Debt recovery guide · Tricky situations
The debtor disputes the debt — now what?
First, work out which kind of dispute you have. A genuine dispute exists from early on, is specific, and survives questions. A tactical dispute appears the day you chase payment, is vague, and mutates when challenged. The second kind is invoice avoidance — and it's far more common than the first.
Test it, don't debate it
Ask for the dispute in writing: what exactly is disputed, on what basis, and what would resolve it. Then answer it once, with documents — the contract, the approval email, the delivery record. Timing is powerful evidence: complaints that only surfaced after your demand read exactly as what they are.
Split the money
Debtors love letting a 10% quibble hold 100% of the money hostage. Separate the undisputed balance and demand it now — there is no defence to the part they admit — while the disputed slice is resolved on its own. This single move recovers most of the cash in most 'disputed' accounts.
When it's genuinely contested
Real disputes are negotiations or legal claims: gather your evidence, consider a commercial settlement, and for larger sums take advice — construction contracts even have their own fast-track, adjudication. Agencies still help here: many operate with legal partners, and a recovery professional's assessment of the dispute's strength is worth having before you spend on court.
Where this fits in the bigger picture
This is one step of a well-trodden path — demands, statutory add-ons, professional recovery, court, enforcement. The complete debt recovery guide walks the whole process, and the late payment calculator works out what you can add to a commercial debt today.
Related situations
General information, not legal advice.