My gut feeling told me she'd be a pain in the Rse from the moment I agreed to do a website for her and it was right. First she used my pictures for other projects without permission (and without payment) , now she's late paying the invoice..... thank goodness I haven't handed over the website yet. But she hasn't even sorted out the hosting for it! Anyway, this is my first client so I really don't know how to handle it. I am meant to be doing website maintenance for her too (if the site ever goes live) but I fear she's not going to be worth the trouble. I sent her a polite reminder by email that the invoice was overdue... no reply to that. OK, I only sent it yesterday, so I'm not panicking yet, but I'd like to be prepared for possible further action. I got a lawyer to help me out with the contract and there's a paragraph about Late Payments that reads: "Invoices not paid by the due date will incur interest at 2% per month compounding daily from the date payment is due to the date payment is made, all payments going first to the payment of interest and then principal." I was hoping it wouldn't have to get to that as I'm not sure I know what that means. Say it takes her 3 weeks to pay after the due date. She just pays the due amount, but of course that amount would have been subject to interest. What would I do, send her another invoice for the difference? And then what if she doesn't pay on time, would that amount incur interest as well? I would be tempted to just turn a blind eye and forget about interest for now, as it's only the first invoice, however I feel that she's taken the piss enough already and I fear that by letting her off the hook I would only be setting a bad precedence for myself, and sending her the message that she can continue to take the piss and I'll continue to be nice to her. I'd rather send the message that I'm not one to be taken for a ride and risk losing a client (who like I said will probably be more trouble than anything else). Any thoughts?
I feel sorry for you because it's always tough to deal with. While you don't want to set a precedence for being a pushover, I've found that sometimes it's better to a take a softly-softly approach to start with, and then get progressively tougher as time goes on. You don't specify how late the invoice is, but some people just never pay their invoices on time. Most times this lateness isn't out of then being deliberately awkward (it is sometimes) but people forget, have personal problems, only pay business debts once per month on invoices received the previous month before a certain date (you'll get this a lot with large companies), go on holiday, or simply don't have any money right at this time - all sorts of reasons. Did you agree terms up front? It's tough to bring up with new client, but all business people will expect to agree a price and some basic terms of contract. Did YOU fulfill all the terms agreed as she saw them - delivered on time? at agreed price? Make sure she isn't blaming you for failing to uphold the terms as she understood them. You might want to get some basic terms & conditions created for future clients. They don't need to be long list of legalease, but some basic conditions stating time-lines, payment terms, terms of reference, and what you need from them (images, content) by certain dates, copyright and ownership of created works and licensing of commercial images, wouldn't go amiss. At least everyone would be on the same page then. Another friendy-ish reminder wouldn't go amiss if the payment isn't made in a couple of working days. If that doesn't work, a phone call would work next. You might be able to judge from how the phone call goes whether you want to start getting tough. With regards to interest charges you might want to hold off until you find out why she hasn't paid. After all, are you really going to go to court for a few bucks? The only real chance you have of getting interest paid is if she is a company and you can collect interest under the Late Payments of Commercial Interest Act (in the UK) under statutory law. Unless you previously agreed, you don't have to do any future maintenance on her site but be sure you supply all files so that she can do it herself. If she does ask for changes after satisfactory completion -which would be deemed as the point at which final payment was made and the files handed over (specify that in your terms and condition) - make sure she is aware there will be a charge. Even charging most or all of the fee upfront for specified changes may not be unreasonable given her poor payment history with you. Here's some things to consider that may be affecting her payment 1. Is she happy with the work? Maybe there's a problem she isn't telling you about. Best to ask. 2. Has she not arranged hosting because she isn't sure what to do? Why not provide her with one of two links to hosting companies (not too many - don't make it difficult for her to make a decision), or get your own reseller plan and host it yourself (more money!). If she does arrange hosting offer to upload the site for her to make sure it runs OK. 3. My personal experience has shown that some of the most difficult customers initially turn out to be the best customers long-term. Don't let her walk all over you, but maintain a sympathetic demeanour until you are sure she is just stringing you along. One area where you have to be tough is her use of images in other projects but be careful. She may think that since you created them for her she has copyright and owndership of them. Her use may not be malicious but a misunderstanding of who owns what. This is where some basic terms and conditions of contract would specify these things in advance. Only you can decide what is best for you. There's no need to alienate people at the start when your future business will depend upon reputation and references from satisfied clients, but you also don't want to be a soft touch and you want to be paid for the work you do. I'd give it another email and a personal telephone call. Don't be shy about speaking about money to clients - its why you did the work for them in the first place. If you can't get a commitment to payment after that then you can start getting tough. You have all sorts of ways to get "nasty" but unless she flat-out refuses to pay that course is nothing by aggro, raises the blood pressure, causes you to waste time & energy getting angry when it would be better spent being creative working for clients who do pay. It's better to have this problem NOW than later down the road. Take it as a lesson to get things agreed in advance for future clients and make sure that when you get another late paying client (you will, you always will) you have a "procedure" in your mind for dealing with it...1st email reminder on day payment is due, 2nd email reminder 3 days later if not paid, personal telephone call 2 days after that if not paid (your invoice is now 7 days late), then you can start to get tougher because you've been nice and reasonable up to that point and given them plenty of opportunity to pay or explain why they aren't. Best of luck!
If i'm in your shoes,then i will negotiate with her. Let say give her to pay the whole amount in certain time frame such as this month pay $100,then next month pay $100,until the whole amount is pay all.
