I need to be paid first :(

Hi,

I have a client that is late paying their invoice. No surprise there! However, I was wondering how other's would respond to their response to my please pay email. Their response was;

"I’ve set this payment up to go out in early May - I need to wait for Graham to pay me before I can pay you and I’m not invoicing him until the end of this month."

So they are not refusing to pay, but I don't see why I need to wait for them to be paid first. I certainly wouldn't do it, and they did sign a contract agreeing to 15-day payment terms.

Please keep in mind I wish to stay professional and friendly with this client as they attend a lot of the networking meetings I go to, this is in fact how she ended up being a customer. At the same time, I just want it to be known I don't think this is fair.

Thoughts please
 
Inform them of the late payment charge, you do have one in your terms and conditions don't you :)

I'd also politely mention that your contract is with him, not his client and that it is his responsibility to pay up when invoiced and then recoup his payments from his client not for you to wait until he has received his money from the client, who's to say the client will pay on time, your's isn't.

Plenty of companies seem to try this on these days because they can't manage their own cashflow so I now have a policy where it's 50% up front, 50% on completion (short jobs, long jobs can be spread out obviously) when it's over a minimum amount, otherwise payment up front.
 
I'd also politely mention that your contract is with him, not his client and that it is his responsibility to pay up when invoiced and then recoup his payments from his client not for you to wait until he has received his money from the client, who's to say the client will pay on time

Exactly, I have had this a few times before, a lot of businesses do not have the funds to cover your invoice if their customer doesn't pay, how these companies manage to operate I don't know.
 
I just sent this, think it's straight forward and polite.

"The terms which were agreed to are 15 days, as such if payment were not received before 30th April, there would be a late fee, also outlined in the terms."
 
I hope you haven't handed over any high res , final files to them before being paid, have you?
 
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