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Brits share the WORST EXCUSES they’ve been told when asking for payment – from memory loss and ‘breaking their wrist’ to a client’s ‘fish drowning’

Remember when students would blame not being able to hand in their homework on their dog eating it?

Well, it seems Brits are still pulling a fast one as adults – more specifically, when it comes to paying self-employed people for their services.

New research has revealed some of the funniest, strangest and worst excuses that people have heard when invoicing customers, with lies ranging from memory loss to a pet dying.

One particularly peculiar reason given was from a person who had “lost weight” and needed to buy new clothes before they could pay up.

Other baffling excuses include someone who only had “monopoly money” and one customer who said their finance manager was “busy dealing with a heron in his carp pond”.

www.payosu.com

According to a study, commissioned by Osu, a new invoicing and payment app that aims to help self-employed people manage their business easier, 2.6 million people in the UK have been forced to wait up to three months for payment – with over a third (31%) losing sleep as a result.

Daniel, a freelance writer and blogger, recalls a memorable invoice which was sent to a website owner who he claims delayed payment due to a very odd reason.

“After there was no payment, I messaged the client,” he told Jam Press.

Pictured: Daniel Bruch. www.payosu.com

“She texted me to say that she had lost so much weight since my last invoice that she had to buy new clothes first and couldn’t afford to pay me.

“Well first of all, I thought that was a joke and congratulated the weight loss success.

“But the customer was serious about that ‘excuse’.”

However, Daniel was eventually paid – six weeks later.

Pictured: Hester Grainger. www.payosu.com

Another example is Hester Grainger, who was told that the client was unable to pay the invoice in time due to having to pay for their child’s school fees.

“The best excuse I ever had about a late payment was that they had to pay for their child’s school fees and they didn’t realise that this was my full time job, so they assumed I was ok if payment was late,” Hester, a freelance writer, radio presenter and PR, told Jam Press.

“Chasing for late payments is always awkward and ends up being really stressful.

“I rely on being paid regularly and on time by clients, otherwise I can’t pay the mortgage.

“I’ve had more than a few sleepless nights wondering when and if I will get paid by clients.”

Out of those surveyed in the research, 49% said chasing invoices was their biggest daily frustration.

Here are some other examples from self-employed people who shared their stories with Jam Press:

Pictured: Annabelle Knight. www.payosu.com

Asked for the best (worst) excuse she’d ever received, Annabelle Knight, a sex and relationships expert, said one person told her: “‘Sadly, last week I broke my wrist so I’ve been unable to access online banking’…. ,”

“This was sent to me via email.”

“A freelance journalist who owed me £500 told me she’d used it to pay her mortgage and would l mind waiting another month?,” said Rae, founder of The Media Express.

“I said what about my mortgage? She then ignored all my messages! Guess who l won’t be working with ever again!”

Pictured: Beth Ashley. www.payosu.com

Beth Ashley, a journalist and editor, added: “A company I worked with told me the payment bounced so they just gave up and when I asked to see the payment voucher it was completely different bank details to what was on my invoice – not even close to my details.”

Chasing invoices isn’t just frustrating, it’s also time-consuming.

Osu’s study reveals that 1.2 million UK self-employed people spend a staggering four and a half months chasing invoices over their lifetime.

For an unlucky 88,000 people, this figure is even higher – at five hours per week, estimated at 1,380 days over a person’s lifetime.

Pictured: Jen Kaarlo. www.payosu.com

“From our accounting software crashed to lack of communication from colleagues in other time zones, I’ve heard every excuse under the sun the last decade,” added Jen Kaarlo, another frustrated self-employed person.

“I once had an invoice delayed for seven months.”

On average, 286,000 self-employed people in the UK are forced to wait three to six months to get paid but 440,000 – including Jen – have waited over half a year for customers to cough up the cash.

Wondering if you’re being fobbed off? Here are the top excuses used for late payments:

· The dog defecated on the cheque
· The client lost their memory
· Their fish drowned
· The finance manager was dealing with a heron in his carp pond
· They were in prison (in reality, they were on holiday)
· The cat ate their cash
· The computer was on fire
· They only have monopoly money
· The dog ate their phone
· They thought they could pay in coffee

“These excuses are halfway between hilarious and absurd, but behind them there’s a real person trying to run a business and make a living,” said Noam Nevo, co-founder and CEO of Osu.

“When we’re talking about the self-employed, we’re talking about nearly 4.5 million individuals, united by the fact the overwhelming majority don’t have any admin or accounting staff helping them keep the payment side of things on track.

“We believe most people will be staggered to understand the sheer amount of time that the self-employed are spending chasing payments week in, week out.

“With up to three million self-employed being unable to claim grants under the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the impact of Covid-19 means cash flow is a real issue.

“The self-employed need to be paid for their services and paid on time, to ensure their businesses don’t run into financial difficulty.”

Written by Tegan LeBon

All photos courtesy of www.payosu.com