I've run an accounting business for a number of years, so I have been in the same situation. Here is how I handle late payments. Most late payments are just people "shuffling" bills. If money is tight, and there is no pain to them for paying late, why should they worry? If you are too nice you will always be paid after everyone else. So here is my routine. Finish work, Send Invoice, Payment due in 10 days. 30 days later, send Statement, include 20 days interest. Client calls, "Why the Interest"? I say it's policy, I'll take off the interest just this once if they pay the bill immediately. Then the client always pays on time, or They pay me interest. I charge 18%, that's 1.5% per month and is enough that most of time I get paid on time! If not, I pocket a little extra money. If I have a client that doesn't pay after 60 days, I will no longer do any work for them unless they bring their bill current and pay for all future work in advance. I hope this helps, it works for me!
First, What country are you in? Because some of the advice is coming from different areas that have different legal rules. Don't get us wrong, we aren't lawyers at all, but have been in the marketing and promotion business long enough, so we have had lots of dealing in researching the legalities of certain actions pertaining to non-payment and recourses in different states in the US, so that would be the only restricting factor on us telling you what we would do in your position. "Has she not arranged hosting because she isn't sure what to do? Why not provide her with one of two links to hosting companies (not too many - don't make it difficult for her to make a decision), or get your own reseller plan and host it yourself (more money!). If she does arrange hosting offer to upload the site for her to make sure it runs OK." This should have no bearing on you getting paid. This should also tell you that she has no idea what she is doing. If you set a date for delivery, she should've had enough business sense to get the hosting by the date so you could upload it to the server. Next, "My personal experience has shown that some of the most difficult customers initially turn out to be the best customers long-term. Don't let her walk all over you, but maintain a sympathetic demeanour until you are sure she is just stringing you along." You can't charge somebody interest and come across sympathetic... This may work in some places, but in the long run it would work against you if that was the feeling you are trying to convey. So your choice is either give her more time, or think about what it takes to feed your family and enforce the contract. Next, "One area where you have to be tough is her use of images in other projects but be careful. She may think that since you created them for her she has copyright and owndership of them. Her use may not be malicious but a misunderstanding of who owns what. This is where some basic terms and conditions of contract would specify these things in advance." Well, that would solve the problem. Was there a clause in the contract pertaining to the images? If there was not, then she would be free to use the images for what ever advertising purposes pertaining to the applicable endeavors that relate to her site. This is a very sticky point if you were taking her to court if there was not a very specific clause about ownership of the intellectual property of the images. To me, it sounds like you used a regular lawyer instead of a entertainment lawyer who would have such knowledge of such properties. And just for definition, intellectual property is an object of art, writing, music, websites, etc. You have lots of remedies to this type of problem. But unless we know where you are from, either outside the us or which state in the us because the laws on intellectual properties varies greatly if there is not very specific language in the contract about ownership and copyright. If you pm us back, we will be glad to help you research your problem, because that is one of the things our company does, research, but there are specific details that need to be known, the entire contract and your location because the remedy for this situation lies in those two pertinent pieces of information.
1- i don't find any such thing in her attitude.so she is 100% satisfied. i like your 3rd point. Actually i don't have much experience in client dealing so i m stuck here. any way thanks for advice.
There's some good advice re: interest here, which is always an option. Just for future reference, maybe ask for a percentage up front? I usually do this with a new client and then go to full-pay-on-completion when the first task has gone well. If they're genuine, they won't mind a first up percentage deposit fee (25% is mine). Anyway, what I was really posting to say was that if you have bad vibes about someone, jump ship. On my first job several years ago, I was told it was "normal" for payments to take several weeks - this was for a blogging company - and I didn't have any frame of reference, so I carried on regardless. I've since discovered that this is a ridiculous wait, and I now get antsy if someone doesn't pay within three to five days. Her stipulating three weeks is odd to me - very long portion of time, especially considering she'll have commissioned the project even further back in time - so maybe you'd be best to cut your losses after this project and run. There's no need to carry on, believing someone for their reasons for not paying... it isn't your problem, after all, they shouldn't have ordered work if they can't pay. So fight this one, try and get some money and learn from the experience. I feel such a fool when I think I used to wait for eight weeks for payment because that was "normal". Good luck!
This probably depends on the culture. Where I'm from I found out it's better not to ask for interest, even if it's in the contract. You can do it, and probably get it, but you will have blown your chances for a future collaboration with that client. If you want to keep good relations with him in the future, don't be greedy on that 1-2%. Consider them marketing costs for a returning customer. If you'll never see the guys again then you might as well take everything you are intitled to. Of course you could have some negative publicity as a trade of I was only asked to pay interest once (thought it's in every contract you'll ever sign). It was a bill that came late, and wasn't payed till next month with all the other bills. A simple case for forgetting. Suffice to say I felt insulted about the greediness of his demands and how the business relation we had was measured in cents and nickels. I hope 1% covered his costs for loosing me as a client
Next time setup a agreement for doing a website for someone through a site like GetACoder or setup a Escrow payment plan to insure you get paid for your work. This is what a friend of mine does.
Thanks for your tip. yha obviously next time i shall take care of this. Next time i shall go for screw payment now i have to fight this one.
Interesting, I have never lost a client for charging interest. It is not about being greedy, it is about getting paid in a timely manner. I will often waive the interest if the client brings their account current. Also, I only charge interest on clients that are habitually late in paying. A good client that normally pays on time will get a friendly phone call. But different things work for different people.
But different things work for different people. [/QUOTE] Totally agree, I have been lucky as in nearly all my clients have been good payers, and a pleasure to work with, however I have had the odd one or two (like most designer) that didn't pay on time or who tried to take advantage. Whilst I am very easy going and friendly which I feel is a must in this industry, you will always get one that sees that as you being a soft touch. As much as it may not be in your nature to put your foot down, sometimes you really have no choice at the end of the day it's a business like any other. Dee
As much as it may not be in your nature to put your foot down, sometimes you really have no choice at the end of the day it's a business like any other. Dee[/QUOTE] very well said.