Topic: Is thier a "normal' time frame to recieve payment on a invoice?

[mobilewashpros]

Normally you will find the larger the chain the slower they are at least that's  what I have run into...I have a couple of nationwide steakhouses that I do here and they are always 40-45 days but then I have a local property management company that pays within 10 days depending if the invoice gets in before their closing date for that month

Its a mix here, one of my largest is turn in an invioce on thursday and pick up a check on tuesday. This is a 15 day account as well. Others are 2-3 week difference

[Pro Care]

a hotel manager told me that his company purposely waits for the length of time I have written on the invoice. If its a net 10 or 30 they will wait the full 10 or 30 days. and then process it. which is why i always put net 10. It still takes them like 2 mos sometimes. I have one location of these particular hotels that are behind 3 + mos. currently. they owe me like 1200.00 but they do that crap then all of a sudden it pours in, then the next few mos like clock work. They must be playing it on the stock market or something waiting to collect all the interest they can on their money before spending it. who the hell knows, its insane. I bet they wouldnt let you pay them like that. pay for a hotel room 3 months later. right!

edit: I will add that I usually dont get pushy though. they have all always paid. just try not to get too strung out waiting for them.

[TheCleaningDoc]

My feelings about this CRAP is that I am not a bank. If they want to play with money use their own or borrow it from the bank. Laws should be changed to allow vendors to charge interest past the due date and make it enforcable.

[Sunshine]

Cash on completion is always nice if it is not contract work.

Many of the larger companies have Visa or Mastercard that they can pay on if needed. If you don't already have one you could check out getting a paypal account, they will take a small percentage of V and M's but it is generally cheaper than using a permanent merchant service in the beginning.

That being said, if you do need to bill your services out,(contracts and whatnot) it always pays to be nice to the office girls. Just give A/P a call and ask her what the best way to proceed would be in order to get paid the quickest. You will also find that she will let you know the payment schedule that she follows. Then you will know what to expect and budget accordingly.

[bhenson]

We have one account that we do twice a week. We turn our invoice in after we are done on friday and pick up the check later that day. The other usually pay 15 day net or 30 net. But I do have that one that waits 45-60 days to pay and its a small car lot. Guess thay have to sell a car before thay can pay. It really doesnt bother me to much on that account its very small 50.00 a week acccount.

[cpoulos2]

I'm still waiting to get paid on a job I did in august. Every time I talk to the PM they say the check will be here next week. They just had me turn in a bid on a pretty big job. Right now they owe me 500. I figured ill wait to see if I get the big job and then when I take them to court it will be for 5000 instead of 500. Anybody have any experience with small claims court?

[Sunshine]

When you have a slow paying customer that keeps telling you that the cheque will be mailed out tomorrow (next week, whenever) get a confirmed day from them and once they have committed (a lie or not) let them know that you are working in the area and will come down and pick it up. If this customer is out of the area or out of town, ask them what time you should arrange the courier for

This is typically a no fail tactic once they have told you they will be making a payment. I used it just yesterday! My cheque should be arriving via Purolator in about 2 hours.

Whenever possible deal directly with A/P, the guy arranging the deal originally usually has nothing to do with billing. This way you will also preserve your relationship with them.

[mobilewashpros]

Got an account about 2 months ago. Hasn't paid for a single invoice yet and its a 15 day account. They pay on net 30 terms and cut checks daily so after the first month I should have had a check every other week from them. Spoke with the owner and he said he would get it taken care of. A good friend does the hoods and fire systems there and he is over 70 days out on this store and over 90 on another 7 stores in their portfolio. Its really ridiculous when they just called him to come out and inspect this new mobile trailer cooking unit they just paid 25k for but they can't pay us the measly 4k they owe us. After the next cleaning well have a come to jesus talk about payment terms and if it doesn't change I will stop service until payment then require cash from the register to further do business with them. Its not about the money were only talking about 660.00 but its the principle of it all. I can't put off amex or tell city bank that I will pay when I feel like it so why should I allow them to do the same. I am not a lender operating for them.