Customer won't pay after the job's done? What to do — and how to stop it happening again
18 September 2026
It's the worst part of working for yourself. The job's finished, the customer was happy on the day, and now the invoice is a week overdue and your messages are going unread. Here's what works, in the order to do it — and then the bit that matters more, which is never being here again.
First, take the heat out of it
Most late payers aren't thieves. They're disorganised, or short this month, or they've convinced themselves there's a snag that lets them stall. One calm message does more than three angry ones:
"Hi Sarah — the invoice for the boiler service (£240) was due on the 12th. Can you let me know when it'll be paid? If there's a problem with the work I'd rather hear it now."
Give a date, name the amount, and invite the objection. If there is a snag, you've just found it. If there isn't, you've made it awkward to keep ignoring you.
Then put it in writing, properly
If a polite chase gets nothing, send a letter — email is fine — that says three things: what's owed, when it was due, and what happens next. This is the "letter before action" a court will expect to see, so keep it plain and dated. Give them 14 days.
For a customer who's a private individual, you can add statutory interest at 8% a year when you claim, and the small claims track in England and Wales covers debts up to £10,000 with no solicitor needed. For a business customer, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act lets you add interest and a fixed compensation fee on top. You'll rarely need any of this. Mentioning it, calmly, is usually enough.
What decides the argument
If it does go further, one question settles it: what was agreed, and can you prove it?
A text saying "about 240 for the service" is not a contract anyone wants to argue over. A quote the customer signed — with the price, the scope, the payment terms and the date — is. It's the difference between "he said, she said" and a document.
This is where most sole traders are exposed. Not because they did bad work, but because the agreement lived in a WhatsApp thread.
How to never be here again
Three habits, none of which cost you a customer:
Get the quote signed before you start. Not a thumbs-up emoji — a signature on the quote itself, with the terms attached. The customer does it on their phone and it changes everything about the conversation later.
Take a deposit on anything with materials. A 25% deposit on a £2,000 job is normal and nobody blinks when it's written into the quote (how much to ask for, and how to word it). It filters out the customers who were never going to pay, and it means you're never fully out of pocket.
Make paying easier than not paying. If the invoice arrives with a link that opens their banking app with the amount and reference already filled in, most people pay it there and then. If it arrives as a PDF with your sort code in size-eight font, it goes in the pile.
QuoteNod does all three: the quote is signed on the customer's phone before the job starts, deposits are written into the terms and paid by bank link, and the invoice that follows carries a pay-by-bank link that settles straight into your account. Free for 14 days.