Using another company's invoice to get paid yourself....

[Lorrymac]

I apologise for the poor title, but I wasn't sure how best to put this....

In short - I have an Introducer to my business who seems to have a trading style, but I can't find it as a ltd. company. We have sent invoices to clients that they introduced and they have visited the client and asked the client to make cheques payable to them. My company has not been paid a penny towards the invoice, the client thinks they've paid, they won't cough up.....

From a legal stance, where do I stand here?

Many thanks in advance

[redcrx]

if youve invoiced the company and theyve paid a totally different company then perhaps you should send them letters stating youre going to take then to court for non-payment of invoices.

Id also speak to the police or your company solicitor for advice as in simple terms it looks like theft.

have you spoken to the introducer? what do they say is the reason for this

[Lorrymac]

We have told the clients that they should have paid the invoice to us and they're obviously very angry, but also extremely concerned as they cannot pay twice. We are however going to have to follow procedure and pass the debt to a collection agency. It's a shame though because aside from being a bit stupid, the client shouldn't be the one that suffers.

The introducer are replying to the odd email with very short responses. They claim that we owe them money, but we have proved that we don't. That's how they got the clients to pay them it seems.

[redcrx]

both you and your clients perhaps need to take legal advice or speak to the police.

the company cannot go and get money from your customers in that way, regardless of what you owe them.

[Lorrymac]

I can assume that the police will cite this as a civil matter... and unfortunately solicitors cost (apart from first 30 mins).... However, I was just hoping to find out exactly why this is illegal (which I assume it is).

[factor-fiction]

I'm not so sure it's just a civil matter. Aren't they seeking to extract money from your clients under false pretences by making false representations?