Need help: getting a past due client to pay up

Firstly you should have gotten a deposit before starting work but that doesn't help you now. You can advise the client that if they don't pay you, you'll use the same copy in lots of other places online and so it won't be original for starters.
You can also arrange for it to point to porn sites or something like that so it will affect their business.
There are lots of nasty things you can do IF they won't pay.

I would ask them straight up.. "Why haven't you paid the bill as promised?" Give them ONE chance to answer and a deadline to pay and warn them that consequences will be taken that will affect their business.

That's my 2 cents worth.

I afree with laurencewins - most people will try to organise payment with you if they are a honest person - they wont try and avoid too much. Being that the articles are your copyright until the payment is made then you can do whatever you like, eg put them all over the web making the useless, and yes point the articles to those other sites BUT NEVER warn someone what you are going to do.

Give them a deadline, dont go back on that deadlline and then start to push the articles all over and make the links - THEN you tell them about what you have done and ALSO you must put in a part, if you are not happy with the article, please advise me in writting what are the concerns or we will take it as if the artiles are exactly as required. this will get you out of trouble later.

Put a link at the bottom of every page of the article- advising people that you are doing this as Blah blah didnt pay their bill, whom requested this article, but refused to pay the account.

Make the statement factual and dont write a comment about your feelings - factual is not going to get you into trouble by personal feelings will : eg They refused to pay their bill = not factual. You should write : They were advised they had till date to pay and they did not pay their bill.

Plenty of people cant pay but then there are others that wont pay.

I hope that this helps, had a few people not pay accounts - but then do the above and forget about it.. spend your time on the A class and get rid of the B and C's they take too much time.

Can you not contact copyscape about your original content being used without your permission on someone else's site?
I know this is a long shot and probably difficult to do but you can obviously prove that it's yours as your work is post dated (I'm assuming you've copyrighted all your stuff before sending it out to prospective buyers). I don't know if copyscape can actually do anything?
Perhaps I'm being a little naive that this is even possible for all web writers work.

Just trying to help.
Keren

P.s I agree with Kristabelle she gives great advice about putting a copyright link on each page; and giving a final payment deadline.
Also I believe Tiffany Dow has some good advice to give on this same topic about how far your copyright goes until you get paid, (not sure if it's on a thread in the forum though).

If you still own the copyright (and you can prove that with your signed agreement) you simply need to send a DMCA notice to your client's host. They'll remove the page. Now, that doesn't have to be the end of it, and you can kindly explain that you will allow him to use the copy when the terms of your contract have been fulfilled. You are not helpless in this situation though.

Laurence's idea doesn't work very well (and is kind of a petty way to deal with things. This is business not high school), so I wouldn't recommend it. Posting his copy made specifically for his product all over the web? All that accomplishes is free publicity for him. Sure, you can link it to porn and other off topic offers, but that's going to lead to a backlash against you, not him. At the end of the day, they'll find the real thing too. He gets the sale, you get your own reputation and business seriously messed up.

Start writing collection letters. There's a lot of good
stuff on the topic in Robert Collier's book.

Angie,

1. These situations are delicate. Suggesting various strategies without knowing subtle details could be like using a sledgehammer when a softer, defter touch is more appropriate.

2. Be careful. Watch your back. When one plays hardball, be prepared for the Client to retaliate. In ways you may not expect.

3. Above all, I agree with Steve: Stand guard at the door of your mind. These kinds of situations have a nasty habit of stealing your brain's bandwidth. The emotions you expend on this will bleed into other projects. And you don't want that.

- Rick Duris

Angie,

You can sic the legal beagles on to him, but in my experience they aren't as effective as you'd hope...



Seriously though, depending on how much you're owed and the type of contract you have signed, this is probably a waste of time and energy - and money.

The DMCA notice is a great idea, but I wouldn't hold my breath on getting paid.

What you'll likely end up having to do is basically take it as a lesson, wave goodbye to the cash, and figure out what you can do to make sure this doesn't happen again.

For example...

*Look back over the transaction, looking closely for any "red flags" you could have noticed...

*Ensure in future, you get 100% of your payment up front (excluding royalties of course)

*And make sure you have signed agreements/contracts etc to discourage people from screwing you around

Really, that's all you can do. Part of being a freelancer, IMHO.

