Went from getting paid in 10 days to waiting 60+ after one policy change

Had this one regular client who always paid within two weeks for like 3 years straight. Then they merged with another company and switched their AP department to some centralized hub in another state. First invoice after that? Sat for 63 days with zero communication. I called 8 times before someone finally said their new system "flags large invoices for review" which apparently means anything over $500. Has anyone else had a client suddenly fall apart after an acquisition?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_daniel9d ago

Oh man, that's brutal... I had almost the exact same thing happen with a restaurant chain I was hauling for. They got bought out by some private equity group and suddenly my 15-day payments stretched to 70 days with no warning. Their new AP person told me they had to "batch process" invoices on the first of the month now, so if I missed that window I was stuck waiting another 30 days. It's like these corporate mergers just treat small vendors like we're invisible...

milalewis8d ago

Hold up though, I gotta push back a little here. If you're running a small operation, you should know the payment terms before you sign on with any company, regardless of who owns them. 70 days sucks, but that's on you for not checking their new vendor policies after a merger. Private equity firms aren't running a charity, they're just protecting their bottom line, same as you would if you were in their shoes. Plus batch processing is pretty standard for big companies, it's not like they're personally out to get you.