How Would You Handle a Supervisor Neglecting to Collect Customer Payments for Months?

Warning letter sample for not collecting payment cheques from customer which have been lying with him for more than three months. The customer himself is calling and asking about the concerned Supervisor to report and collect the payment.

Dear Muhammad, you have asked for the draft of a letter, and members are expected to provide the draft. However, before providing the draft, I find there are larger issues that are ignored either inadvertently or deliberately. More than the supervisor, I find the manager of that supervisor was responsible.

Issues in the Recovery Process

The personnel working in the recovery department or sales department are expected to be proactive and follow up with the customer for the issue of the cheque by the due date. Now, in your case, far from follow-up, the customer was proactive and was telling the supervisor to collect the cheque. However, the collection was delayed for more than three months. This shows that the sense of ownership is completely missing.

Management Responsibility

If the supervisor failed to organize the collection of the cheque, then what was his manager doing? Do you conduct meetings on the collection of outstanding payments or not? Why was payment from the said customer not discussed in the monthly meeting? Going further, in many companies, a monthly statement on outstanding payments (or recoveries) is submitted to the General Manager or any other senior authority. Why did the delay in the receipt of payment escape their attention as well? In many companies, the senior authority himself involves and communicates with the customer to cut short the further delay. Why was there no communication from the seniors?

Final Note

Since you have asked for the draft of the letter, some members might expect to provide the draft and not raise unnecessary questions. Nevertheless, since the post has been raised on the public forum, it will have public scrutiny as well. I find system failure more than personal failure in your case. By laying the blame at the doorstep of the supervisor, seniors cannot wash their hands off. The cause of the incident could be the failure of the seniors to provide directions to the supervisors. This is far more serious. More than supervisors, they need to be taken to task. The second thing that needs to be done is improvising the recovery process of your company. For further queries, feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Thank you for the quick response. Yes, I do agree with the concerns stated above. Our organization and management are very strict on the subject matter, and there is an outstanding report submitted by accounts to each Supervisor and their Line Managers on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

The employee failed to collect the payment from the customer and has accepted his negligence as he was unable to complete his market visit and was without any plan. I request you to share with me a draft warning letter in this regard as I need to submit it at the earliest.

Dear Muhammad, once again, you have come to the said point. If the delay lasted for three months, then what was the manager of that supervisor doing? This is more of a managerial failure than the supervisor's. A delay of 1-2 weeks or a maximum of 1 month can be attributed to the supervisor, but certainly not more than that. Just because the supervisor accepts his failure, that does not mean he is solely responsible.

When issuing discipline, the organization cannot be quick to act against juniors and slow to act against seniors. If action is taken only against the supervisor, it would show favoritism towards the manager and send the wrong signal to everyone. Either action should be taken against both or against no one.

Last comments: I can draft a response in just two minutes. However, holding the junior accountable while letting the manager off the hook goes against my conscience. Therefore, I do not want to contribute to the favoritism present in your organization.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear Dinesh,

I align and agree with you as you are absolutely right. I will strictly follow your notes and ensure that the manager of the concerned department should be held liable for the matter if no action was taken on their part.

Thank you.

Dear Muhammad,

The draft for the warning letter to the supervisor is as follows:

Date: -

To,

Mr ____________

Employee No: ________


1. You are responsible for the collection of outstanding payments from our customers/vendors. As part of this, you were responsible for collecting a cheque from __________ (name of the vendor). Early collection of cheques facilitates the management of the company's cash flow. Therefore, you were expected to be proactive in the collection of cheques. However, instead of being proactive, you were not even reactive. In this case, the vendor had the cheque ready for collection, and all that was required was to arrange for the collection. Since the cheque was not collected, the vendor made telephone calls for the collection. Typically, those responsible for recovery rigorously follow up with vendors for early collection. In this case, the opposite occurred, with the vendor following up with you for the collection of the cheque. The cheque was collected at a leisurely pace, three months later.

2. Your delay in collecting the cheque, despite reminders from the vendor, demonstrates the highest level of indifference towards your duties. Your lack of a sense of ownership is viewed seriously. You are hereby warned to exercise caution and show care and attention towards your duties. Failure to demonstrate a sense of ownership in the future will be viewed seriously, and severe disciplinary action will be taken against you.

3. The delay in collecting the cheque resulted in a loss of interest to the company. Therefore, as a punitive measure, it has been decided to recover __________ (amount) from you. You are required to deposit the said amount within four working days upon receiving this notice. Failure to do so will be considered another misconduct, and separate disciplinary action will be initiated.

Authorized Signatory

The draft for the warning letter to the Manager of the supervisor is as follows:

Date: -

To,

Mr ____________

Employee No: ________

Warning for the Unreasonable Delay in Collection of Cheque

1. Your subordinate, Mr _____, is responsible for the collection of outstanding payments from our customers/vendors. As part of his duties, he was responsible for collecting a cheque from __________ (name of the vendor). Early collection of cheques facilitates the management of the company's cash flow. Therefore, he was expected to be proactive in collecting cheques. However, he was neither proactive nor reactive. In this case, the vendor had the cheque ready for collection, and all that was required was to arrange for the collection. Since the cheque was not collected, the vendor made telephone calls for the collection. Generally, those responsible for recovery rigorously follow up with vendors for early collection. In this case, the vendor was following up with you for the collection of the cheque. The cheque was collected at a leisurely pace, three months later.

2. Your subordinate's delay in collecting the cheque, despite reminders from the vendor, showed the highest level of indifference towards his duties. What exacerbated the matter was your inability to monitor the activities of the supervisor. As you are well aware, the Accounts department submits an outstanding report to each Supervisor and their Line Managers on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. The delay in collecting the cheque indicates that you do not review the report with due sensitivity.

3. Managers are expected to demonstrate a sense of ownership through timely guidance to subordinates. Directing and controlling are two important functions of managers, but these were lacking in your case. Your perfunctoriness in this matter has been viewed seriously. You are hereby warned to exercise caution and show care and attention towards your duties. Failure to demonstrate a sense of ownership in the future will not be condoned, and severe disciplinary action will be taken against you.

4. The delay in collecting the cheque resulted in a loss of interest to the company. Therefore, as a punitive measure, it has been decided to recover __________ (amount) from you. You are required to deposit the said amount within four working days upon receiving this notice. Failure to do so will be considered another misconduct, and separate disciplinary action will be initiated.

Authorized Signatory

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar