'You should have paid us on time': Boss sends IT employees to recover all their tech equipment from a company that failed to pay their dues

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Mar 20, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

Handling payment between two companies is never easy business. Each company has its own regulations and policies regarding their money, it is often hard to manage even the most simple payment.

Much like the companies in this Reddit story. The person who wrote this story (OP) is an employee in a tech company that supplies and installs tech equipment to other small companies. Their policy states that until the payment for the equipment is fully paid, the ownership of it remains in the hands of the tech company. OP tells the story of a company that failed to pay for the equipment they got and kept making excuses for it. Until OP's boss was tired of it, and he instructed his employees to physically go to that company's office and take all of their equipment back, since it was still legally theirs.

Scroll down to read what happened next. Once you are done with this story, click here for another story of an employee who got sent home because of their shoes being the wrong color.

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  • 01
    "You should have paid us on time"
    via Canva
  • 02
    When your invoice says "Goods do not pass title until payment is made in full", we mean it.
    via u/speddie23
  • 03
    At a small MSP I used to work at quite a while ago now, we did an upgrade of computers for a small business that involved us supplying and installing (if I recall correctly) 5 new computers and monitors.
    via u/speddie23
  • 04
    Our invoices had a standard retention of title clause, which basically says that although we have supplied you goods, until payment is made in full, ownership is retained by us.
    via u/speddie23
  • 05
    Their invoice was due without payment being made. Several follow ups were made with standard excuses like "Sorry, we forgot", "We thought that was due next month", "The cheque is in the mail", "I thought we paid that", etc
    via u/speddie23
  • 06
    After over 3 months overdue, the owner of the MSP at the time basically said he would make one more call and attempt to receive payment, and if they didn't pay
    via u/speddie23
  • 07
    immediately, we would just go down there and recover our goods. He made the call. Predictably, we got another excuse why they didn't make payment. "Right" he says "Let's go get out stuff back"
    via u/speddie23
  • 08
    "When we get there, just start unplugging our computers, and pack them up into the car" he says.
    via u/speddie23
  • 09
    So we arrive onsite to the clients. Someone at the client mentions "Oh, I didn't realise we had you booked to see us today". "You don't" says my boss
    via u/speddie23
  • 10
    As instructed, we just start recovering our equipment. And by recover, I mean just unplugging from power, and removing it from their office with no regards to what they
    via u/speddie23
  • 11
    were currently working on at the time, shutting down the computers properly, allowing them a chance to save their work etc.
    via u/speddie23
  • 12
    "What are you guys doing??" one of the staff of the client asked? My boss responds "You guys are over 3 months overdue on your invoice. we have tried to get payment on multiple occasions, but still haven't"
    via u/speddie23
  • 13
    One of the staff from the client makes a call to their boss. Eventually the phone is handed over to my boss. he says "If you can get here in the next 10 minutes, which is how long it
    via u/speddie23
  • 14
    will take us to recover our goods, we'll return the computers." Amazingly, the boss of the client makes it within 10 minutes, cash in hand for the amount our invoice was outstanding.
    via u/speddie23
  • 15
    The cash is accepted by my boss, who instructs us to replace the PCs. We replace the PCs and leave. A payment receipt is emailed to the client, and this was the last we ever heard from them.
    via u/speddie23
  • 16
    Geminii27 3 hr. ago Making your job * less Funny how they seem to have been able to come up with the payment right in their hand in ten minutes, after all that waffling. Almost like they were expecting any one of their creditors to walk in the door at any moment...
    via u/Geminii27
  • 17
    magistrate101 · 2 hr. ago Oh God How Did This Get Here? These are the type of people who've had success frustrating people to the point that they give up trying to get their money.
    via u/magistrate101
  • 18
    They're the worst and will try to stiff every bill they can get away with while blowing that money on something flashy for social purposes.
    via u/magistrate101
  • 19
    The_Nepenthe - 2 hr. ago From my understanding being terminally late is often somewhat of a strategy for some businesses to maximize interest.
    via u/The_Nepenthe
  • 20
    So they'll have the cash on hand to pay but would rather collect on the interest of it being in their bank account than pay out.
    via u/The_Nepenthe
  • 21
    I also think a lot of people realize that payment of their suppliers is something they have to do once goods can be withheld since up until then not paying isn't
    via u/The_Nepenthe
  • 22
    hurting them, they realize they don't need cash on hand for new widgets but to pay their existing suppliers. As someone in the restaurant business this happens to us frequently.
    via u/The_Nepenthe
  • 23
    Dysan27 10 min. ago I've seen that also happen with a bank. The bank tried to foreclose on a house with no mortgage. After all the lawsuits the bank ended up owing the couple damages and legal fees.
    via u/Dysan27
  • 24
    Didn't pay So they went through the process and foreclosed on the bank. Showed up with a moving truck, moving guys, and sheriffs deputies to execute the seizure of assets. Suddenly they found the money.
    via u/Dysan27
  • 25
    CameronP90 - 4 hr. ago Good job, nicely handled too.
    via u/CameronP90
  • 26
    • AbstractUnicorn · 2 hr. ago this was the last we ever heard from them To be fair I'd hope if they'd tried to place another order your boss would have said "nope" to them anyway. Sometimes you have to "fire the client" for you own sanity.
    via u/AbstractUnicorn
  • 27
    Mosschops13 · 11 min. ago The way my employer handles those is "pro-forma invoice, payment before delivery", works a treat. Don't like it? Buy elsewhere.
    via u/Mosschops13

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tales from tech support workplace-stories tech support employee job tales-from-the-workplace it reddit story entitled customers computer workplace Tech Reddit funny
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