Comments on: How To Deal with Non-Paying Clients

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:04:11 +0000

Thank you – this is really useful!

By: Mel @ Acuity

Mel @ Acuity — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:43:34 +0000

Hi Claire…

there’s a lot of things in what you have described that will work to your advantage. Firstly, you have a contract signed! Does the client have any points of contention: i.e ‘work not completed or satifactory’ / ‘personal differences’ / ‘work late’ etc? either way – hopefully your contract is solid against such claims.

The fact that the client has used your design after non-payment will not work in her favour at all. I am no solicitor, but it all sounds to me that you are well in your stead to receiving your owed funds. If she is a business as well – you will be entitled to late payment interest which can be calculated here: http://www.payontime.co.uk/calculator/index_new.html

Also, speak to your representation about recuperating administration and legal fees.

Best of luck!!!

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:40:15 +0000

I am having numerous problems with a client who has only paid half upfront for a job she was satisfied with and was completed in November 2009. After numerous polite but firm emails and various excuses from her, and also seeing that not only has she used my graphic design style and got another designer to do it (despite telling me she had designed it herself) I have had no choice but to proceed with court action. Any suggestions please?

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:35:53 +0000

I have completed work for a client who signed a contract and agree to pay the sum of 1200 way back in November 2009. Since then I have had £600 through in drips despite numerous excuses/promises etc. To make matters even worse, the client has used my design style AND got another designer to do the work, and she still owes me £600. Despite even more polite but firm emails etc., she is now not responding. I have now had to issue a court summons. Any suggestions please folks?

By: Acuity Designs

Acuity Designs — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:21:38 +0000

Hi Evandon, how would you deal with a client that pays the deposit and then works with you for a month using up your time / skills and then does not wish to pay for the final design? Do you always simply part ways? or do you pursue payment?

By: Acuity Designs

Acuity Designs — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:19:17 +0000

Hi Mary, thanks for the response – lots f great points in there. Do all of your clients take well to the thought of you automatically billing them for work?

I have found asking for 50% upfront can at times scare off some smaller clients who are a bit tentative about the whole process.

I completely agree that if you ask for payments on time and in full when they are required, clients subconsciously respect you more as a professional and the work being carried out. At times, we worry so much about ‘great customer service’ that we end up being too forgiving; when we need to remember – ‘its just business’

Mel

By: Evandon

Evandon — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:20:02 +0000

THis goes to say that an ounce of PREVENTION is better than A POUND OF CURE!

By: Evandon

Evandon — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:18:35 +0000

I ALWAYS collect at least 50% deposit up front. When Finished i will send proofs but CLIENTS NEVER recieve the final project until the balance has been paid. It saves me the headache. If your clients are serious and as professional as you are then you will never hear a complaint about this method.

By: Andy Jones

Andy Jones — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:01:02 +0000

hmm – Have been down this road far to many times for my liking. Have also taken a few down the legal route – but beware – I have been told on so many occasions that it's 'an open and shut case' by the legal team – only to find out that the offending company closes down, and restarts the following day under a new name – int he UK there's hardly anything you can do about this.
Surely the law should be there to protect US, not the people who have no intention of paying?

By: Mary Baum

Mary Baum — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:52:10 +0000

I’ve found that best way to deal with this situation is not to get in it in the first place. Contracts are a good start, but the best protection is – don’t let clients write you checks in the first place. Use credit cards only – writing you a check should be a special privilege reserved for your very best clients, and why would they want to be bothered, anyway? PayPal will let you take a credit-card number over the phone or in person with its Virtual Terminal service for $30/month, and that’s already included if you use its Website Payments Pro product now. Or, if you already have a merchant account because you run an ecommerce site of your own for something else, you’re already set here. The fee is 3%.

With credit cards, we tell them when we’re going to run the card. With checks, they tell us when they’re going to send them.

Now, before you say that’s too expensive, think how much you’ve already lost in invoices you’re never going to see again. Chances are, each of you has already paid for several years of the service already.

Next step: Down payments and partial billings. Specify that you’re going to get 50% upfront – before you start anything. Or a third. If you work with video studios, you know they get 50% on booking the studio and the other half on completion. The idea that we creatives should give away our ideas – then hope the client buys – then sign a contract to produce the work, send an invoice several weeks to months later – and hope the client pays – is a business practice for another time. We are not banks . . . MasterCard and Visa are. If clients want to finance their fees, let them do that on their cards, not with us.

And believe it or not, when we insist on our fees and collect them on time, clients will respect our judgment all the more – because they value what they’ve paid for.

And, if you’re worried about being affordable to small businesses and startups . . . there are ways to deal with that and still be a nice, flexible, reasonable person – and collect every penny (less that 3%, of course. But I’d rather have 97% of everything, on my terms, than anything else, and have to wait to get paid.)