When a client doesn't pay?
 

He's 4 days late as of now. Money was supposed to be there on Monday (wire). So far half was paid for 30 sets a month ago and the other half was due on Monday but so far hasn't shown up. I've sent an e-mail everyday for the 5 days with no reply. He's not online or on ICQ and my computer tanked so I cant monitor his ICQ status all the time. How long do I give him before going public? What do I do to get my money? Who owes the rights to the images since he's paid for 30 sets (half) only but now has 60 sets and 5 hours of video content? I was thinking I'd just make my own site out of the material but do I need to give him the money back or not since technically he doesnt own the right anymore? And...if you are reading this please pay up and clear up what the confussion was about.

wires can be flakey at times. where is it coming from and going to?

did u and the client sign a contract?

if he doesn't come through with the payment do whatever you want with the content - blow it out to as many people as you can or if you think u can make money with a site do that.

i have a similar situation now and i'm going to give the customer a final chance to get square or i'm going to blow out everything that was shot for him and it's a substantial amount.

There is an agreement over ICQ and e-mails which I have saved. The money is coming from Florida to Ontario. Last time is was there in 2 days or even less. What I find fishy is that he isn't answering e-mails. Normally they are answered overnight so that makes me think something is up. The content was shot for a solo site and we still have access to the model and wouldnt mind using her for a site so I'll see what happens.

If I do my own solo site with her what should I do about the money already paid? I'm assuming he's going to use the last 30 sets (and 5 hours of video) as if he had the rights to them so I guess I should just assume that we're pretty much even steven since he's using half content not paid for and I'm using half his.

I guess I'll give him 15 days to work it out, then I'm going to take greater measures. I'm definately giving him the benefit of the doubt because he's been perfect to work with up until now.

i read your original post quickly - missed the 4 days part - that's way too soon to be panicking.

got a pic of the solo model?

have u tried calling his phone? u only listed that u tried ICQ and email....

I dont have a phone number for him. Yeah 4 days is a bit soon. I'll give him 15 days from today.

You send out your cousin Guido.

You need to wait till the week will be over. You never know what is happening to the man, he can have problems too. Then try to resell it to another person. What is the niche?

Yeah, give him 15 days, a lot of things may have happened.

Send Lindsay after them =p

why did he get the content before he payed?

Why don't you have his phone number? You are very improvident.

thats what i was thinking

send a note asking him to please pay :)

Try to contact him and see if there's any problem concerning that delayed payment.

I'm facing the same problem with multiple clients currently, but we're talking 30+ days up to 90+ days overdue. :(

Now, that seriously sucks. I wish you good luck.

Though showing my nerd-dom, I do get you sig :winkwink: I'm staying with you when I come to Costa Rica!

That sucks, but it might be too soon to do anything extreme. Give him a bit more time like you said.

break his legs!

just kidding :1orglaugh

Our agreement was to be paid every 10 sets which was the case for the first 30 sets. We just sent the last 30 sets together to finish up the order. Honestly there isn't much I could do with the remainder of the content anyway so at the time there wasnt much of a worry. He was prompt with communications and trustworthy. The only real concern is being taken advantage of (and the money of course). I think he's got a lot to lose by not paying for the rest of the content though because he runs a fairly large program and wants to grow it even bigger. I post back here if he pays or not.

Don't react to quick, give it a little more time before you take action

That's why I never do anything without being paid upfront.

There are companies out there who've owed us $$ for months. 4 days is not enough time to take action. ALways give them the benefit of the doubt. And then if you determine that they are screwing with that, take action and boycott their business. If it's a trend with them, it'll eventually bite them in the ass. The handful of companies that owe YNOT $$ are for the most part not respected in the biz or are most likely not profitable like they used to be... coincidence? doubtful...

Wire are sometimes a pain. Sometimes it'll take 2 weeks before it credits to your bank, depends on the location.

Thanks Everyone! Money Is Here And Issue Is Completely Resolved. Client Was Out Of Town (hence No Response To E-mails) And Wired Money Just Before They Left. It Took 5 Days For The Wire To Make It To My Account But It's Here Now!

make him drink piss, suge knight style

I told that you shouldn't be so quick with conclusions :winkwink: