If you take a customer to court for non-payment of a debt, the court will look at your action in recovering the debt prior to litigation.
If you inform the court that your first contact with the customer (after the invoice) was a court claim form (known as a summons pre 1999) you may be unsuccessful with your claim as you have not sent a final demand for payment.
Whether you send out a number of letters to a customer over the default period, or send none at all, you should at some stage formally demand payment of the debt.
A formal final demand states what is due, when it was due, when you want the amount paid, and who owes the debt. If you get the final bit slightly wrong and you end up in court, you will not be successful. You cannot sue Bob's Cafe, you can sue Robert Smith trading as Bob's Cafe.
Formally demanding a debt is not only good pre-court practice; it is also the stage when most customers pay prior to court action.
The timing of the letter is important: too quick, and you may not give the debtor much of a chance to pay and if too late, you may be considered as being sloppy by a district judge and can bring into question whether or not you invoiced the customer (if they claim they did not receive your invoice).
If you have not already tried our free sotware, it is available to download at: www.bizstart24.co.uk which will provide you with template of the above plus more.
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