Gettin Paid?
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- Stylus
anybody here ever had to take legal action to get money out of a client? How did it go what did you do? This ho owes me 8k and it's about 7months overdue I've got a pretty firm contract and a stack of emails saying I'll pay you on this date etc. Should I just get some junkie to break her legs or should I get a summons taken out on her?
- idol0
wow 8k, thats alot of money to be owed. what i would do is sit down with my lawyer and see what the options are and take it from there. if it turns out nothing could be done i'd prolly try to get someone to kick his ass :p
- rasko40
send a letter stating the facts, ask for payment within 7 days or you will be contacting your solicitor and will be taking action to reclaim the debt plus interest at 6%.
If they dont pay get a solicitor to send them a letter, that should only cost about £50 and then if you have to take them to court you are obviously in the right so they will lose and have to pay your fees also.
- robotron3k0
i used to know a guy who had a small company and had lots of clients. most paid on time, some didn't. what he would do is call up a particular messanger. this guy who was a bit thuggish and sweated profusely, and he would send them to the client who didn't pay, and have him wait in the lobby until he received a check. so the client would have this sweaty thug sitting in his lobby telling everyone, "I'm waiting for a check" and 9 times out of 10 the client would cut a check right then and there.
presto, he got paid. end of problem.
try something like that.
- Stylus0
thanks rasko that's what I'm going to do > I've been thinking if it goes to court I might be losing a couple of K in legal costs. Hopefully a letter should scare em into paying up anyway and it doesn't go that far.
- MX_OnD0
Gies the name an' address,
8k worth o' near death beating oan it's way south....
- Stylus0
although the sweaty thug looking guy sounds like a good option
- shotoshi0
without going into any details I am owed a lot of money and it's 5 months overdue. But my client is in Japan.
However, if he doesn't pay by 31st Jan, I'm going over there unannounced to get my money!
I won't leave until the cunt pays me!
- robotron3k0
i'm telling you stylus, it was amazing how well the "sweaty thug" worked, sometimes he would wait in a lobby for 1/2 a day, but the client learned their lesson...
- shaft0
"interest at 6%", "that should only cost about £50 "
Huh, the question comes from AU and I bet this is not the end of local responses that are valuable only in the advisor's country :)
- shotoshi0
I should also say, last year I had to take legal action against someone in Japan (different cunt) and what I thought would be a simple case of scaring them with a letter from my lawyer ended up taking 10 months and £6 legal fees to win!
Even though I won, I can't go into details here.But, getting a lawyer isn't always the answer. In my case it was necessary 'cos it was litigation - they seriously breached my contract. Again, can't go into any details.
I think sending a thug is the best way but nothing heavy, just a subtle implication may just do it.
- Stylus0
the thing that stings isn't not getting the money but the sense that I'm being treated like a chump by these people. They've set about 6 firm dates for payments that just pass and then when we arrange the next date they say it'll probably be a partial payment... yeah a partial payment of nothing.
- shotoshi0
stylus, you really have my sympathy, I know what you are going through believe me.
I'm in same boat. I've had countless promises which have amounted to fuck all! I'm being treated like a wanker.
But, I'm giving him enough rope. The look on his face when he sees me turn up in Japan out of the blue will be priceless!
- zaven0
is 60 days of waiting the payment an international standard or is just some shitty italian tradition...?
actually i'm on the 110th day with a client now, but is a town council and a friend who is a lawyer said that they always pay but the average time is 6 months..
My baker at the corner wants the money immediatly when I buy the bread...
Why designers have to work weeks on a project and they see the money many months later? I still dont get it!
- shaft0
It really sucks. I had a client that forgot to pay ma and it was quite a lot. According to my country's law I had to pay tax for the money that was on the invoice (they assume i was paid), so my govt ripped me alongside with the guy. Of course, he could write the 'cost' off his company tax. The guy can't pay, he's broke. Of course, that doesn't stop him from driving one of "the wife's" cars, this time a new suv. I hate living in country where law is fiction and when it works, it's often against decent people.
- nosaj0
We had a dead beat client a few yeas ago. Got our lawyer to serve him papers stating if they didn't pay by such and such a date the matter would go to court. They paid up. A letter from your lawyer will work much better then a letter from you. As soon as they realise they will actually have to get a lawyer and go to court to fight a battle they are goign to lose there is a good chance they try and find a way to settle up....
- shellie0
my bf's dad is a corporate lawyer. he's written letters for me on his lawfirm's letterhead. it's a pretty big lawfirm in downtown LA... they rep cities and shit. and his title is partner... so it's sort of hard to blow off.
it goes without saying that i got paid real fast after that. its easier to pull that off with smaller clients rather than bigger ones.
- smellvetica0
yup i did. UK based, http://www.courtservice.gsi.gov.…
- smellvetica0
you should maintain a 30 day maximum payment period, this is the norm in the UK, then add 5-8% interest per week of non-payment.
usually i find it best to give a small written doc with all this info in and get it signed beofre work starts. it's good to have something to fall back on in cases like this.
- Dancer0
Duff link Smell
- robotron3k0
oh yeah, i forgot to add (for your next "big" client), you should always get half down on any project bigger than 2,000.
you can find out if the client is serious or not right from the start. and if they don't have the money, you probably don't want to deal with them anyway...