Poll: Do your clients usually pay on time? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do your clients usually pay on time?".
This poll was originally submitted by Jenn Mercer. View the poll results »
| | | | | | Giles Watson 
Italy
Local time: 19:07
Italian to English
In memoriam | Wrong preposition | Jul 18, 2014 |
Nearly all of my customers pay in time; quite a few pay on time as well 
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So far so good.
Having to send a little reminder is very unusual.
NB:
Giles, I'm going to sound naive, but I've always heard people talk about paying things "on" time... what's funny about "in" time, "in time" for what?!
[Edited at 2014-07-18 10:17 GMT]
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 19:07
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
And I do hope that this won't change.
I've had late or non payers before, but since I had parted from them all is well. So here's a big thank you to my clients.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 19:07
Spanish to English
+ ...
"Spain is different".
I have one or two clients who pay within a reasonable period of time.
My best client usually pays by the end of the month, or within a month or of receiving an invoice.
I have another client that I work for translating and revising magazine articles every 2 months and they usually pay within 60 days.
I have another regular who recently told me they now pay at 90 days. So I waited until the 90 days was up and sent their accountant a polite reminder.... See more "Spain is different".
I have one or two clients who pay within a reasonable period of time.
My best client usually pays by the end of the month, or within a month or of receiving an invoice.
I have another client that I work for translating and revising magazine articles every 2 months and they usually pay within 60 days.
I have another regular who recently told me they now pay at 90 days. So I waited until the 90 days was up and sent their accountant a polite reminder. Having received no response for 2 days, I then forwarded said reminder to three of my contacts in the company, including the boss. That seemed to do the trick, as someone - I presume an assistant accountant - contacted me the same day to apologise for the slight delay and assume that they will stump up next week.
Local and regional government departments can take different times to come up with the boodle, depending on their budget rigmarole and hoops they need to jump through nowadays. Thankfully, I rarely work for them nowadays!
Universities tend to pay "when they can". I've even had a couple of them pay me in advance, before any translations are even in the offing, just to use up their yearly budget.
PS: My number one client just paid me, only 2 weeks after receiving the bill. I'm now solvent again!
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[Edited at 2014-07-19 07:03 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 19:07
Spanish to English
+ ...
| The magical nuance of prepositions | Jul 18, 2014 |
Catherine De Crignis wrote:
So far so good.
Having to send a little reminder is very unusual.
NB:
Giles, I'm going to sound naive, but I've always heard people talk about paying things "on" time... what's funny about "in" time, "in time" for what?!
[Edited at 2014-07-18 10:17 GMT]
Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I understand "on time" to mean "on or by a specific date", whereas "in time" would mean "within a reasonable period of time, considered acceptable and not too late" although perhaps not "on or by the stipulated due date" per se.
I.e. "In time" would be "just in enough time to stop me going postal". For example, why do we say "just in time" and not "just on time"?
[Edited at 2014-07-18 10:55 GMT]
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 13:07
English to Spanish
+ ...
| In time/on time | Jul 18, 2014 |
I haven't thought about the difference usage for in time vs. on time. Thanks, guys.
I'd say that 90-95% of my clients pay in time. My terms are usually 30 calendar days, although I impose a 20/25 calendar day term for some direct clients.
An IRB (independent review board, responsible —here in America— for patient's rights in clinical trials) pays me every two weeks. Sweet!
Another regular client has asked me to please send him invoices separately (separ... See more I haven't thought about the difference usage for in time vs. on time. Thanks, guys.
I'd say that 90-95% of my clients pay in time. My terms are usually 30 calendar days, although I impose a 20/25 calendar day term for some direct clients.
An IRB (independent review board, responsible —here in America— for patient's rights in clinical trials) pays me every two weeks. Sweet!
Another regular client has asked me to please send him invoices separately (separate from the jobs) because otherwise he'll miss them.
Not a serious problem, though.
Now, when you work on a telecommuting contract with a customer, you get a regular paycheck every single week. ▲ Collapse
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neilmac wrote:
I.e. "In time" would be "just in enough time to stop me going postal". For example, why do we say "just in time" and not "just on time"?
[Edited at 2014-07-18 10:55 GMT]
Thank you neilmac.
To my foreign ears "in time" tends to imply a possible outcome as in "in time to catch the bus" but I was curious about a possible pun that might have been totally wasted on me.
Not that our clients would "do time" for being late payers, but I tried to figure out a possible play on words... ( - :
[Edited at 2014-07-18 13:07 GMT]
| | | | Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 19:07
Italian to English
In memoriam | In time vs on time | Jul 18, 2014 |
According to my dictionaries, "in time" without any qualification, context or reference event (e.g "for me to be able to pay the VAT this quarter") just means "after a period of time". My intention was to imply in the contrast with "on time" ("punctually") that some customers are a bit relaxed about settling their invoices.
Sorry for any confusion
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Giles Watson wrote: Sorry for any confusion
Not confusing, interesting! ( - :
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