Repeated last-minute discounts deserve a customer-level review
Review repeated customer payment discounts as a commercial pattern while keeping each existing account and settlement legally separate.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
One negotiation can become a pattern
A customer regularly asks for a reduction just before paying. Each concession may seem manageable when viewed alone, especially after a long chase. Look across completed work to understand the pattern. The review should inform future commercial choices, without assuming that previous agreements can be reversed or that the customer owes amounts you already agreed to compromise.
For a defined period, list the original invoiced amounts, documented adjustments and receipts. Distinguish genuine scope corrections, accepted defects, negotiated discounts and unresolved claims. Those categories may have different meanings. Avoid describing every reduction as pressure from the customer when some arose from your own billing error or an agreed change to the work supplied.
Business.gov.au's record-keeping guidance includes income, sales and bank records. Use them to reconcile what was billed and received. Ask the bookkeeper to confirm that credits have not been counted twice. Add the time spent administering repeated negotiations where you can reasonably identify it, but label estimates instead of presenting a remembered number as a measured cost.
Imagine a hypothetical contractor granting four separately agreed $500 discounts across a year. Reviewing only the latest conversation hides the combined $2,000 reduction. That total may be significant relative to the contribution from the customer's work. It does not prove the customer behaved improperly; it gives the business a more complete basis for assessing the relationship.
Consider whether clearer scope, different commercially appropriate terms or improved invoicing would address the reason for the concessions. Review future pricing using the actual costs and experience. Do not assume a higher future invoice will recover old compromises, or secretly plan to make up the difference through unsupported variations. Any revised arrangement needs proper discussion and agreement.
Decide who can approve a concession and what information they need. Keep flexibility for a sensible settlement, while ensuring the full customer history is available. Seek advice on significant disputed terms. The aim is not an automatic refusal of every discount; it is a deliberate decision informed by the cumulative return rather than repeated decisions made under isolated payment pressure.