-Daniel

Joe, yeah. Thank you for that - I'm glad I'm not the only one royally confused by this guy's actions. We've met face to face, I have spoken to him and his assistant, and I have a signed agreement. Seems kinda dumb to be a jerk to a contractor over a project fee. But I have my answer. I pulled my trump card and mentioned the copy use and DMCA and he responded with, "I guess you're going to have to go the DMCA route". That pretty much tells me he never had any intention of paying me beyond the initial deposit.

So I'll just serve him with DMCA and be done with it. But I'm making damn sure no contractor I know works with this guy. It's a shame what some people feel they have to do to make a buck.

You are going to have deadbeats no matter what kind of business you get into. In my offline business, we get paid net 30, which a giant pain in the azz. I found myself having to hire a full time person just to deals with ARs. Brutal.

If you've met with him in person -- small claims court in your locale will help. It won't cost you much to file, and with your contract & proof he finds the copy acceptable (which he obviously does if he is using it), you should have a slam dunk --though I bet he pays up after the papers are filed...BTDT, filing works for local clients, provided you have a contract.

Angie...

Gotta get paid in full upfront. Every single time.

You do have to give some reassurances to people before they'll send you their money, but I've never had it be a sticking point for a client. Ever.

--- Ross

You want I should send the boys round?

I also have been duped recently- three weeks ago. The person closed the email account they used to communicate with me. Hard lesson learned here. I lost out on about 200 bucks. Ouch. I hope you get your money angiecolee!

Start a competing website and dominate search results for every keyword related to his business.

How long are you really going to put 110% into a niche that you only entered for revenge? I doubt long enough to make the endeavor worthwhile, especially when there are more productive things for you to do.

I'm sorry to say i don't agree with the "let's get nasty" attitude. I have had payment problems and have had to give up on certain payments due. But I never got nasty. I always felt a high level of professionalism would be dented if i was to succumb to "pointing it to porn sites". Sorry but that's nasty nasty.

A stern letter reminding the client that using copyright material is punishable by law. A second sterner letter, if required, informing the client that he/she will be contacted by your lawyer (name a name) to deal with the issue.

I always remember that life takes many turns. I had a client who ordered 20 articles from me a few years back. She paid me 20% on order and once i delivered the order, the line went dead. No payments. No return email. Nothing.

I was desperate for the cash at the time. But I kept my head cool. I wrote a stern, but professional letter with a little personal touch, explaining how that lack of payment was hitting me. The client wrote back 3 days later. She apologized. Explained she was desperately trying to make something of her site and ran out of cash. She asked if i could wait until her first adsense cheque arrived. I agreed. It took another 60 days for her to pay me. She paid in full and continued to order articles from me until I stopped writing for others. At the end of the day, I must have made something like 3000 euros off her orders in the space of 2 years. She never again delayed a single payment to me, she never asked for a discount, and her site is still doing great!!

Sorry to hear of your payment issues. Not getting paid is something that we all deal with. I have made it a habit to never deliver finished work until payment is settled. It's ok to send proofs and non-usable products to move things along. But you've got to stick to your guns to get paid.

I tell clients, "If you don't pay Amazon.com upfront, they won't ship your Xmas gifts. I work the same way."

Best of luck.

That ain't a link to da gadfadder!

After I would hire someone to rough him up (hey, I'm Sicilian!), I accept the fact that he's a wanker... and from this point forward, I will ALWAYS ask for 100% of my quote upfront.

No exceptions.

Ever.

Not for anyone.

For any reason.

Unless I'm taking a cut of the action.

In which case...

Our agreement is going to be so frickin legal and binding that it'll make MY head spin!

Mark

I definitely appreciate the input, and I'm about to look into the link you posted. It sucks that you got shafted by that chick. You may have missed the portions of the discussion above where I mentioned this is an offline client, whom I've met with face to face. He can't really disappear, which is fortunate for me. So far I've issued a DMCA take down notice to the sites in question. We'll see what happens.

Angie,

I just finished collecting from two dead beat clients that I have worked with for a few years.

I like to start with a reminder notice, whether it be through paypal, email or personal phone call. Then I start with my "evidence" per say. I send a certified mail letter to ensure that the recipient has to sign for it and I then get the card back with the proof of signature.

My contract also has a clause in it that stated an added interest for late payments, i.e. 30 days after invoice 2% added, 45 days 5% etc.

I have yet to have to contact an attorney or collection agency.

Best of Luck!