Re: How to get a client to pay

 > I've just completed a large CGI application using Perl.  I took 50% when I
 > started but now that it is complete and installed on their server they have
 > not paid the final 50% according to the contract.
 > Has anyone had this experience and what recourse do we have.
 > In short how do we get the client to pay.

Most of my projects I have billed for the entire cost at project
completion (many have been smaller jobs anyway). Most people have
paid promptly. However, I have been screwed at least once, and I'm
sure many others in this business have as well.

The one time in particular I'm thinking of, I had been working with a
few of the people running the local business, teaching them how to
make updates and changes to the pages, and I'd developed a few fairly
complicated "web apps" for them. After a few months of work, I sent
them a bill (work would be ongoing, so we'd agreed that I would
occasionally submit a bill for work up to that point) but I never saw
a penny. They disappeared off the face of the earth. They never
responded to any of my phone calls or mail or email. What I eventually
did was remove their web site (I still had access to the server) and
put in it's place a single page stating that the site had been removed
pending payment. I didn't really expect them to pay, as they had run
themselves out of business and skipped town. But, it was my only way
of getting *any* satisfaction from the thing.

I think I'd suggest that if you still have access to the server, that
you "suspend" the site. Or, since they paid half, maybe just
suspend/remove half the site. :) This may not be the most professional
(I've not really decided for myself on that yet) way of dealing with
it, but depending on circumstances, seems fair.

~ The U.P. Web Maestro (Nathan Lyle)

   E-Mail: nathan(at)upwebmaestro.com
   Online: www.upwebmaestro.com
    Phone: (906)485-4806

"If you torture the data enough, it will confess." - Ronald Coase.

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