Industry: Commercial, Advertising

Location: Argentina

Results: Paid in full within 6 months.

Background:

Unpaid online advertising invoices in Argentina

A global online advertising company based in Israel provided advertising services for a customer in Argentina. But when the invoices came due, the customer went silent.

The Challenge:

Receiving the silent treatment from a continent away

Doing business locally is challenging enough. But when your customer is on another continent entirely, it can be nearly impossible to reach them if they don’t want to be reached.

When our client tried to collect the money owed for their services, they received no response. Language barriers, a significant time difference and “gatekeepers” at the company all stood in the way of collecting their payment.

After a year of internal efforts with no end in sight, the advertiser came to Cedar Financial for help.

How Cedar Financial Solved the Problem:

With over 30 years of experience in international and commercial debt collection, Cedar Financial was able to quickly cut through the excuses and get payment in full within six months of placement.

Here’s how:

1) Local, Spanish-speaking debt collectors in Argentina

Our local Argentina debt collection office allowed us to reach the debtor in their own time zone and language, simplifying the collection process. We immediately issued a demand letter in Spanish and followed up with the contact.

2) Skip tracing to get around gatekeepers

When the old contact at the company still didn’t respond, our team skip traced the account, reaching out to various employees at the company until we successfully reached the new person in the Accounts Payable department responsible for resolving invoices.

3) Local legal representation encourages faster dispute resolution

Even with the right contact person, the debtor argued every step of the way. As is common with advertising claims, they disputed the charges, claiming that the results did not meet their expectations and they shouldn’t have to pay the full amount.

Our professional commercial debt collection team calmly explained that they were in breach of contract and responsible for the full balance. When they continued to argue, we leveraged our network of top debt collection attorneys in Argentina, vetting the file for collectability in court, requesting an estimate for legal costs and explaining to the debtor that it was in their best interests to settle the matter amicably.

After months of back and forth, the debtor realized the amount wasn’t going away and our client received the full principal amount over the course of four months.

“Very happy with the outcome. Don’t think we would be able to collect without your guy’s help.” – Dan B.

The Takeaway:

Local leverage can make the difference between success and failure

Disputes are hard enough to resolve without added distance – before you even hear your customer’s excuses, language barriers, time zone differences and out-of-date contact info can prevent progress and threaten your cash flow.

With over 300 local offices in over 170 countries worldwide, Cedar Financial offers on-the-ground representation in your debtor’s location for faster resolution of your accounts. As a trusted member of the International Association of Commercial Collectors (IACC), TCM Group and ACA International, our professional collectors are trained to quickly resolve disputes in the language and time zone of your debtor.

If your debtor still won’t pay, we offer low-cost access to a network of top debt collection attorneys, allowing us to apply the extra pressure needed to reach a settlement in difficult cases without you having to hire anyone else.