RE: FN-FORUM: experiences of non paying clients???

date posted 1st November 2003 11:48


Hi Debi

I had a similar problem a while back with a customer - and in the end I
ended up just walking away and losing over a grand. It was a tough decision
to make, but I kept all the material I developed and have managed to reuse
it on another client who was more than happy.

They constantly implied that there would be more work, which kept me
clinging on to the project and I was desperate for the extra cash at the
time - what made it even harder was that I had been recommended for the job
by a close friend.

In the end I had to treat this as part of the learning curve, but now I
always draw up a contract and outline the details of every job - right down
to individual layouts of pages, and demand a deposit before beginning
anything. As a result I've found that most proper business's are more than
happy to do this, and understand that anything extra will have to be added
on at an additional cost. If a company doesn't want to do this then I won't
work with them - simple as that.

On another note I did a site for a small indie label who refused to pay for
the site , even though it was online, saying that the band in question
weren't entirely happy with the layout as it didn't tie in with their
artistic direction (even though I agreed on a v simple layout with the band
themselves as they didn't know how they wanted it to look!).

In the end instead of taking the site down I stuck a splash page in front of
the home page saying that the site would be taken down within seven working
days due to unpaid bills (as I was hosting the site and the domain name for
them this caused a bit of a problem for them) - in the end I actually got
cash delivered by hand to my home address :-) - prob not the best approach
for larger businesses but it gave these guys the kick they needed

Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL REMOVED] [EMAIL REMOVED] Behalf Of Debi
Sykes
Sent: 01 November 2003 11:41
To: FN-FORUM / [EMAIL REMOVED]
Subject: FN-FORUM: experiences of non paying clients???



Hi all.
Ok I know a few of you had your opinions on what I ought to do the other day
regarding this annoying client I have who doesn't want to pay me what I have
asked for, well it turns out instead of the requested #2000 my client wants
to give me #1200...im not exactly pleased with that, I am really confused
about what to do...I feel like my options are to either take the whole thing
offline and cause a few probs, or take the 1200, and plus they want me to do
a few dreamweaver tutorials with them, and they owe me money for logo
design- thing is I cant afford to turn any extra work down, but I cant
afford to take #1200...confused!!! have any of you on the forum had to come
to the drastic measure of taking the clients website offline cause of non
payment or because they wouldn't pay enough, what happened, did they pay u,
or did it get nasty?

this was my original email--
Hi everyone on the forum, Haven't been on the forum for a while , but I have
a question for all the website designers out there, I have almost finished
my first webpage, just a few minor adjustments---which I had been working on
for 4 months or so, not my fault, the customer changed their minds about the
design 3 times- they didnt know what they wanted, so effectively I started
the website twice got half way through and they changed it again, untill
they deceide they knew what they wanted and the third design, which is what
I have uploaded... I put my invoice in, #1900 approx, they think its a bit
'high' I don't- really it should be more than that...I know big website
design companies, charges 1000's!, for 4 months work on and off, plus being
messed about, and there are a huge amount of pdfs I had to convert and link-
(about 250-300 pdfs/links).... what are your experiences, thoughts etc? I
feel like just cause I am a 'one person' company or a freelancer, they think
I should undercharge.


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