as they say, and every other other invoice has been sent to the correct email address, but this one was mistakenly sent to another department within the same company. The correct department does now have it but are refsuing to pay it based on the SLA that we have agreed to - but does their SLA count as law, or guidance. Is there anything in law that states we have a cetain amount of time to invoice a customer, or is it purely dicatated by the customers TnC's.

[sandyRoe]

What's the name of this company? Behaviour like this deserves the full glare of publicity.

[New Judge]

They cannot impose terms and conditions (or "service Level Agreements") that override the law. Strictly speaking debts in the UK are never written off (except by bankruptcy) but they cannot be persued through the courts after six years. So you've plenty of time.

[Peter Pedant]

Small claims

which is of course MCOL

easy to use - you will have to send your claim to THEM at some point

but your claim is pretty straightforward - we did work for them at a price - invoiced them and they didnt pay....

[IggyB]

It doesn't really matter (for the reasons given by new judge) however what does the SLA say, if it states that invoices must be received by the company within 30 days then you have complied even if wrong dept. I would suggest they need to improve their systems if they failed to properly process an invoice

[Peter Pedant]

agree Oggy - oi!

anyway I think you are also covered by the 1977 COntract unfair terms act - so you dont put any of that in your claim

[ToraToraTora]

Anything that has been administratively breeched does not overide the basic tennet of law it merely gives mitigation in any subsequent court case. if the amount is small enough hit them with a small claim as others above have suggested.

[Peter Pedant]

claim weeny enough TTT ?
the limit is £10 k

which er I would call big big big

[akajonnyg]

Thank-You for all your answers and advice. Its much appreciated. I agree that behaviour like this should be stopped and companies like this should be made to realise that we others do not use their time, money and resources for free. Money claim online is the next step ........... thanks again!