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Will I ever see this money? What would you do?

by iva
8 replies



I am not sure what else I can do. One of my clients can not be reached for several days now. We agreed on a certain amount of hours to complete one of the projects, but because he did not know exactly what he wanted - I have wasted quite a bit of time and had to redo some of the work. We agreed on 50% upfront payment, followed by halfway report, then another 50% - final report. The project was about compiling a list of certain places with a contact information, etc. We also agreed, that I have a right to stop working on the project if the time is up. So, because he was not very specific and some work had to be redone - I spent about 85% of allocated time to get to the midpoint of the project. I am happy to continue for the residual 15% of the time to fulfill my obligation and get paid, but can not get a hold of this person. I am not sure, whether I will ever be paid for the extra time I spend working on this project. Needless to say, I am quite ticked off by that. What would you do to prevent this from happening in the future? Any advise would be appreciated.
Evgueni
#money
  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    If you don’t feel safe, you must charge more than just 50% beforehand. Ask for an amount that will make you feel you were basically paid, like 80% beforehand.

    I provide professional translations to the public and I am always paid in advance, otherwise I wouldn’t be sure that I would receive my payment after sending my translations.

    However, in order to be paid in advance, you must be trusted. You have to prove that you are a serious professional and you will deliver the work you were paid for.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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    I think these things are inevitably an approximation, and that there's some luck in it.

    If the market realities are "50% upfront", and that's what people will comfortably pay, then this time, you've clearly been unlucky to spend 85% of the time on 50% of the results. Let's just hope there are other occasions when you'll spend 20% of the time for 50% of the output and income, or whatever?

    Is it a client you've dealt with quite a bit, or was this the first time?

    They're unusual circumstances, but looking at it realistically, there probably isn't too much you can do, if you can't get hold of him? (Maybe he might still show up?)

    You are, at least, better off than many writers we see here in similar circumstances who have done all the work and not asked for any of the money up-front. :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    I certainly would not do any more work until I talked to the person. They can't expect you to work with no communication. They wouldn't hire you again if you had poor communication with them.

    As for getting more than half upfront. I have outsourced for years and I usually don't hire people who demand more than half upfront unless they have a stellar repution.
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  • Profile picture of the author PatrickP
    I would write it off as a lesson learned.

    This is exactly why places like elance and odeks exist so neither party gets ripped off. It is the wild west out there and people are not always as honest and they should be.
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  • Profile picture of the author BeckyBecks
    I agree with the comment from Owslaw, about not doing anymore work until you speak with the person. But I would not spend anytime chasing them and look at what you have learnt from the situation, as to avoid it happening again, you could consider using a service like peopleperhour to act as an intermediary between you and your customer which might help or use an 'escrow' account, this is where your customer deposits the full amount for the job and then it is released when the work is complete, this gives you both the confidence that the money is there but it's not available until the work is done.
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  • Profile picture of the author DanielleLynnCopy
    Because I don't know you, your client, or the whole situation, I can only speculate.

    But based on what you wrote, I'd say bet on not seeing the rest of your money.

    It sounds like this person was trying to milk your services as much as they could near the end.

    What I'd do -as Patrick P suggested - is live, learn, and move on. In the future, ask for full payment upfront, or half to start, and half at the halfway point (which you CLEARLY define beforehand.)

    Sorry this happened to you, but like Alexa said, at least take comfort in the fact that you got some payment - there are others who learn this lesson and walk away empty handed.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Originally Posted by iva View Post


    I am not sure what else I can do. One of my clients can not be reached for several days now. We agreed on a certain amount of hours to complete one of the projects, but because he did not know exactly what he wanted - I have wasted quite a bit of time and had to redo some of the work. We agreed on 50% upfront payment, followed by halfway report, then another 50% - final report. The project was about compiling a list of certain places with a contact information, etc. We also agreed, that I have a right to stop working on the project if the time is up. So, because he was not very specific and some work had to be redone - I spent about 85% of allocated time to get to the midpoint of the project. I am happy to continue for the residual 15% of the time to fulfill my obligation and get paid, but can not get a hold of this person. I am not sure, whether I will ever be paid for the extra time I spend working on this project. Needless to say, I am quite ticked off by that. What would you do to prevent this from happening in the future? Any advise would be appreciated.
    You need to clearly define the project before you begin so that you don't waste time doing work that you have to redo. This should be in written form and agreed to by the client (a spec sheet).

    If you can't reach him, he may have lost interest in the project, and there's nothing you can do to recoup that time, since you are behind the agreed upon schedule.
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    • Profile picture of the author iva
      Thank you all for the comments, I appreciate it. I am going to treat it as the lesson learned. It was a first time client, and we did communicate back and forth multiple times to reach the agreement. From the "tone" I though he could be trusted. My mistake. From now on, I am going to ask people to provide me with a template of exactly what they expect to receive at the end of the project. Thanks again.

      Evgueni
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