Hello Guys, What you do when anyone away with your money. I have a client, and worked on three projects without upfront. The buyer is from UK and not at DP. I have emails, chat sessions saved with me. I have done the job, invoiced him, its been 2 months now, i am tired of emailing him. Where do i go from here.... This is to add, my client is a good company in UK. Looking for some good help.
Your first stop is here: http://www.ripofftipoff.net/ It is run by the Trading Standards and Department of Trade and Industry. Give them all details you have on this person, you can do everything online here: http://www.ripofftipoff.net/notify.htm Good luck.
It depends if there is any further business from the client. If there is, try and negotiate, direct call and keep badgering. If it is a large company, the invoice may be stuck in the accounts department. The next option is to get an agent in the UK, and then use them to submit a claim through the small claims court (depending on the value). If you claim through small claims, you can also apply for your costs, ie your agent. Rob
sad to hear that mate. that's why collecting money upfront is very important especially of this kind of business.
Thats a tricky one, because as a buyer, I never make payment upfront. Sometimes I will pay in stages i.e a certain amount once the design is completed and then the rest once the programming is completed. Because as buyers we have the same problem with the people completing the service running away with our money. This has happened to me before and I am determined not to let it happen again. It really hurts, not so much the money, but the fact that you have be duped. Well best of luck and as was suggested above try getting an agent in the country with which you were dealing and go from there.
You need to deal with this in a professinal manner. Send a statement monthly with amount due. Add a finance charge each month payment is late. (1.5% per month is standard here) After 90 days start the collection process, with warning letters about payment. After 120 days call the Accounts Payable department weekly. After 150 days call them daily. I usually don't get that far before I get paid. Often the fianance charge alone will do it. Once they know they don't get to use your money for free.
Thats good advice. Just be careful if you are having to make international phone calls, as this may prove to be more costly than just letting the money go. How much did they take?
Yeah, an agent would really help you on this problem... But next time keep in mind already that you might as well get at least half of the payment
The amount is USD 18K. I got a email from him, and he wants to settle this down with USD 7.5K. But i dont think so that this is legal, as we had been agree with the fees. Now there is no question to settle this down at this amount.
Rob, there may be some future business from the client, that for sure. I have tried to negotiate with him. But he is stucked at 7.5km where the original invoice is 18k. Invoice is not stucked at Acc Dept. If i am planning to move for your suggested second option, and get an agent...i dont think so that we may be able to get future business from him. But i dont care for that, as the amount if too big this time. Generally he comes with 1k-2k job in every 3-4 months. I am also planning to search a good agent and hire him to resolve this issue. Can you recommend any one?
I represent Magicsolv.com, a good VA firm, and we have certain rules, in which we only work with projects come with 33% upfront. but with our old and repeated clients, especially with whom we have spent a good amount of time and build a good trust. We releax those clients, But now i think we have to be strict with our policy, no matter OLD or NEW CLIENT. I am very tensed now a days, as 30% of this job i had outsourced to another firm, and i have made the payment already.
well the best way to deal with clients outside your scope is to use escrow feature which is safe both for buyers and sellers. i always use this feature for new clients and after building trust you can deal directly with bank transfers, WU or paypal etc etc.
Yes, i we also have ESCROW in our policy. And we strictly follow that. But some time with old client we have to offer them some relexation. But as we have already made this blunder, now trying to figure out how to mend this......i cant settled this down as the AMOUNT is BIG.