Not being paid

sticker

Hey all,

Quick question;

I did some freelance web design work for a company. It started about 6 months ago - I had 4 meetings with them, they were VERY HAPPY with my work at every meeting, but then everything just went quiet. They are still in business, but the owner is forever on the road. He has obviously made the decision not to proceed with the site after it's 80% built.

I have left messages with his reception, rang him, texted him... nothing.

Do I have any rights here? It's not a hell of a lot of money, but its just frustrating as hell when people think they can just 'not answer the phone' and problems and bills will go away...

Thanks inadvance

david

Many companies are in difficulty in the present climate. Write it off as a bad debt as the finished product was not received. I work in a struggling high profile PLC and see how many petty debts like this are just ignored every day.

Advice for the future: Set out a contract outline deposits and minimum installment payment dates. Not much more you can do.

rugbyman

The company may no longer be interested in going the route ye planned.
He may be arrogant and is telling you to f off. He may be forever on the road trying to survive.

However ,if you have spent some time on this project, send him an invoice for work to date(assuming you can back this up)
If unpaid after several reminders ,take him to the small claims court. Make sure you have all info itemised, facts and figures, no long winded stories.. No need for a solicitor(I think)

Eventually you will get money.

regards
Rugbyman

aphex™

Assuming you have invoiced them correctly as rugbyman said try ringing the office and telling them you'll be in to collect the money on a certain day then turn up and make a fuss.That's assuming they have a proper office if you've had meetings with them. Are there any other employees? What do they say?

rugbyman wrote: »

If unpaid after several reminders ,take him to the small claims court.

Erm the small claims court is for consumers with problems with products. He is not a consumer in this situation.

mikemac

Asphex is correct, the small claims court won't help here.
It was setup for a purpose and it's not there to get bogged down in businesses sueing each other

Send an invoice, registered post.
This will probably fail so would you walk into reception and demand (in a calm way) to see someone

pauldiv

Invoice and a personal visit to the office then forget it.
You should also be more professional in your business affairs in order to avoid this in future.
You dont do work for someone unless you know when you are getting paid.
Make the terms very clear before you take on work.

sticker

pauldiv wrote: »

Invoice and a personal visit to the office then forget it.
You should also be more professional in your business affairs in order to avoid this in future.
You dont do work for someone unless you know when you are getting paid.
Make the terms very clear before you take on work.

Thanks for the advice all... very helpful.

In terms of my approach to new business, the first meeting always produces a figure and timeframe, so I'm not sure what more I can do in this respect.

That said, Do any of you have new clients "sign" a terms and conditions agreement?

JonnyC

The best thing to do is continue and launch the website, with a slight content change. The new message of the site should reflect the dealings you have just outlined. Send a registered mail to the business owner with details of how to see the site and let him take if from there.

sticker

JonnyC wrote: »

The best thing to do is continue and launch the website, with a slight content change. The new message of the site should reflect the dealings you have just outlined. Send a registered mail to the business owner with details of how to see the site and let him take if from there.

To be honest I dunno about that... I know it might be the aggressive tactic, but I'm just not built to reflect his unprofessionalism with such tact. Thanks anyway for the suggestion...

Hagar

pauldiv wrote: »

Invoice and a personal visit to the office then forget it.

Instead of forget it, threaten them with Stubbs and/or put the invoice in the hands of a debt collection agency. You may never see any cash but you will have the satisfaction of buggering up their credit rating.

sticker

I've just notcied they had a Golden Pages ad - I added a very negative comment about not being paid! It's the one and only comment - At least they won't get any work from that source...

carolinei

Hi,

I used to own a web design company and what I do is 40% on agreement of design and content, 40% when I upload the site and 20% after 30 days.

I also host the site on my server and include the transfer in the cost of the website and 1st year free, that way if there are any problems with payment I can suspend the site and email addresses. Believe me, this generally insures a very prompt payment.

I did have one customer that I was doing a lot of IT work for and there site was a huge ecommerce, specially programmed site that was costing over 6 K and they decided that money was tight as I was just uploading the site and wanted to wait, we ended up waiting over 6 months and after numerous calls, visits, emails, texts, registered mail, dropping in etc, I got pi£$%ed off.

I went to my accountant and got him to send a letter that basically threatened to liquidate the company if I didn't get paid as he was a ltd company. They paid 2 days after getting the letter.

I know it sounds harsh and cruel etc, but you have to pay staff, overheads, bills, yaddha, yaddha, yaddha - you need to get paid, and he needs to pay you. Just because you are not high on his list of priorities, he is obviously high on your list of priorities.

If that doesn't work, send in the debt collectors - but at that stage, you are probably kissing your money goodbye. You can only learn from your mistakes - go 40/40/20 get a signed contract and ensure you don't let it happen again.

By the way get all clients to sign a Terms and Conditions contract. If they don't like it, it's generally for a reason, and you are probably going to have problems with them, most companies if they are professional do not mind signing it.

Good Luck and let us all know who you get on.

Caroline

pauldiv

The 40/40/20 arrangement is a good way to go because it lowers the financial risks for you. That is how to get your business affairs in order and avoid fly boys ripping you off.

If you also host the site you have complete control and no serious business is going to piss you off if you have that level of authority.

By taking control in this way you can sleep easily and know that you have aces up your sleeve.

Caroline it would be helpful if you could tell us about the problems clients had with your terms and conditions.

the_syco

carolinei wrote: »

I also host the site on my server and include the transfer in the cost of the website and 1st year free, that way if there are any problems with payment I can suspend the site and email addresses. Believe me, this generally insures a very prompt payment.

I did have one customer that I was doing a lot of IT work for and there site was a huge ecommerce, specially programmed site that was costing over 6 K and they decided that money was tight as I was just uploading the site and wanted to wait, we ended up waiting over 6 months and after numerous calls, visits, emails, texts, registered mail, dropping in etc, I got pi£$%ed off.

I went to my accountant and got him to send a letter that basically threatened to liquidate the company if I didn't get paid as he was a ltd company. They paid 2 days after getting the letter.

I lol'ed. Nicely done :cool:

carolinei

Hi Pauldiv,

Not being funny, I don't have any problems getting customers to sign my T & C. Not being too hard on sticker, I have learned from experience.

It's very simple, if they are not willing to sign the T & C as it is discussed in the first meeting outlining payment etc, they can get someone else to do the work. What I outline is the basics, keep it simple. I basically put a disclaimer in saying if any one else has access to coding or updating the site in any way I am not responsible if it goes pear shaped, if they give me the images and they are from someone like getty images etc and are not paid for or anything else, I am not responsible, if the website fails due to their stupidity, I am not responsible etc

What I am responsible is for ensuring the programming works with my hosting and that they don't have any issue's with that side of it etc, and there is minimal downtime transferring it to my server.

I was very good at what I did and loved doing it, but took time out to have 2 kids and decided I didn't want to be self employed and liked the security of working for someone else and letting them deal with any headaches that arose. I still do nixers etc, but they still have to sign the contract and they do get invoiced, and its all above board, but because it is now not my main source of income I am more relaxed in taking on jobs.

Hope this helps.

Rgds

Caroline

sticker

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I think the ship has sailed with this one.

I'll put it down to a valuable lesson and move forward with the 40/40/20!