Trouble getting paid
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- nownow
Hi there...
just wondering if anyone else has been in the position where they have been working as a freelancer, invoiced, waited 2months for payment, then had the employer come back and refuse to sign the invoice for it to be pprocessed through accounts? She claims that the time is incorrect by originally 1hour, now she has come back with 30mins.
I really don't know how to progress? She owes me a large sum of money!!!!
(sydney, aust)
- tkmeister0
yeah, we get this kind of threads every week. there are plenty of people here who've been through what you are going to.
good luck.
- tommyb0
Sabatage their work, get sued and that'll learn 'em
Oh, wait.
- schjetne0
SUE THE MOTHERFUCKERS
- REDWOOD0
Let them buy new windows for that budget
- abizzyman0
Welcome to the club.
- UndoUndo0
for the sake of 30 mins of yr hourly rate I would take the hit and get the check
- ********0
Organise a meeeting to get this sorted. Sit down with here, go through all the hours and then get her signature at the end of it.
All this suing is a load of crap. Best go in there knowing that what you want at the end of he meeting is to be paid. So be prepared to sacrifice the odd 30 mins here and there in order to win the greater battler, and that is getting paid.
Unless of course you want the headache of going to court.
- rabattski0
last thing you want to do is sue. that's really the last resort if nothing but really nothing is left to do. the only one who's laughing when you sue are the lawyers.
anyways, as others have said before try to set this straight off the record, as in, meet up and talk about it, try fixing it.
next time get more stuff black on white, esp. stuff like order confirmation, agreements etc. with signatures.
- boiconet0
Try and get something concrete on paper. Paper is legal, see. If it's on paper, it's a legal document. And if all else fails, drop a hint about Small Claims Court (well, it works with Real Estate agents anyways).
- Gromit0
Its worth considering an "umbrella company" in the future - for a small monthly fee they'll handle your accounts and invoicing - and most importantly they will look after your debt recovery needs.
In this case, I'd take a hit for 30 minutes of an hourly rate - and then post the company name on a freelancer board so that other lancers know to avoid them in the future.
- silentseven0
Hopefully you have a signed contract with a payment cluase withi in it saying that payment must be recieved within 30 days of the invoice or something to that affect.
If not "sabotage."
If it is a website take it offline, dont provide files etc. until they pay we (my office 3 people) deals with people like this everyday. Its a pain in the ass.
- nownow0
yeah thanks guys...
it seems so stupid over 30mins.. i wouldn't bother fighting it at all except i work alot for other segments of the same company and it could effect whether i get more work from them if they think i lied about my hours.
- tommyb0
Ran acriss this... And yeah, it's seems to be the way it works for me.
After finally getting their accounting department to answer my phone calls, I found out that the reason why they weren’t paying is because we hadn’t chased them soon enough or hard enough!
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- GeorgiePorgie0
welcome to the club chief
- Elfangio0
Talk to Tony Soprano he will take care it for you... :P
Hasta
- n0rty10
there's a detailed thread on how to get paid on time on infront. hope this helps ;)
- tomson0
i am sure you've already got plenty of feedback.
I would suggest breaking your work down into parts and getting the client to sign them off one by one. This can be for each week for example. That will enable you to build up an account of what happened and also give you a file to work with.
You work is probably 'work for hire' in this sense if they fail to honour their part of the deal they may legally not be able to utilise the work you have done. This is just a hunch, but may well be true.
It is scandalous that companies continue to exploit this kind of behaviour.
Fur future reference aim for a written brief or outline or some kind of commitment from their side and also to invoice on a weekly basis or similar.
- UndoUndo0
After finally getting their accounting department to answer my phone calls, I found out that the reason why they weren’t paying is because we hadn’t chased them soon enough or hard enough!
from
www.bd4d.com/blog
tommyb
(Apr 5 05, 04:55)...................................
this is so ture. if you know an accountant talk to them and ask them about this. the rule is often "he who shouts loudest gets paid first" ! f**ken stupid i know
- tenpointtwo0
A buddy of mine decided he was tired of always getting screwed, so he sat down with a lawyer that deals with creative outsourcing, etc, and together they wrote an ironclad contract, invoice, sign-off sheets, etc. Everything you would need to make sure you don't get screwed out of money, and if you do- you have some legal recourse. Before moving to suing- they suggested threatening to report them to a collection agency. This is a much bigger threat then suing them- and works faster.
Remember to put a disclaimer on the bottom of your invoice, or to have a seperate "second notice " invoice handy that has the threat right on it.
Protect yourself!