# How many times must you ask for a bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411 "2010-09-11T15:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411/21 "2010-09-13T21:23:33Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > You don’t see where ethics is involved? Good god. You made an agreement–gave your word–I can’t properly respond to this in this forum. It has nothing to do with laws. I did not ‘give my word’, I entered into a business contract, governed by state law. Big difference. I feel absolutely no ethical requirement to waive my rights under the law. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411/22 "2010-09-13T23:45:38Z")
My only real concern would be someone trying to claim an old debt long after I’ve forgotten the particulars. That’s why I suggested diarizing it for future reference (I think **FairyChatMom** and I are close in age, and if her brain is doing what mine is, she’ll need the details written down). I can see it happening even years down the road; a new accountant gets hold of old books, and goes to town trying to collect all the old invoices. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411/23 "2010-09-14T00:08:22Z")
Let’s not pick on my memory now… 😛 After all, I still remember that he hasn’t billed us. And frankly, I expect he’s forgotten because he didn’t write anything down, especially the part where we ended up staying out of the water for several days. So I don’t expect an audit to show us as an old debt. We tried running our own business several times, and I know every penny made a difference. And while we never had cash flow on the same level as the marina, (between slip rents, haulout fees, fuel sales, retail sales, transient boats… ) our few hundred dollar debt is a tiny percentage, but still, it bugs me. On the other hand, he’s running a business - he has a certain responsibility here, too. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411/24 "2010-09-14T00:40:48Z")
Fro this amount, I think I’d send an email (or failing that, a letter–which in this case suffers by being overly formal) saying I was trying to balance my books for that month, and could he go ahead and send a bill? Ideally I’d like a bill by the end of the month so I could get everything figured out in time for Christmas shopping season. Make it light and chatty, but with a requested deadline. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411/25 "2010-09-14T03:31:10Z")
It sounds like the OP doesn’t know the amount of the bill. The boatyard has an obligation to send a bill with the specific amount if they expect payment in reasonable time. I’d ask once to find out what the amount was. If I had no way to make a reasonable estimate, it would make sense to keep asking to find out what someone would want to collect some day, or if I wanted to dispute the amount. On the other hand, based on an actual incident at a restaurant, I waited for 30 minutes to get a bill, went to the front to try to find a host or manager, waited 15 minutes after being told someone would be with me in a moment, and then left when no one showed up. Someone came running out to the parking lot, so I went back in and paid. I think I would have just left and never returned to pay after that treatment if nobody came out. But I was young then, and in retrospect, I would have been obligated to pay them somehow. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411/26 "2010-09-14T11:58:58Z")
I would not put that in writing, you want to keep it on a personal light level, not pushy somewhat adversarial level. If that pushy level happens it will cause a feeling of uncomfortableness, which you don’t want. But then again you may feel this already, waiting for the ‘shoe to drop’ so to speak, which is not good either. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411/27 "2010-09-14T12:09:00Z")
You asked three times? I’d forget about it, but pay it if/when he decides to get around to billing. It may be that this is his busy season and once things calm down he’ll get around to the billing part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-times-must-you-ask-for-a-bill/553411.md?page=1)