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

date posted 1st November 2003 15:58

On Saturday 01 Nov 2003 11:40 am, Debi Sykes wrote:
> 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 =A32000 my cli=
ent
> wants to give me =A31200...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 =A31200...confused!!! have any of you on the forum ha=
d 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?

You're going to have to stand your ground. Try to arrange a face to face=20
meeting where you can explain your position. Remain professional throughout=
=20
and do not entertain any arguments about the quality of your work. Explain=
=20
how much time you have put in.

State that you will accept an initial payment of =A31200 with the balance d=
ue in=20
two installments of =A3400 in thirty and sixty days respectively. With the=
=20
alternative being termination of the contract and withdrawal of all work=20
done. Cheapskate clients will see this as an opportunity to pay the deposit=
=20
and allow the future payments to fall into arrears. However if you can get =
an=20
agreement (on paper and in principal) that the total value of the work done=
=20
is =A32000, then the small claims court will rule in your favour in future=
=20
legal actions (the amount due must not be disputed, you want the account to=
=20
be in arrears at this stage).

Do not mention Small Claims Court at this stage just get an agreement that =
the=20
work is worth the full amount.

Accepting the =A31200 now means you alleviate your current financial sittua=
tion=20
without jeapordising your chances of getting the full payment.

Good Luck!

/rob