talkmagic.co.uk

themagicwand wrote:A "payment run" (for those of you who may be wondering) is a phrase used by large companies to delay your payment for a few days with what seems like a genuine excuse. A "payment run" implies that the company only makes payments and issues cheques on certain days, and I will have to wait for the next "payment run" which is in a day or two.

I feel I have to stand up for large companies here as I do the payment runs for ours. We do infact only pay people on Thursdays; and that's 3 out of 4 Thursdays a month, it is not uncommon for companies to only do one pay run a month!
It's not a delay tactic, we just pay everyone at the same time; if I were to be paying each invoice on the day it fell due I'd never get any other work done!
But that's us; could be that these chaps are intentionally delaying paying you, which means they deserve a slap of course.

themagicwand wrote:However if the tax man turned up at the door and demanded a cheque for unpaid taxes, the company would probably find that their "payment run" was in fact right there & then.

If you ever see me in person, ask me about this kind of thing.

Thanks Lawrence, I stand corrected! I now have more hope that the cheque may actually arrive at some point!

I'd say find out what day they do their payment (BACS) run and make sure they have your bank details on file so they don't have to send a cheque. Then ring up the morning of the pay run to make sure it's getting processed. Then ring later in the afternoon to confirm it has gone and get them to send you a remittance advice as proof of payment.

Now can I have your address for issuing my invoice for consultancy services?

Lawrence wrote:
Now can I have your address for issuing my invoice for consultancy services?

You'll have to wait until I do a payment run.

Well, still no cheque. Have sent a very snotty email today threatening legal action. Watch this space.

Good luck Paul, I really hope that you get it sorted out. I've been stung a couple of times when working with agencies, they can be a nightmare to get the money out of sometimes.

Surely these companies will have minimum 30 day terms and won't send out a cheque until at least 30 days after the invoice? I'd have thought that the agency that booked you would have to pay irrespective of if they got paid themselves.

Sounds dreadful. You should do some voodoo on them!

I have just had a client who sent a cheque which bounced, an bounced again. After lising with the bank and them with the other bank I was told that it could go on for months because of the reason the bank gave for returning the cheque.

It turned out it was the banks fault and I ended up with a very embarrassed client who was angry with the bank. Cheques are used less and less and seem to cause more and more problems.

Are you a member of Equity?

I've only had a problem with bad payers on 3 occasions and have just handed it over to Equiity's legal team. They sorted each case out for me. There is no charge and they will pay any court fees incurred and include them in the claim against the client.

One of several reasons for being a member of Equity.

Dave.

www.madetomeasuremagic.co.uk

Nic Castle wrote:It turned out it was the banks fault and I ended up with a very embarrassed client who was angry with the bank. Cheques are used less and less and seem to cause more and more problems.

Which is strange given that cheques have been in use since the 17th century (at least in the modern era - I think some form of cheque was used by the Romans and the Templars had a kind of cheque system for the crusaders so they could deposit gold in a stronghold in Europe and withdraw the funds from a stronghold in the middle east upon the presentment of the chitty).

One would think that the banks would know very well how to process a negotiable instrument that has been used in its modern form for centuries.

Hadn't thought about Equity. That might be the route to take.

However a guy I was working with on the night has been paid today, so I am hopeful that my cheque really is "in the post". We'll see...

You have a statutory right to charge interest http://payontime.co.uk/late-payment-legislation-interest-calculators

However it would be worth checking the payment terms you have with the customer. It is. of course, their payment terms payments are made to, not any you may state on your invoice.
You would then probably have to go through the same hassle trying to get your interest invoice paid, so would be worth thinking about whether it is worth it or not; it may also tarnish future relations.

Cheque arrived today! Hurrah! It seems that talk of legal action and taking my story to the press encouraged the "payment run" to actually do some paying! Result!

Thanks to all for advice and support, particularly Lawrence. Many thanks.