Late payments

[mrprez]

I was wondering what everyone else's experience is with stragglers who pay late? I have about 4% of my total client base who are late right now. Wondering if this is high, low or what.

 

Also, when do you suspend and account? Cancel an account? Do you charge late fees? Reinstatement fees?

 

Just curious.

 

John

[impactgc]

well 4% would depend on how many clients you have

 

I do charge a late fee - day after the invoice is due.

send follow-up emails

2 days after suspend account- and send another email.

2 days after - we terminate the account.

 

This all varies depending on if we hear or not hear from the customer.

 

Reinstatment fee - some companies do and some don't .

We charge depending on the service

 

Thanks,

Adam

[mrprez]

# of customers = 939

 

2 days to suspend and another 2 to cancel.

 

ANyone else?

[minadreapta]

approx 500 customers,

 

suspension the next day.

cancel within 7 days.

 

since i send renewal reminders at 60, 30, 14, 7, 3 and 1 day, i think the customer has enough time to pay.

 

so i suspend at 12:01 AM

 

[Si]

1068 customers

 

30 days before due date, invoice raised and customer notified.

3rd 5th and 7th day overdue notices past the due date.

7th day = late fee and suspension

30 days after suspension deletion from the server

[rodeoXtreme]

937 Clients

 

7 days before due dates; invoice created and sent

3 days prior to dues date - a unpaid invoice notice is sent

Days 3, 5, and 7 days - Overdue Invoice notice is sent

Day 10; Late Fee Charged, Account suspended

Day 30; Account Terminated

 

If we do not hear from the client, We charge an additional $10; reinstatement fee after Day 15. Between day 16 and 29 we charge $30 for reinstatement.

[Cubeboy]

I see where I input the late fee but where do i input the reinstatement fee?

[awardle]

Late payments is driving me crazy at the moment, its certainly time for me to introduce stricter payment terms.

[easyhosting]

An invoice will be generated and sent 14 days before the due date

 

A reminder will be sent 1 day before the due date

 

Invoice then resent on due date and then if unpaid

 

After 1 day a First Overdue reminder is sent.

 

After 2 days a Second Overdue reminder is sent.

 

After 3 days a £10 late fee is added to the invoice.

 

After 4 days a Third and Final reminder is sent

 

After 5 days a Letter before Action will be issued against the account holder.

 

After 7 Days your account will be suspended (if you have a reseller account all you clients accounts will also be suspened) A £10 fee will be charged to unsuspend upto 3 accounts and £2 per account after that.

 

After 30 Days you account will be terminated

[Nexxterra]

Some of these policies are quite harsh, although we are all in business to make money, we should not lose touch with the fact there is a person at the other end of the account.

Unlike us, the internet and their web sites may not be the center of their lives.

I deal only with businesses, do not offer reseller accounts so I am the direct link to the users website, I try to give a gentle reminder.

I have clients that have went months without paying and then resurface, pay in full like nothing was ever wrong.

I even have a long time customer that has not paid for almost a year, his receptionist says he will be out of jail later this summer, I am sure he will pay then!

I can be very liberal because my servers are owned, so my costs are the same if I have one or one thousand accounts on each.

Just remember, be nice, I would look for a new company soon after having my account shut down.... even if it was my fault.

[easyhosting]

Whats harsh, a client signs up for hosting agreeing to pay each month, the invoice is sent to them 2 weeks before the due date, so they have 2 weeks that they can pay and then another week before a late fee is added, so basically 3 weeks to pay before any action is taken. this process has worked for me over the last 6 years since introducing it and 99.9% of my clients pay ontime now and the other 00.1% usually pays within 2 days of the due date.

 

Some of these policies are quite harsh, although we are all in business to make money, we should not lose touch with the fact there is a person at the other end of the account.

Unlike us, the internet and their web sites may not be the center of their lives.

I deal only with businesses, do not offer reseller accounts so I am the direct link to the users website, I try to give a gentle reminder.

I have clients that have went months without paying and then resurface, pay in full like nothing was ever wrong.

I even have a long time customer that has not paid for almost a year, his receptionist says he will be out of jail later this summer, I am sure he will pay then!

I can be very liberal because my servers are owned, so my costs are the same if I have one or one thousand accounts on each.

Just remember, be nice, I would look for a new company soon after having my account shut down.... even if it was my fault.

[thenspdude]

Invoice sent 5 days before due date, so the client definitely has time to pay or contact us to negotiate an extension.

 

Suspension of service at 12:01 a.m. on the day after the due date.

Late fee on the 3rd day. ($15.00)

Termination on the 10th day (20% or $30.00, whichever's greater)

Reinstatement fee of $20.00 10th-30th day

Collections 31st day, plus $200.00 collection agency fee

 

All terms are clearly spelled out in the terms of service that the user agrees to before proceeding with order.

 

However, we state that we reserve the right to proceed as shown above. If a client has been with us and runs into a tight spot, we do work with them. We're not robots here, but we are tired of people playing the system.

Edited July 13, 2010 by thenspdude