"I never received the goods"

The scenario

You chase a 40-day-overdue invoice and the customer replies, "We never received those goods, so there's nothing to pay." The order shipped weeks ago and this is the first you have heard of any problem. The customer wants the invoice cancelled; you suspect the stock is sitting in their warehouse.

This is one of the most common objections in trade credit, and it splits cleanly two ways. Sometimes a pallet really did go missing, get signed for at the wrong dock, or never leave your own store. Sometimes it is a reflex — a way to push back the due date by forcing you to prove something. Your job is not to argue, but to test the claim against the record.

What's really going on

A genuine non-delivery has a tell: it surfaces close to the expected delivery date, not weeks later when payment falls due. A customer who truly received nothing usually chases you — they want their stock. When the complaint appears only after the invoice ages and the first reminder lands, treat it as a flag to verify rather than a fact to accept.

Ask yourself what changed. Has the account paid on time before and only now raised a problem under payment pressure? Did they accept earlier deliveries on the same run without comment? A real failure is consistent with the timeline; a tactical one tends to appear precisely when money is due.

Your options

You have a small number of clear moves, and the right one depends entirely on the evidence:

• Produce proof of delivery. A signed delivery docket, a carrier's tracking record showing a completed drop, or a goods-in confirmation usually ends the conversation in a sentence.
• Trace the consignment. If your own records are thin, ask the carrier to confirm where and when it was delivered and who signed.
• Reissue or replace. If delivery genuinely failed, ship again promptly and reset expectations — the debt survives, the goods were the problem.
• Credit and reinvoice. Where the original cannot stand, issue a credit note against it and raise a fresh invoice for what was actually supplied.

Recommended approach

Lead with the record, not the accusation. Reply along the lines of: "Thanks for flagging this — I want to get it sorted. Our docket shows delivery to [address] on [date], signed by [name]. I've attached it. Can you check with your goods-in team and let me know what they find?" This is calm, factual, and puts the next move on them.

If the proof is solid, the objection usually evaporates and you can ask for a payment date. If your evidence is genuinely incomplete, do not bluff — investigate, and if delivery failed, fix it quickly and professionally. Preventing this argument is cheaper than winning it; capturing proof of delivery on every consignment is a habit worth building, and our guidance on preventing invoice disputes covers how.

What to avoid

Do not cancel the invoice to make the call end — that rewards the tactic and loses you a genuine debt. Equally, do not insist the customer is lying when you cannot actually produce proof; an empty assertion damages the relationship and your credibility if the claim turns out to be true. Avoid letting the account simply stall while you "look into it" with no deadline. Set a date by which you will confirm the delivery record and by which they will check their end, and hold to it.