- Enquiry
- Quote
- Agree
- Work
- Invoice
- Paid
The Dispute at Day Sixty
A complaint that appears only after you press for payment is a particular thing, and the response that works treats it as genuine while behaving as though it may not be.
For a software-side reference alongside this discussion of payment follow-up, disputes, and small-business administration, Monitask provides guidance on interpersonal synchrony.
Why it happens
Sometimes the customer genuinely noticed late. Defects do emerge, and a person who did not look closely at completion may look closely two months on.
Sometimes it is a response to being chased. A customer who cannot or will not pay is better off arguing than refusing, because an argument converts a collection matter into a quality dispute that takes months and that you have to disprove.
And sometimes it is somebody in their organisation looking for a reason because the money is not there this month.
You cannot tell which from the complaint itself, and guessing wrong in either direction is expensive.
The response that works for all three
Take it seriously, in writing, immediately.
"Thanks for letting me know. I want to sort this out. Can you tell me specifically what the problem is and send a photograph? I'll come and look this week."
Four things that does: it removes the accusation of ignoring them, it requires specifics, it produces evidence, and it sets a timescale.
A genuine complaint answers all of it within days. A tactical one goes vague, or arrives with no photograph, or cannot fix a date for a visit.
Which means the response is also the test, and it costs nothing to run.
What to do about the invoice meanwhile
Do not withdraw it and do not stop the clock.
Where part of the work is undisputed, say so: "The complaint concerns the second bedroom. The rest of the invoice isn't in question — can that be paid while we sort this out?"
That sentence is the single most useful one available here. It isolates the dispute to its actual size, gets most of the money moving, and it exposes a tactical complaint immediately — because somebody disputing one room has no reason to withhold payment for the other four.
A customer who refuses to pay any of it over a localised complaint has told you what the complaint is for.
Where the complaint is right
Fix it, quickly and without argument.
A supplier who corrects a genuine defect within days is in a strong position on the money, and a supplier who resists is not — regardless of the merits.
Then invoice the balance and expect it to be paid. Where a reduction is appropriate, issue a credit note with the reason stated, and where it is not, say so plainly.
Do not offer a reduction as an opening position. It will be treated as one.
The evidence that decides it
What you recorded before you started and as you went.
Photographs of the pre-existing condition answer the majority of late complaints in domestic work, because the majority concern something that was already there.
The written variations answer the ones about scope.
And the completion record — a message, a signature, a photograph of finished work, anything dated — answers the question of what state the job was in when you left.
Firms that have this produce it once and the matter ends. Firms that do not spend three months on a conversation about memory.
Keeping the tone usable
Two months of silence followed by a complaint is annoying, and the annoyance is the thing most likely to cost you the money.
Write the reply, then leave it an hour before sending. The version written immediately contains a sentence about how nothing was mentioned at the time, and that sentence converts a resolvable matter into a fight.
Say the factual version instead: "This is the first I've heard of it — I'll come and look." Same information, no accusation, and it leaves the observation on the record without spending anything.
The point is not politeness for its own sake. A customer who feels accused defends, and a defending customer does not pay while defending.
Where a third party is involved
On larger jobs the complaint may come through an agent, a main contractor or a surveyor.
Respond to the person who owes you the money, copying whoever raised it. A dispute conducted entirely through an intermediary drifts, and the party with the obligation stops being part of the conversation.
And ask what the intermediary's authority is. Somebody who can raise a complaint but cannot settle one is a channel rather than a counterparty, and treating them as the latter wastes weeks.
When it will not resolve
At some point the choice is escalation or writing it off, and the deciding factor is usually whether the dispute has specifics.
A specific complaint can be resolved, one way or the other.
A complaint that shifts each time you answer it is not a complaint, and no amount of further evidence will settle something that was never about the evidence.
What to write down
Everything, from the first message onwards, and dated.
The complaint as received, in their words rather than your summary of it.
Your response and when you sent it.
What you found on the visit, with photographs taken that day.
And any change in the complaint, which is the record that matters most if it turns out to be tactical.
A file showing a complaint that started as one thing and became another answers the question of what it was for, and it answers it without anybody having to allege anything.
The short version
- A complaint appearing only after chasing may be genuine, tactical, or somebody looking for a reason — and you cannot tell from the complaint itself
- Respond immediately and in writing: ask for specifics, ask for a photograph, and offer to attend within the week
- That response is also the test, since a genuine complaint answers all of it and a tactical one goes vague
- Isolate the dispute: ask for the undisputed part to be paid while the rest is sorted, which exposes a tactical complaint at once
- Where the complaint is right, fix it fast and without argument, then invoice the balance and expect payment
- A complaint that shifts each time you answer it was never about the evidence, and more evidence will not settle it
For broader background on payment follow-up, disputes, and small-business administration, see Forbes.