Apex Components, Tom's Detroit-based manufacturing firm, had supplied brake rotors to a Spanish distributor for three years. Good relationship. Steady orders. Payments within terms.

Then came the big one. €248,000. Their largest order yet.

"They wanted volume pricing. We gave it. They wanted extended terms. NET 90. We agreed. I figured three years of good history earned that trust."

The parts shipped. The invoice went out. And then: silence.

Tom's controller started tracking the excuses. Not as a joke at first — just documentation. By month six, it had become dark comedy.

"'The bank is reviewing it.' 'Our CFO is traveling.' 'There was a system migration.' My personal favorite: 'The payment went out, check with your bank.' We checked. Nothing. Not even an attempt."

He pulls out his phone. Shows me the spreadsheet. Thirty-one documented excuses over fifteen months.

"I kept it because I couldn't believe it. Thirty-one ways to say 'we're not paying you' without actually saying it."

Month nine. Tom's sales director pushed back hard against escalating.

"He said we'd lose the account. I asked him what account. We hadn't received an order in four months. We had a receivable, not a relationship."

This is where most companies break. The sunk cost of years of business. The hope that next month will be different. The quiet calculation that maybe the fight isn't worth it.

"My CFO wanted to reserve against it. Start treating it as a loss. I get it — clean books, move on. But $275K? That's not a rounding error. That's a mistake."

Tom did what most CEOs avoid. He calculated the real cost of inaction.

"That money wasn't just sitting there. I had interest on my line of credit. I had a parts order I couldn't place because cash was tight. I had a bonus pool I'd promised my team that was looking thinner every month."

The opportunity cost of a quarter million dollars over fifteen months? He estimates it at another $40K.

"So now it's $315K. Still want to give it another month?"

A contact at a trade show mentioned international collection specialists. Not attorneys. Not threats. People who actually operate in Spain and know how to apply proper pressure.

"I was skeptical. I'd talked to collection agencies before — the kind that send angry letters and then send a bill. This was different. No retainer. They only get paid if I get paid."

First call: they confirmed the distributor was still operating, still solvent, still selling the parts Tom had shipped.

"That was the part that burned. They weren't broke. They weren't struggling. They just decided I wasn't worth paying."

The specialists made contact. In Spanish, through local channels, with documented knowledge of what was owed and clear communication about next steps.

"Within three weeks, I got a call. They wanted to negotiate. Fifteen months of nothing, and suddenly they could find time to talk."

Final settlement: €218,000. Roughly 89% of the original invoice. No lawsuit, no international legal fees, no years of litigation.

"They claimed currency fluctuation as the reason for the discount. Fine. I'll take the 11% haircut over the 100% write-off I was planning."

Tom doesn't extend NET 90 anymore. Not to new accounts, not to established ones.

"NET 60, with clear escalation language. And if you're past due at 45 days, you're getting a call — not an email, a call. Emails are too easy to ignore. I should know. I sent 40 of them."

His other advice? Trust the pattern, not the promise.

"When someone's excuse changes every month, they're not solving a problem. They're buying time. Thirty-one excuses should have been one: 'We're not paying.' At least that would have been honest."

He pauses.

"Hope is not a collection strategy. I spent fifteen months learning that. You don't have to."

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Tom Harwell is a pseudonym. Industry and geographic details have been preserved, but identifying information has been changed to protect the parties involved.