Collecting late payment from French agency Thread poster: casey
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casey 
United States
Local time: 19:48
Member
Japanese to English
Normally I try to stick to domestic agencies, but I took a job in October mistakingly believing a French agency was a US-based agency. They have positive reviews on Proz, and I did not want to back out, so I delivered the job as promised. I invoiced it, and they paid. The only problem? They did not enter my bank details correctly, so I never received the payment. (I know this, because they sent the receipt from their bank, which shows that they did not enter the information correctly, and which ... See more Normally I try to stick to domestic agencies, but I took a job in October mistakingly believing a French agency was a US-based agency. They have positive reviews on Proz, and I did not want to back out, so I delivered the job as promised. I invoiced it, and they paid. The only problem? They did not enter my bank details correctly, so I never received the payment. (I know this, because they sent the receipt from their bank, which shows that they did not enter the information correctly, and which also means there's no way it went anywhere.) I have asked them to run a non-receipt trace, but they have since gone silent. In the meantime, I got another job from them and, figuring the first mixup was a fluke, I accepted it. Surprise, surprise, they have not paid the second invoice, either. Now I'm starting to worry, because the first invoice is over a month late, and the second is a week late. They did not respond to an inquiry about the second invoice, either, but they did acknowledge its receipt when I sent it.
Which brings me to my question, how much longer do I continue "begging" for payment? When that is finished, how do I collect? Are there any reputable debt collection agencies in France that my fellow Prozians would recommend? ▲ Collapse
| | | | mariealpilles
France
Local time: 01:48
Member (2014)
English to French
+ ...
| late payment from a French agency | Jan 9, 2019 |
In France there is a law that enables you to turn to any debt collector, without you having to fork out a single penny. All the fees are for the agency that did not pay.
| | | | | Are they insolvent? | Jan 9, 2019 |
I would check at https://www.bodacc.fr/ if any sort of insolvency proceedings are going in, in which case you may have to file a claim according to the instructions at the site. Let me know by direct email if you need help using the site. The incorrect account number may be a ploy.
At https://www.infogreffe.fr/ you ... See more I would check at https://www.bodacc.fr/ if any sort of insolvency proceedings are going in, in which case you may have to file a claim according to the instructions at the site. Let me know by direct email if you need help using the site. The incorrect account number may be a ploy.
At https://www.infogreffe.fr/ you may be able to look up their turnover and get an idea if they may be in financial trouble. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | A couple of things to bear in mind for getting paid in France | Jan 9, 2019 |
I have been living and working in France permanently since 1991. For many years, clients from a number of business sectors would systematically pay 60 days after the end of the month in which you sent the invoice. The default situation is 30 days if the contract is silent on the matter of deadline for payment. If your invoice covers a number of jobs, a sort of cumulative invoice, then the rules are different again. Anyway... You are absolutely right to get this moving now!
First thi... See more I have been living and working in France permanently since 1991. For many years, clients from a number of business sectors would systematically pay 60 days after the end of the month in which you sent the invoice. The default situation is 30 days if the contract is silent on the matter of deadline for payment. If your invoice covers a number of jobs, a sort of cumulative invoice, then the rules are different again. Anyway... You are absolutely right to get this moving now!
First thing to do, is to check what you actually agreed.
Secondly, apply interest for late payment and any penalty you agreed upon immediately.
Thirdly, make sure you send some equivalent of a recorded delivery final notice. Something formal, detached and business-like.
Include a copy of the invoice, refer to the agreement between you (an exchange by mail is sufficient for there to be a contract), explain their payment has not been received and that in spite of efforts made to sort the thing out on your side, nothing has happened. Ask for payment to be made within X days. Provide your IBAN (again). Point to the apparent error (again). State that if the money is not on your account by whenever (8 days would seem reasonable), then say you will take further action. And then do so. This gives you the time to find out what procedures are open to you. The amount owed will be relevant in making that decision. You'll need to have this sort of trace in order to demonstrate that you have taken all necessary steps to obtain payment and that they have been unsuccessful.
A month late is a lot, but after more than 20 years working with French clients, some will merrily take no notice whatsoever of the agreement made and will simply reply that they pay 60 days end of the month. Some clients will even argue that their client is late paying them, which really gets up my nose, as that's their problem, not yours. Privity of contract an' all that jazz...
In the future, don't accept other work from a client where there are on-going problems with payment. I have done this in the past and flukes do occur. But good clients take steps to solve problems; most of all, good clients do not go silent. These are not particularly good signs. It may be a one-off, but would you go quiet if you were able to pay? Would you ignore the problem and hope it would go away? Probably not. Trust your gut feeling. React swiftly and efficiently.
mariealpilles wrote:
In France there is a law that enables you to turn to any debt collector, without you having to fork out a single penny. All the fees are for the agency that did not pay.
That is not strictly true. You will have to pay the debt collector, but the cost of that will be added on to the amount of the debt itself. If you spend a fortune on debt collection but the client has gone out of business, you might just lose the money paid to the debt collector. However, there are inexpensive ways to recover money from clients. Also, there are procedures you can follow through yourself that are free. ▲ Collapse
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mariealpilles
France
Local time: 01:48
Member (2014)
English to French
+ ...
| Late payment | Jan 10, 2019 |
What Mrs Scott Depaigne is claiming is not true. You will only have to pay the debt collector if the latter cannot recover anything. That law was passed a few years back to help small companies which used to hesitate because of the fees involved. I am in the legal field, and I am French, and had to turn to that as well to get paid. It dépends who you turn to, but it is a matter of shopping around.
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