139 Days Past Due And Counting

Owning and operating your own business is risky business - I get that. Often you have to jump blindly and simply accept on faith other people’s word – I also get that. And there’s no guarantee that the people you do business with will all conduct themselves in a moral, honest and trustworthy manner – believe me, I get that too. Yet despite all this knowledge, it is still inconceivable to me that a seemingly well-established Upper East Side children’s clothing store can simply choose to not pay their bills.

I am talking about a retail store located on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. They have placed 4 orders with us over the past year or so and we have extended 30 day credit to them on each of the invoices associated with these orders. We struggled a bit with late payments on each of their past bills but this past experience with them has really gone above and beyond moral correctness. But, when dealing with most retailers (not all) 30 days is apparently a loose term. Then again, we have allowed it to be – giving them the benefit of the doubt (of course they are going to pay) and quite frankly not wanting to hound people down for money (we don’t want to present LikeWear as financially aggressive like that – although maybe we need to get over not coming across as “nice”… that’s a whole other topic for another blog post!).

We reminded them when they were 45 days past due with a phone call to the store. The owner gives a “shuck and jive” every time you call saying she can’t talk right now, or she’s on her way running out, or the store is really crowded now, each time promising a call right back which has NEVER happened. When I finally managed to get her on the phone and remind her they were past due (the first time), she told me they were really busy and would be paying it soon. Hmmm… maybe I ought to try that line with the credit card company if I’m ever late with a payment – “Sorry, Visa I’ve been really busy lately at work but I’ll pay that bill soon – really I will”.

At 60 days, after calling a few days in a row to finally get the owner on the phone again, I asked if she wanted to pay over the phone with a credit card to take care of her obligation with us and she asked me to resend the invoice because her accountant would be coming in that week and they would take care of it via check. I knew she was putting me off but decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. That said, another good one to try… next time after receiving goods from one of my vendors and neglecting to pay them for 60 days maybe I ought to justify it by telling them “my accountant should be coming in sometime this week and we’ll get back to them”. Again, I take some responsibility here for not being more assertive, but she didn’t even give me a chance to say good-bye during this conversation, let alone point out how wrong and unfair her procrastination was – not to mention illegal.

At 90 days the store owner actually had the nerve to sound annoyed that I was calling again (ya know, after waiting another 30 days for her accountant to fill out a check and mail it in to us). I told her I would be happy to stop calling and resending (at her request) our invoices each month - which she can’t ever seem to remember where she has put – if she would please just give us a credit card number over the phone so we can settle the account. She then proceeded to tell me that I was rude in telling her saleswoman who had answered the phone the day prior to please make sure that she returned my call this time. She continued to be argumentative and when I told her she was giving me no other choice but to contact a collections agency, she told me I should “do what I needed to do” and hung up. Is she kidding?

How can a business owner (or human being for that matter) blatantly use avoidance and procrastination in her dealings and then be righteous about it? If she had been honest and explained that the store was having some financial issues I would have gladly worked something out with them. But they continue to operate and do business with no sign of insolvency or financial trouble. And, it’s not like they did not do well with our line – not that that would justify not paying anyway. So why exactly are they not paying up?

At 120 days past due, we did in fact contact a collection agency (a first for us) and this store owner is now avoiding their calls. I just don’t know how someone can live their life and conduct their business like that. I believe in karma – enough said here.

I’m so grateful for what I have learned from some businesses and their owners in how to run and manage a business. I guess there is also much to be gained from others in how NOT to behave and how NOT to operate a business. In that regard, I guess this experience has not been a total loss, as it has been an important lesson - albeit an expensive one.