Recovered a Debt Within 30 Days
Background
Creditor
A Chinese company in Nanning
Debtor
A Turkish company in Istanbul (Buyer), Guangxi province (Seller)
Refusing to Pay the Balance
In this case, the buyer paid 30% advance payment to the seller, and as agreed by both parties, the buyer would pay the 70% balance payment to the seller after they received the goods. However, when the goods arrived at the port in Istanbul on April 28, 2021, the buyer defaulted. They refused to receive the goods and make the balance payment to the seller, and they even claimed that they would collect the goods when they were auctioned at a lower price by Turkish customs. This is because according to Turkish law, if goods are not cleared from the port within 45 days upon arrival, the customs has the right to auction the goods. In this situation, the importer has the priority to get the goods in the auction.
The creditor tried to negotiate with the debtor and the debtor once agreed to pay with the precondition that the creditor wrote down the container number and sign. However, when the creditor agreed, the debtor again refused to pay the balance with an excuse that the responsible person was in the hospital for COVID-19. In fact, the debtor was only waiting for the customs auction and would not pay the balance, and they had already defrauded 3 containers of goods from other companies through the same trick.
How Our Expert Successfully Recovered the Debt
“Don’t worry, we will try out best to get that money as soon as possible.”
As the situation was becoming increasingly urgent, the creditor was at a loss on what to do until one day they landed on Expert Planet. With a mind of giving it a shot, the creditor contacted the Turkish expert Ibrahim Genc on Expert Planet. Then everything started to turn bright.
After Ibrahim received the inquiry from the creditor, he found the debtor’s company was near his office. So, he did a site visit before signing the contract with the creditor, which impressed the creditor a lot.
When Ibrahim learned that Turkey would go into lockdown for 2 weeks and people would not be allowed to go outside unless they got permission from the government, he immediately contacted the creditor and also sent a field agent to the forwarder to make sure that the debtor couldn’t clear the goods from customs with any trickery.
During the collection process, when the debtor tried to negotiate the payment with the creditor, Ibrahim reminded them that instead of talking to the debtor directly, the creditor needs to let the debtor contact his lawyer directly.
Being highly appreciative of Ibrahim’s dedication in dealing with the case, the creditor would like to double the commission for Ibrahim. However, Ibrahim didn’t accept and said “There is no need to increase the commission, rest assured we will use every method so that you receive your full payment.”
Through Ibrahim’s onsite communications with the debtor as well as a series of actions to add pressure, the debtor finally agreed to pay the balance and the payment was completed on May 31.
