Difficult Client
Many of you know that I do some freelance work on the side in my “spare time” these days. I recently started working with a new client a few months ago helping them with their branding, identity, and web presence. My business partner and I have taken countless phone calls and e-mails from this client and have provided some great work for their business. Recently however, they have failed to pay us for our work. We are now sitting at 60 days past due on invoices with demands that are still coming in with no payment in sight. It’s been a bit frustrating to say the least. Yesterday, I had to send an e-mail to all of the partners of the company letting them know we were not going to do anything else until they paid us for our work. Part of their payment includes hosting (which they have gotten for free now for two months), business cards, (which they are using and have in their hands), and domain names (which are pointing to the hosting area). Luckily, we still own the domain names and have this as some leverage to sell them outright should we not receive payment.
I will say that Hoover’s online (Dunn and Bradstreet) have some excellent collection services that I have started looking into to get the money that we are due. Anyone else have difficult clients they have worked with?
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Comments
I’ve seen this a few times in my job unfortunately. Do people think we are bank that can finance their projects?! Luckily in construction we can file liens on the property but sometimes that isn’t an option. We have had our attorney write demand letters occasionally which usually gets things going without actually having to file suit. Good luck!
Oh, by the way, we’ve used a collection agency but had no success with the one we used. Let me know how the D&B collection service goes for you.
I know your pain! We have a handful of clients who feel that they can pay us when ever they get around to it. One guy was running for office, lost and now thinks he doesn’t owe us because he lost. GRRRRR! We are also looking into collection agencies. Let me know if you find a fair one!