Late Payment of Commercial Debts

Excuse 11: Letter not dated

Applicability

This really applies to any case where someone comes up with a completely stupid excuse. Actual cases were that a letter, sent chasing a 4 month old debt, was not dated (when in fact it was) or was not signed (so what). The customer did not actually have any excuse whatsoever for not paying, but spent considerable time arguing a complete irrelevance and then saying they won't pay the penalty (see excuse 2)

Underlying reasons

Customer thinks that arguing an irrelevance will help
Basically, the customer finds some irrelevant technicality, such as a spelling mistake in a reminder letter, and tries to use this as an argument. They probably hope that by persistently arguing an irrelevance that we will get so fed up we'll cancel the charges just to get them off the phone.
Customer does not believe they have an obligation to adhere to the agreement they have made
Customer probably has a fundamental misunderstanding that they don't have to do what was agreed, but that it is fair to do whatever they can get away with and feels aggrieved that they failed to get away with paying late when they usually do (with other suppliers).

Resolution

Well, if it is the first time, a credit just to get rid of them may be sensible, but this is one of those cases where there is no point issuing a credit, especially if blatantly way overdue