# collect past due invoices



## glager (Jul 16, 2008)

I have a couple customers who have past due invoices. each for around $400+. I've sent them invoices over and over with finance charges. Stamped PAST DUE on the outside of the envelope. What steps can i take to inspire these deadbeats to pay up!


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## eaglesofttees (Nov 10, 2008)

I have called/emailed mine constantly and then finally called them and with a straight voice told them I want you down here today to pay your balance and they showed up within an hour. Sometimes I have told them that I was gonna throw their stuff out or donate it unless they showed up or paid me.


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## glager (Jul 16, 2008)

unfortuneately i gave them 30 days to pay and the goods have already been delivered.


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## Dan K (Nov 15, 2006)

This subject could be an issue for you guys until you revise your terms...

As for the current unpaid invoices, unfortunately now it's kind of out of your hands. If they are going to pay you they will pay you on their terms. If they are not responding now, they might not ever respond.

I'd highly recommend, and it is an industry standard to require a deposit, 50% being the most common. 50% deposit, 50% balance due on completion of the order... Do not release the garments until you get that payment.

This is totally reasonable, it ensures that you get paid for what you do, and if for some reason someone places an order of printed shirts with you (assuming this is what you do), and then bails on it, then at least you have the money to cover the COG.


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

I haven't had to deal with this in a while but I used to call and ask why they haven't paid and then give them a guilt trip about how my employees worked very hard to complete their order on time at high quality and if I don't get paid for the job then they don't receive their bonuses for doing such a good job. The guilt trip gets most of them, if that doesn't work then I get less nice. Sometimes I've offered (threatened) to come to their workplace (for their convenience) and pick up payment but I've never had to do it. Once they get beyond 120 days they probably don't intend to pay and you can turn them over to collections.


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## Unik Ink (Nov 21, 2006)

Do you have an attorney friend? Have them write a very "persuading" letter. lol


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

We always collect 100% upfront. But since this is hindsight for you, this is what we had to do once.

The guy came in all sad, and I asked what the problem was thinking it was the quality of our work, but then finally he gets a "random" cell phone call with the other person on the other side telling our customer that his father had just passed in the hospital. He said that he had been there all day but he decided to leave for a bit to pick up his order from us. Naturally I felt horrible and told him to come back later to pay (it only seemed human). 

2 weeks passed without any notice. So we sent them 1 email and 3 phone calls asking them to return our calls asap. No response. We sent them a letter with a $20/per day charge, possible court costs, and a letter stating if their invoice had not been paid within 48 hours, that we would be forced to turn it over to collections.

They called us back literally 10 minutes. The guy was freaked out and said he was so sorry that he didn't mean to disrespect our business. Total BS, but hey, we got his cc over the phone and it was a done deal.


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## jmlampert23 (Nov 7, 2008)

my shop is so large that i probably have about $30,000 of owed money. it is hard to do all the work and then spend hours collecting money. i know how you feel it sucks. i have thought about trying to get involved with the credit score companies so if people dont pay it affects their credit but i think that is too expensive. if i find out any way to do that i will be sure to let you know


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

jmlampert23 said:


> my shop is so large that i probably have about $30,000 of owed money. it is hard to do all the work and then spend hours collecting money. i know how you feel it sucks. i have thought about trying to get involved with the credit score companies so if people dont pay it affects their credit but i think that is too expensive. if i find out any way to do that i will be sure to let you know


And this is how businesses go out. You mind as well become a collection agency lol. My father has over $100k that is owed to him by his customers. Although it is not much to his business as his ratio of $2 million sales revenue VS $100k owed, it still hurts it bottom line. 

In any case, sometimes you have to kiss the money good bye.


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## jmlampert23 (Nov 7, 2008)

yea it sucks. sometimes it is cheaper to kiss it good by than to try and chase it around and collect it


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## nascarbob (Mar 29, 2008)

You can start asking questions about correct street address, correct name, etc. Tell them you want to be accurate when you take them to small claims court. Keep carefull records from this point forward of every email, start sending letters delivery conformation, signature required. Hopefully a little fear and pressure will work for you. 

In the future require 100% payment when goods are delivered. I require that upon order.


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## proworlded (Oct 3, 2006)

Times are tough. Don't give terms. Cover the cost of the job with a deposit and collect the balance when delivered. Do you accept credit cards? if so, get the full payment up front. They will have at least 30 days to pay the credit card balance.


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## jmlampert23 (Nov 7, 2008)

basically do what you have to do to get your money but be nice about it with a little pressure


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

the worst thing i find about collecting past due money is that it makes me feel like a beggar.


on the other hand, if a company is trying to collect from you before the due date, beware. They maybe going out of business. 




:


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## dmfelder (Oct 25, 2008)

It's definitely getting worse for everyone, even us t-shirt printers! We just partnered up with a collections agency. They buy our debt for pennies on the dollar, and then we get to stop wasting our time (=money!) chasing them down.

It's kind of counter-intuitive, too. Our funny shirt business (direct-to-garment printing) has little problem collecting because of the one-off nature of the customers. It's our big screen printing customers at who seem to not be able to pony up the cash.

Bottom line, try to get a PO from the company upfront, so at least you can take them to court for a few bucks.


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## fdsales (Jul 1, 2007)

I would assume you have made phone calls & spoke directly with these customers? Are they local? If so, go there in person & very nicely "demand" your payment. If all that fails, find a collection agency, and place the accounts with them. Unfortunately, you may never collect these debts, and that is part of any business that offers credit terms. You can generally minimize your risk by offering credit card payments, getting deposits, not releasing merchandise without payment, and be very selective to companies to whom you offer open terms. Just because someone has a business does not mean they will or can pay all their bills.


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## cookiesa (Feb 27, 2008)

And to that I would add size makes NO difference. Some of the worst slow payers (different of course to being a no payer!) are the biggest companies.

Unfortuantely part of my business is dealing with companies and I have 1 that I am having to apply the screws to to get them to coff up.

It is harder with a "once off" type customer like yours sounds to be as the threat of placing their account on hold, interest charges or them loosing their credit account with you are not going to make much of a difference to them.


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