One of our clients contacted us about Netherlands debt recovery and allowed us to share his experience.
As a self-employed contractor, you need to be confident that you will be paid promptly, as international debts can be more difficult to pursue. Our client had an added complication in the form of a bill he was not liable to pay.
This article explains how our client recovered what he was owed using our international debt collection expertise.
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A Non-Compete Clause That Triggered Non-Payment
Alex Tucker had every reason to expect prompt settlement of his invoices by his Dutch client. He had worked with the company, both as a self-employed individual and as temporary staff, for almost 10 years. He’d also been supplying services via a third-party limited company.
He was asked to provide further work and naturally agreed, assuming he would do so through their at-the-time sole provider of contractor services.
Although the period of work lasted for just 3 months, the contractor services provider agreement ended midway through. This left a question mark over how Mr. Tucker was to receive payment for his final month of work.
Things were complicated further by the fact that the original contract had never been agreed to in full. It contained a non-compete clause that would have meant Mr. Tucker had to cease work when the agreement ended partway through, rather than being able to continue to provide the service directly to the client.
Mr. Tucker never signed the agreement. However, he still received an invoice from the service provider company for a €25,000 penalty fee for breaking a non-compete clause he had never agreed to.
Unsurprisingly, the company also withheld payment on his final invoice, despite having taken payment from the client based on his submitted time sheets.
With both parties now perceiving themselves as having been wronged (Mr. Tucker because he had not received full payment, and the Dutch contractor services provider because they felt the non-compete clause had been broken) a stalemate had been reached.
Mr. Tucker engaged an Amsterdam-based legal firm to pursue payment. The debtor was advised that the non-compete clause was a separate issue and did not allow them to withhold payment.
He also contacted the debtor to warn them that statutory interest would be charged if full payment did not arrive promptly.
Two months later, no real progress had been made, and then communication broke down completely.
Mr. Tucker’s MP had already tried several methods of reigniting progress, including speaking with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Dutch Embassy in London, but to no avail.
Engaging an International Debt Collection Specialist
Mr. Tucker contacted Safe Collections for assistance in pursuing the debt, valued at several thousand euros. We were able to refer the case to our Dutch debt collection agent.
Using local agents gives us a unique advantage in debt collection, helping to overcome the difficulty caused by the creditor and debtor being located in different countries.
Safe Collections’ Dutch agent restored communication with the debtor, who again raised the non-compete clause. Our affiliate simply demanded proof that the non-compete clause had been entered into.
Of course, Mr. Tucker had never signed the initial contract, so they were unable to provide this.
Ultimately, without any evidence to support their objection, the debtor finally recognised that they had no legal cause to withhold payment.
We were delighted that Mr. Tucker eventually received satisfactory settlement of the account.
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We Can Help With Your International Debt Claim
We work with affiliates in countries all over the world to help ease the process, as well as to benefit from their local knowledge of the relevant rules and legislation on overdue payments.
By using our local and regional expertise, we are pleased to have been able to bring Mr. Tucker’s dispute to a close. This was welcome relief after several years of him pursuing the debtor through various channels unsuccessfully.
Don’t just take our word for it: here’s Mr. Tucker’s review of his experience with our international debt collection service.
