Quite some time ago, I was referred a client by someone I knew. They had been banned by Google, and they needed the problem to be sorted out. He had already hired 3 different seo companies to sort out the problem, and none had any luck, so he was hesitant to hire me based on his previous dissapointment. I agreed to do the job on a speculative basis. Once I got the site re-included, he would pay me $x when google traffic reached y visits over a 24h period, and $x x 2 when Google traffic reached y x 2 visits in a 24 h period. Well, after quite a few months, we finally got all the traffic coming back. I approached him to be paid, and he's telling me that his investors have pulled out (because they lost faith because he managed to get the site banned) and that the company is effectively 'out of business'. The reality (as I found out) is that he's trying to keep it going on his own & fighting with the investors to allow him to do so.... I think he's also trying to resurrect the relationship with his investors in light of the success that I had in getting them back in Google. I sent him an invoice for the first amount, with a statement explaining the second benchmark as well that has not yet been reached, but will very likely be reached very soon. He told me that he forwarded it to the investors because they control the bank accounts (I don't understand this, as they have pulled out (before we even made our agreement!), but anyways...), but took the statement off that explained the second benchmark. He basically said that he's going to 'try' to get the first invoice paid, but the 2nd will likely not get paid. I'm of course upset that he edited MY invoice, as taking that off will likely guarantee that I won't get paid. ANy ideas on how I should handle this? I sort of believe what he says in principle, but don't trust that all the details are exactly right. It sounds odd that the investors are paying a bill that was agreed upon after his investors pulled out. I assume that he has an incentive to keep the site going. I'm trying to decide how hard to push this. DO I demand that he puts the FULL details on the invoice? DO I freak out that he changed MY invoice? DO I threaten to "undo" the work? If someone agrees to pay me $100 to dig a ditch, and he fails to pay me, can I fill that ditch back in legally? He's in a different country that I (he's in the US, I'm in Canada), so suing him might be difficult, especially considering that the total he owes me is less than $10k . Any advice or thoughts?
The goal is to get paid. Always remember that. Keeping that in mind, I would be careful when involving legal authorities...since you may spend half of what is owed to you trying to get the cash. Also, you don't want to threaten him harshly either...then you'll spend time reversing what you've done, screwing him over, but still not GETTING PAID. You may consider ethically explaining the situation - so that he realizes the survival of his company does in part rely on the work you've done, which can be reversed. Be understanding, but make him accountable for what has gone on. I know that didn't give any direct advice, but you are the only one who knows the situation.
On principal, I would seek legal advice, but that is a costly option. You should write him a letter explaining (keep a copy for yourself as evidence!) the situation from your point of view, I concur with teecamo, but 'undoing' the work is not the way forward, as, should this matter need to go further and resort to law suits, your behaviour and lawful conduct will count for a lot.