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Subject:RE: small invoices, big egos From:"Gilger.John" <JGilger -at- acresgaming -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 22 Jan 2003 14:49:51 -0800
Perhaps situations like this are the reason many contractors require payment up front for small contracts of less than about $500 and 50% up front with the balance due on delivery for larger amounts.
I think I mentioned the use of a good debt collector a year or so ago when this topic was discussed.
You might want to start a Black List. I wouldn't want to be bothered with dealing with a person/company like this again.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 02:31 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: small invoices, big egos
Maybe the other contractors can tell me something.
Why is it that the smaller the invoice, the harder the time collecting?
I just got off the phone with a client for whom I did a small piece of
work in November. He hadn't paid, so I recently sent a second notice.
Suddenly, he's finding fault with the work, and offering to pay me for
meeting time, but not for the work performed. He rants on that I'm
incompetent, and that he can find another writer to say so. He becomes
abusive. In the end, I had to tell him that I'd see him in small claims
court before he agreed to pay. Even then, he had a Parthian shot or two.
All this for a matter of about $200 difference on his invoice. I would
have let it go, but I've seen this game once too often to back down. The
last time it happened about 16 months ago, I promised myself that I
wouldn't be taken advantage of this way ever again, so I stuck to my
point, even though, from another perspective, $200 might have been a
cheap price to avoid the aggravation.
By contrast, I've submitted bills for $20-30k that were settled on time,
and without discussion.
Why do clients act this way? It's usually not a cash-flow problem, given
the small amounts.
But, I tell you, there's times when I think I won't work for anyone
smaller than IBM ever again.
(There. Rant over. My medication is kicking in, and I feel much better).
"There is no science without fancy, and no art without facts."
- Vladmir Nabokov, interview, 1966
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