I'm currently in a situation that I've never allowed to go this far and I'm ticked off that I am. I'm not naming any names yet, but I'm getting very close to telling the client "Screw you!" and going public, nonpayment be dam%ed!
A little background first. This project began at the end of October 2008--yes, that's right five months ago. It was a ghostwriting assignment; that's all I can say at the moment. Being the experienced freelancer that I am, I secured approximately 25% upfront. That amount, however, was even late in coming, and I should have known then and there that this buyer was going to be difficult. I proceeded nonetheless as agreed and turned in a first draft in the middle of December, at which time I asked for a second installment payment, which according to our signed contract was due UPON RECEIPT. Then I waited and waited and waited until finally the client told me that she didn't like my work, did not want to work with me anymore and would be hiring someone else to complete the project.
"Fine," I said. "As soon as the second installment is paid, we can go our separate ways. (By this point, I was thinking I'd landed myself an easy out with an obvious difficult client.)
"We (not I because a partner was now dragged in) don't feel that the work you produced warrants 60% of the agreed-upon amount when we now have to hire someone else. We expected a final draft that required minimal reworking."
"It's garbled logic for you to assume that you would get a draft that was 90% complete at only the 60% payment mark, especially since we agreed all along that multiple passes would be necessary," I explained. I then agreed to a slightly lesser amount just to be done with it already.
When the client tried to cut my quote to almost half, I said, "Fine, that's my final offer, but please note that I take all nonpayment matters public, which could ruin your and your company's name for a long time to come."
You guessed it. All of a sudden the client is willing to renegotiate, but not without trying to make me feel bad that she "obviously hired the wrong person" if I was going to "threaten" her and drag her through the mud.
I explained that I merely can and do use all legal avenues available to me to secure payment. That led her to tell me that "I had forced her to get an attorney" but once he came up with a document (a gag order of sorts) she would pay our newly negotiated amount.
That was almost two months ago and I'm still waiting for her attorney to get off his a$$ and draw up the agreemet. Really, I suspect my client is just buying time. Yesterday was my final due date and I got this message from her: "The lawyer is doing the confidentiality doc as a favour alongside other documents he is preparing for the business i.e he is not charging us extra.
He is working as fast as he can through everything and has said that he won't charge for the document if he completes it sequentially with the rest of the work. However, if we ask him to do it as a priority, his regular rate of $XXX will become due. I'm loathe to pay this as it was an unforeseen task as a result of your emails and I'll have to deduct it from the $XXX I have agreed to pay out as a settlement figure. I'm sure you would also not be happy with this!"
Damn straight I wouldn't be happy with that. Why the he!! should I have to pay for her legal costs just because she doesn't like the strategies I use to secure monies owed to me?
She's assured me that I will see payment by the end of the month. If I don't, you'll be seeing her name and her company's name here for sure. Although more of these are likely to come, "Screw you," soon-to-be-named client!
Labels: client tales, rants
