Unacceptable (but Frequent) Excuses for Late Payment

• Mr X has just died.
• Our Company Secretary has just left.
• We are in the middle of changing banks.
• We have just acquired a new Company, and have got rather behind.
• Because of holidays/staff shortages/the 'flu/ Christmas, we have got rather behind.

All of these are unacceptable but very frequently utilised excuses for late payment - and basically they are all designed to appeal to your better nature or to simple fellow-feeling.

Obviously, it's very sad when anyone dies - but unless our fictional 'Mr X' was a sole trader with no staff at all and there was never any co-signatory on the business account, then his death would not constitute a valid reason for late payment. By all means be sympathetic, but don't be so sympathetic that you fail to ask questions. If Mr X really was a sole trader and completely bereft of staff, then the person most likely to answer the telephone is a family member - in which case you will likely get all the answers you need just by listening and making sympathetic noises in the right places. If a member of staff answers the telephone, however, then you can be sure that that person will be getting his or her salary cheque as usual, and you should press to get your own cheque.

Whenever a Company Secretary leaves, arrangements must obviously be made beforehand by the Company for a change of signatory on the Company's cheques - and it's unlikely that the Company Secretary was the only person capable of signing the Company's cheques in the first place. Furthermore, no bank will leave a Company without a cheque book, and a temporary cheque book will therefore have been issued to your customer. In either case, don't forget that you can settle for a banker's draft, a money order, a banker's cheque, payment by BACS - or cash. Mention these alternatives, and press for payment.

Everyone is overworked and under pressure at some time or another. Many people know all about the holes in the system that can appear due to contagious diseases or because people need to be able to take their holidays during the school holidays and how difficult it can be to fill those holes adequately; a lot of people understand far too much about the 'Christmas' rush, and some people understand the frenetic activity and administrative nightmares that can accompany an acquisition - so we can all sympathise with people who are experiencing those problems and pressures. But not to the extent of accepting the existence of those pressures as being valid reasons for failing to pay suppliers on time. Sympathise, empathise, relate your own experiences - and then press for payment, because that is exactly what would happen were the shoe to be on the other foot...