payment expecations.. too late?
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- design_slave
what do people think is an appropriate length of time for a client to pay fees? i usually mention in my invoices that payment should be made within 30 days of invoice date and i think that is very fair and standard practice for most designers.
i have a client that consistently pays bills more that 60 days, 90 days, or ever longer after invoicing him. i've decided that his business has little value to me anymore so, after 60 days of not seeing payment i have reverted his site to the state it was before the work was done and informed him that the recent work will be resurrected when payment is received. i think this is completely fair but he is outraged.
i would like to hear other designer's opinions on this matter. have you been through similar situations? if so, how do you deal with it?
- MrBixler0
That's harsh mate. I understand your position though. Did you warn him beforehand, or just pull the plug?
- design_slave0
30 days after sending the invoice i politely asked him when i can expect payment.... no response. after 40 days i asked him again and he told me that he asked his lawyer to send payment so i should be receiving it soon. it's been over 60 days and still nothing.
the invoice amount is for less than $2K, around a week of work.
do you really think my actions were harsh? considering his consistently late payments in the past?
- frankosonik0
Not much else you can do. There are good and bad clients. Sounds like you got a bad one. I hate when they wait forever to pay and force you to look like the badguy by having to do something drastic...
Now, in all my contracts I state clearly that the client is to pay 50% up front, and 50% upon completion before the site goes live. If there are any objections at that point, it's a little easier to work things out.
- DeLeon0
I would do that... did you ask inform him/her of the repercusions though, when he told you his lawyer was sending payment?
- design_slave0
correction - he asked his accountant to send payment (not lawyer)
and no, i did not warn him that i was going to revert his site.
- recpos0
If he's a constant offender and you've never warned him.. i agree, thats a little harsh.. although, if you've commited yourself that you'll never work for him again, then, why not!
30 days is standard invoice terms for everyone i know, freelancers don't have the same impact as a business when demanding cash, so why not just have a word, then send him an email every other day until he pays.
firm but fair...
- design_slave0
frankosonik - i always require 50% retainer before starting a project too, but in this case i was making updates to a site that i did years ago. i didn't think 50% upfront was necessary, but maybe i was wrong.
- design_slave0
recpos - i sent him emails twice asking for an estimated payment date with no response. when this happens i assume payment will be made MUCH later or not at all. his reactions to my emails was to call me a "constant complainer".
- JazX0
you know what I do. I include .dll time-bombs that trigger small bit of code stating: DEMO SITE at the top of their site. That way they have to pay you or you will not release that statement. f that! ;)
- ok_static0
so finally had they paid you yet?
- JazX0
"and in the darkness spite them" - LOR
- design_slave0
ok_static - no they haven't paid me yet. i know they will but it will probably be more than 90 days after invoice. last year they took over 6months to pay off a $3k bill with sporadic micro-payments. i think this is totally unreasonable so i've decided to be aggressive and end a working relationship that has been otherwise very good (from a non-financial perspective)
- ok_static0
just joking but do they saved up tiny bits daily to pay you?
- JazX0
I'm telling you, set up a time-bomb, they have to pay you or you don't take out DEMO SITE. It's quite easy actually and they will never know what the .dll is in the first place. Anyway for Web Work this works quite well and is commonplace. Don't be suckers. It's a common trick for clients to not pay the final payment. :)
- design_slave0
the way i work now with new clients:
50% upfront and the final 50% upon approved completion (site doesn't go live until final 50% is fully paid)
or:
25% retainer, 2 25% payments at project milestones, and final 25% at the end. no work continues or goes live until payments are made.
- JazX0
that works d_slave, but just to be sure I spike the site. ;)
- design_slave0
jazX - do you really spike the site or are you just kidding? i'm considering hiring a smelly homeless dude to wait in my clients office until they cut a check.
- JazX0
No man, I spike sites. I had enough of that client not paying BS. And I don't tell them about it. What you do is add a .dll that is propagates code as a global header on the top of each page. Nothing big, just something text-like: DEMO SITE. If they don't pay you, you don't take out that aspect of the driver. BTW, the driver will also be used for other things within the site, so they can't just remove it. You just send them a new drive without that aspect in it. I'm dead serious. It's quite common bro. Muahahahahha! ;)
- JazX0
yeah that's a lot of fun, but I have had clients get awefully pissed at me and I reply by saying, "Upon final payment, the DEMO SITE text will be removed. Thank You, Bye!"