George,
I'm sure this is like telling your grandmother how to suck eggs but you asked.
That's like asking if there is a central place you can complaion to if a
private individual doesn't pay up.
There is, it's called the Small Claims Court.
If you had valid purchase orders you know they are obliged to pay you. If
they say the student has not got enough money, that's tough, they placed the
order.
I would suggest:
1. not supplying any order over, say £4,000, in future without checking that
you will get paid.
2. Not supplying based on university orders without checking why it's not
coming through the LEA
Mick Trott
In a message dated 23/11/05 14:18:11 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< As a supplier, I'm becoming increasingly concerned about
getting paid for equipment supplied to students. Two
current examples.
1) Goods were ordered, on an official purchase order, by
Student Services Department of a Local Authority, and duly
supplied direct to the student as requested. We finally
received not one, but two cheques from Student Support
Direct (SSD), leaving a shortfall.
Eventually, SSD advise us to contact the Local Authority,
whose response was, "The Student has exceeded their grant
allowance, and so we are writing to the University to ask
them if they will make up the shortfall". Meanwhile, we
will have to wait for payment.
2) Order came from a University. Again short paid by SSD.
University tell us student is also over limit, and they are
trying to see if they can get funds from elsewhere.
Clearly the two organisations concerned, who were ordering
on the student's behalf, appear to be incapable of simple
arithmetic. Our complaints to those who placed the orders
have been met with relative indifference.
In talking to other suppliers, I gather this is not an
uncommon issue.
Is there any central body we can complain to, or should we
simply hold out for payment up front, or on delivery? >>
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