Debt recovery - Thomas Higgins Partnership

Has anyone used the Thomas Higgins Partnership debt recovery/law firm to chase up bad debts? - https://www.thomashiggins.com/

They seem remarkably cheap, just wondering if there's a catch somewhere that I haven't spotted yet?

What's the matter monkey paddler not paying the bill :slap  

I wouldn't bother getting solicitors onto Paddler, he'd eat them for graping breakfast.

Unless it was for animal cruelty I guess, he's a total courgette to a cute fluffy cuddly monkee

No, this ones for a rancid old bat that is being as recalcitrant as she can possibly be, just to be a PITA. I've had enough so want to hit her with summat official, trouble is there's only £175 left outstanding on her account. I'm Tangoed if I'm paying double that to get it back if you know what I mean

sprocketflup said:

No, this ones for a rancid old bat that is being as recalcitrant as she can possibly be, just to be a PITA. I've had enough so want to hit her with summat official, trouble is there's only £175 left outstanding on her account. I'm Tangoed if I'm paying double that to get it back if you know what I mean

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isnt that what he said?  :C   :slap

Sharpend said:

What's the matter monkey paddler not paying the bill :slap  

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Do it for "free" at the small claims court online. Just pay for the case which is added onto the amount being claimed.

Don't forget to add on any amounts owed under  "The late payment act"  which has a section on the claim form

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH said:

Do it for "free" at the small claims court online. Just pay for the case which is added onto the amount being claimed.

Don't forget to add on any amounts owed under  "The late payment act"  which has a section on the claim form

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Check this out Monkey ...as Slippery said ,  I used it once ,  try Googling  " The Construction Industry late payment Scheme"

I think you can calclate the added interest on the site the quote it to the customer .

I have only had to do this twice.

I phoned a local firm of debt collectors. There would have been an up front fee of £25 to instruct them. After that, they recover all their fees from the "customer"

But I never actually needed to go as far as instructing them, as in both cases I sent a letter by recorded post saying if I had not received the overdue payment within 14 days, that I would hand the matter to a debt collector who would add their fees to the debt due.  They paid promptly upon receiving that letter.

So send that recorded delivery letter first and see how you get on.

You need to write to the customer and sending a copy of the outstanding invoice. The letter needs to include the following statement:

Dear xxxxxxx

RE: Final demand for Invoice No. YYYYYY

This invoice remains unpaid. I have emailed and posted you copies a number of reminders requesting payment.

I attach my original invoice to this letter and wish to inform you, that if the invoice is not settled in full by xx xxxx 2016, I intend to refer this matter to the Small Claims Court without further reference to you.

Please be aware that all costs associated with such action are added to your outstanding bill and will make the final payment higher.

Yours sincerely,

On the back of my invoices are the "terms and conditions"

They state two important things:

Title to all materials installed remains mine until the invoice is paid in full.

Payment is due within 30 days, and I reserve the right to charge interest at 2% above the bank of England base rate on all overdue invoices after that date.

Yes two very wise statements there Dave. 

Late payment act ( for commercial debts actually is " Late payment of commercial debts (interest) act 1998)  is 8% above the bank of England  rate which is currently 0.5 % so its a total of 8.5% daily.

SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH said:

Late payment act ( for commercial debts actually is " Late payment of commercial debts (interest) act 1998)  is 8% above the bank of England  rate which is currently 0.5 % so its a total of 8.5% daily.

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I would love someone to be overdue on a £2K job and pay me £1`70 per day interest. I wouldn't mind if it took them a couple of months to pay.

Would I decalare that as "income" or "capital gain" (which would be a lower rate of tax and probably exempt anyway)

ProDave said:

On the back of my invoices are the "terms and conditions"

They state two important things:

Title to all materials installed remains mine until the invoice is paid in full.

Payment is due within 30 days, and I reserve the right to charge interest at 2% above the bank of England base rate on all overdue invoices after that date.

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Having recently done a lot of research about this I am afraid to say terms on invoices are not worth the paper it is written on. Under contract law the T&Cs that take presidence are the T&Cs that are the last set of T&Cs that are agreed prior to contract completion. Usually an invoice is sent after completion so has no standing in law. 

usually T&C's are reproduced on an invoice as a reminder, however are usually sent out on the quote, the quote should have either a statement along lines of acceptance of quote is acceptance of T&C's, or a signature return slip which confirms that the client is bound by T&C's. Thus forming a written contract. 

go with small claims court, fairly straightforward. had to do that to someone last year who was overdue on a few invoices. they didnt pay one of them on time to ended up with a CCJ...

So the answer to the original question is 'no' then.....:slap

Ive already sent her the final demand, and the letter stating unequivocally that if the balance is not paid in full by 26th March, then I shall be handing the matter over to a higher authority. This has been going on for over 6 months, each time I've sent her a letter she has paid a bit more and picked my letter apart, the last letter I sent I made absolutely sure that what t said was concrete, no ambiguity whatsoever. "Pay me, this much, by this date"

Well a bit more wordy than that lol. There has been no response. I just know she is testing to see if I'm as good as my word.

So its time to hand it over. Which is why I've been looking around for who to hand it to.

I've already looked into the Small Claims Court, and its anything but free. I don't think that'll be the route I'll take, but thanks Slips

sprocketflup said:

I've already looked into the Small Claims Court, and its anything but free. I don't think that'll be the route I'll take, but thanks Slips

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How much are you owed?

£175