Stubborn supplier prefers to go bankrupt?
The Netherlands
Energy
€3.000,-
Situation
Other types of cases that we regularly receive are from businesses in the energy sector. It frequently occurs that companies have to chase their customer also for energy bills.
This happened to a Dutch energy supplier, who had an outstanding invoice with a Dutch chicken supplying company. Despite sending numerous reminders, the debtor did not feel complied to pay the outstanding invoices. In total, the chicken supplier had a debt of €3.000,-. Fed up with the situation, our client transferred the case to our debt collection experts.
Problem
When our debt collection specialist viewed the case, the name of the debtor immediately rang a bell. Diving deeper into the case, our specialist realised the debtor was familiar with our law firm. Several years ago, the same debt collection specialist had to collect an outstanding invoice on behalf of another energy supplier. That case did not end well for the chicken supplier either.
When our debt collection specialist contacted the debtor back in 2012, the debtor responded saying "I know how the game works in the Netherlands. You can't make me do anything, so I refuse to pay." The chicken supplier thought he could easily get away because other debt collection agencies were unable to get the debtor to pay. In this case, the Dutch debtor was unaware that he was dealing with a law firm. With more resources than a collection agency, we could impose other measures. For the previous case, our specialists initiated the bankruptcy petition. In most regular cases, a debtor pays if the financial means are available. This debtor, however, preferred to let his company go bankrupt. Thinking he knew how the game worked, he was extremely off.
"Some debtors think they can get out of paying by simply not responding. Those companies are in for a rough awakening."
Our approach
With the case of 2012 still fresh in his mind, our debt collection specialist called the debtor to let him know that he had to pay the outstanding invoice. Naturally, our specialist also asked about the bankruptcy and what had followed after. The owner had indeed been declared bankrupt and had to buy his company back for €7.000,-.
An expensive joke for an invoice of €3.000,-. The debtor even admitted he should have paid the invoice when he had the chance to. Keeping his previous experience in mind, the debtor transferred the full amount the following afternoon.
Get your free consultation today
Do you also have a payment conflict with your customer that you would like to solve as quickly as possible? Then feel free to contact us. Our debt collection specialists will ensure that payment is made as soon as possible.
