Legal Question in Business Law in California

Billing - Small Business

A past client took a year to pay for services. Now they are back again. My employee took the service call and fixed their machine. Is it legal to demand a credit card payment instead of invoicing and waiting the usual 30 days? I'm afraid that I will not be paid in a reasonable amount of time.


Asked on 5/20/09, 3:22 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Deborah Barron Barron Law Corporation

Re: Billing - Small Business

Unless you have some type of contract stating otherwise, you can certainly demand pre-payment rather than invoicing the customer. If they do not have a credit card to use, then you could ask for a check at the time of service.

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Answered on 5/20/09, 3:44 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Billing - Small Business

You could have legitimately imposed such a requirement before taking the service call. However, unless you and the customer have a contract in place which allows you to do so, you cannot impose new requirements retroactively.

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Answered on 5/20/09, 3:46 pm


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