Monthly Invoice Paid Twice
This article was written by Paranoid Pete about the time he got his monthly invoice paid twice by his IT agency.
What would you do if it happened to you?
Would you tell them?
End of Contract
Last month, I came quite happily to the end of my nine month contract.
I had been pretty busy until the last month or so. However, then things dried up and I knew that was it and we left on good terms.
I’m fairly on the ball in making sure that agencies pay me correctly and on time. That’s especially with the last invoice where they have no motivation to keep you happy by processing it on time.
Anyway, I rang my bank up on the day the payment was due to arrive. They confirmed that the money had gone through as requested.
I thought nothing more of that contract as one does when one moves on.
Invoice Paid Twice
However, when my monthly bank statement came through, I noticed that this last payment had come though twice. The second one came through a week after the first.
I was now in a bit of a quandary but after thinking about it, I decided to contact the agency.
The amount overpaid was for a week’s work with VAT. I suppose it was a combination of Catholic guilt, my belief that society would function so much better if we all stuck to the rules.
Also, some young person might lose their job. Most importantly, this would come up up on an audit or wherever. I would have had to pay the money back some time, maybe when it didn’t suit me.
What was surprising was that the agency, who hadn’t caused me any problems during the finding and carrying-out of the contract was a big player. They are a preferred supplier with several large companies.
They paid me weekly. However, the same thing could have happened with a monthly invoice where the amount could stretch into five figures.
Minority of Contractors
Gerry and I agreed that I was probably in the minority of contractors who would have done this.
Perhaps you can all add your opinion as to whether I was a naive idiot or just did something that anyone would have done.
I paid the money back last week and the good news is that I probably made a fiver’s interest on the amount.
The second piece of good news is that there’ll be a cheque from Gerry in the post for this Monthly Invoice Paid Twice article (or maybe two?).
UK Contractors Comment
I’ve known Pete for many years, and I’m sure he was tongue-in-cheek when he suggested I would be sending him a cheque.
We never pay for articles, so there’s no need for anyone to contact us looking to sell us them.
However, if anyone was to write an interesting article for free, on matters of interest to IT Contractors, we would be happy to publish it.
By the way, what would you do if your agency paid your invoice twice?
See also 10 Golden Rules for handling Agencies
