I am in the now unfortunate position of having to take further action to collect a debt from two former clients (controlled by the same person) and I was wondering if anyone here had used a debt collection service that they could recommend. I have heard some resonably good things about Thomas Higgins Partnership but now just looking for further recommendations.
Why not just do it yourself. There's no point paying someone to send a few letters and make a few calls. You could easily do it yourself. If they don't pay up, take them to a small claims court. If you're in England and Wales you can even do it online (Scotland can't, but even so the forms are simple). I find having court papers served often makes people pay up quickly.
Assuming you have done the normal requests for payment, use the small claims court.
If you do make sure you include any out of pocket expenses for the debt recovery, including any court attendance that may be necessary. Plus add interest to the outstanding amounts.
Once you have confirmation from the courts, send another letter detailing your actions. It may prompt settlement without the court proceedings.
I always used to send a 7 days notice of legal action in Red ink and in about 50% of cases they would pay up. If no money was forthcoming, I would complete a County Court form, print it off and post it myself. This way I did not have to pay the fee - and again most people think its real and just pay it!
On the rare occassion it did not get paid within 30 days, I would then pay the County Court fee, and submit through the court system.
