One of our clients owes us ~$9400 in back advertising invoices and refuses to pay us. They are a small company (< 10 people) which recently had a change of leadership. The new CEO did not return my calls for 3 months and the finally told me over the phone he was not going to pay, since it was the old CEO who made the deal with us.
I have an agreement (written by our lawyers) signed by their old CEO which spells out the agreement quite clearly. I've Fed-Ex'd a copy of the agreement and the outstanding invoices to the company and have heard nothing.
I don't have the time to keep pursuing this issue and I would like to pay a collection agency a percentage of any money that they can recover. We are also a small company (< 5 people) and recovering a portion of the $9400 would be significant to us.
Has anyone used a collection agency in the past? Any experiences to share? Can anyone recommend one?
1) find a lawyer who you can hire for an hour or two for $200-$400. You're paying for his letterhead, not his skills.
2) Get him to write a letter saying "you have 14 days to pay 2/3 of the amount. If we receive that, the debt is discharged in full. IF we don't receive that by 14 days from today, we're going to court, and we're asking for the full amount of the debt, lawyer fees, and damages. Please pay now."
I've collected LOTS of debts in my time, 95% successfully.
This technique works.