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Dealing with Debtor Deduction Delays in Repayment
Some customers will tell you they need several weeks to schedule repayment. This is a stall tactic. One way to address it is to state clearly that this “proposal” is not acceptable. In your discussion, explain that you have waited patiently and worked diligently to prove the deduction should be repaid, and that you cannot accept, explain or justify to your management any significant delays in receiving payment. State that you expect that payment will be issued immediately, unless the customer’s regular weekly check run is so soon that demanding that A/P generate a manual check is simply not worth the damage that doing so may cause to your ongoing business relationship with the customer’s accounts payable team. Make sure you document your work on customer deductions. At the very least, you need to know:
- Who you spoke to last,
- Their title,
- What was discussed,
- What agreement was reached,
- Who has the next action item and what that action is,
- The time frame for that action,
- What additional steps are needed to get the deduction taken in error repaid, OR
- What steps are necessary to get your company to promptly credit the account because the customer was correct in taking the deduction.
© 2011 by Michael C. Dennis. All Rights Reserved. Excerpted from book: “1001 Collection Tools and Tips.”