Why does nobody talk about the time tax on chasing down late payments?

I had a client from a big city ad agency who was 60 days late on a $2,500 invoice. I figured sending a few emails would fix it. Wrong. It turned into a whole thing with their new finance person, needing a new W-9, and then their system 'glitching'. What I thought would take maybe an hour over two days ended up eating almost eight hours of my time across three weeks. I was on the phone, digging up old contracts, and sending the same documents three times. That's a full day of billable work I just lost because someone else's process was broken. Has anyone found a good way to make this faster without sounding like you're yelling at them?

3 comments

3 Comments

thea_campbell21d ago

Look at it from their side though. Big companies have layers of rules and new people start all the time. That "glitch" was probably a real system error. Your eight hours is just the cost of doing business with a major client. You should have built that time into your rate from the start. Getting paid is part of the job, not extra work. If you want fast and simple, only work with tiny companies.

roberts.claire21d ago

Wow, you just changed my whole view on this. I used to get so mad chasing payments from big companies, like it was a personal insult. But calling it "the cost of doing business" clicks for me. It's not a glitch, it's just how their machine works. I guess I should stop being surprised and just plan for it.

angelac635d ago

Exactly, @roberts.claire. It's a built-in delay tactic. Their system is set to pay on 90 days, not 30, because that free float of cash is worth more to them than your good will. You're not just waiting on an invoice, you're basically giving them a short-term, zero-interest loan. I've seen it with office supply orders, where the big chain takes 120 days to pay the small local printer for the bags. You have to price that loan into your quote, because they sure won't.