RE: Need help with client's invoice please

Jason...

This is interesting and I tend to agree with you...the old saying, you 
catch more flies with honey than with vinegar does ring true. Although 
there are *some* folks that only respond to being hit over the head, the 
majority, I think, are pretty reasonable if you are firm rather than 
aggressively demanding.

I recently did a job for a lady in the UK. I billed her via Paypal and 
immediately got an email from her saying that it didn't work...eek!!  I've 
only just opened this account, and although I had done a "dummy run" with 
it with a friend in the US, I was still a bit nervous about doing the wrong 
thing. Anyway, several emails later, with me offering all the advice under 
the sun, we both realized that she couldn't send the money until she 
received an authorization code from her bank and she wasn't going to see 
that for a month. She didn't know what to do and offered to send me a check 
and was on the brink of going out and getting Aussie dollars to pay me LOL.

I told her to wait the month and then use Paypal. I don't particularly want 
to wait a month for payment, but I know that she likes my work and that she 
will come back for more, so why ruffle her feathers. I was sympathetic to 
her plight and I'm sure it will pay off in the end.

Misplaced trust ? ..possibly...will I lose the farm over it ? 
...nope...does she like me even more now than she did before ? ...you 
betcha she does...will I get more work out of it ? ....yep and not just 
from her, since the cover graphic that I did is now published and online 
with a credit for my work and she's offered to put up a bio as well.

So hopefully, all's well that ends well....you did good!!

Kym



At 08:31 PM 22/05/2001 -0400, Jason Ruble wrote:
>Hi HWG member,
>
>I have a happy-ending story about that big overdue invoice.
>
>I heeded everyone's advice (except I didn't take down the site or threaten
>to) and I especially followed the advice of Elizabyth Burtis-Lopez who was
>the first to write me. I focused on her advice of calling the client,
>sending a certified letter, offering to waive the late fee if certain
>criteria were met, and threatening to turn the matter over to a collection
>agency.
>
>First I called the client but I turned into a wet noodle on the phone. In
>the certified letter I gave three deadlines: (1) I get the check for the
>balance due  within a week and I waive the late fee; (2) I get the check
>within two weeks and it must include the balance due plus half the late fee;
>(3) I get the check within three weeks and it must include the balance due
>plus the full late fee; (4) if I don't get the check by the end of three
>weeks I would turn the matter over to a collection agency. (I did use
>specific dates.)
>
>Happy Conclusion: I received the check for the balance due within the first
>week; plus I gave the client so much time and leniency she didn't have any
>good reason to become angry.  Not threatening to take down her site and not
>insisting on overnight mail helped our relationship remain on good terms.
>Yet she now knows that when I am owed money, I am serious (or at least more
>serious than she thought) about collecting it.
>
>Thanks again to everyone!
>
>Jason


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