Should you ever compromise with a client who doesn't pay on time?
I have had a career in managing clients within big agencies and have dealt with various tricky and tough situations. I am now managing my own business and I'm dealing with my first tricky client.
I have used all of my experience to handle the situation but the person is still a problem. Basically they have said they would pay a deposit for a month and a half and the money has not reached us still. We have been given various reasons why. We have continued to work on their project. Crunch time came yesterday when they insisted we hand over the project (which is 70% complete) without the original deposit being paid.
Having been so flexible and reminding the client of the terms we work, we had to stand our ground and say we won't deliver until the payment is sorted. I asked for payment for all work done to date as it has dragged on and we've delivered majority of work. The client became a little aggressive and said they will only pay the deposit, not for the work done to date. They have also become personal saying they felt we were calling them a liar, questioning their character and being rude. Hand on heart I know this is not the case.
I have a paper trail - scope of work and cost agreed in a doc and email, and all discussions on email and some texts. We are meeting up face to face to exchange the deposit and discuss how we move forward. They are quite bullying in their demeanour and want everything on their terms.
Would like to hear peoples opinion on whether we should we try and work it out so we receive more money before we go further, take just the deposit now despite 70% of the work being done and hope the rest is paid on completion, or call the whole thing quits, cut our losses and risk them bad mouthing us?
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Apr 29, 2015
Dump them. It is not worth the TIME and frustration. The fact that you are posting here about them means you are worried, and now are wasting more time you could be spending with delightful customers. It will never work out. Get your payments as best as you can and just end it, you will feel the weight lifted, and will be able to better focus on your paying customers.
Apr 29, 2015
Hi Louise, I'd suggest, when you meet with them next time, to take into consideration the communication factor. Try an assertive approach - you can use this "formula" for assertive communication (as a response and not a reaction to the aggressiveness of your business partner): when you...(the unpleasant behavior: ex. talk like that to me, have this attitude, etc.) I/we/my team feel ...(ex.: I don't feel respected, appreciated for our work, etc.) so I suggest from now on to ...(and here you include the desirable behavior: talk respectfully, admit and appreciate our work etc.). This way you address the behavior, the other person does not take it personally and you're still stating your point of view. I hope it helps. :)
Apr 29, 2015
Congrats it has been resolved. Learn from this situation and the advice many have given you. Always remember to CYA. Your are not their bank and you don't want to be their charity. Set milestones in the signed contract in which you must be paid and clearly state that if payment is not received work will stop and nothing will be delivered.
Include penalties and/ interest for non-payment or late payment. They can always waived. They give you leverage if needed and can be enforced in court if it goes there.
Apr 29, 2015
If a customer refuses to pay...they are not a customer. Deal with them accordingly. Why be wimpy? Are you really going to continue to do business with them this way? If you set that precedent, then you will always be plagued by slow/no pay situations.
Things I learned from the school of hard knocks:
Always be clear on the deliverables, get them to signs something as a show of acknowledgement to the terms.
Apr 29, 2015
I was going to write a lengthy response, but I read Ed Drozda's response and I think he nailed it. You're handling the client very well for the situation, but doing 70% of the work before the deposit is received equates to you taking on the risk you tried to avoid by getting the deposit in the first place. Take the high road, but don't release 70% of the work for just the deposit. This "client" is clearly taking advantage of you and you have to decide whether its worth it to deal with them anymore.
Apr 27, 2015
Been there, done that. I charge a 50% deposit on all work. And insist on payment upon completion of the work. If they don't pay, in the case of building a web site, remind them once and only once, and then take their web site down. Make sure you do this in the presence of your legal counsel. If that client tries to sue you, make sure you have all your records concerning the non-payment at the very least, and hopefully, all your records dealing with this person. And take them out of small claims court if you can. The person owing will try to make a circus out of the whole thing, like you see on Judge Judy or any of the other court TV shows. If that person is such a cheapskate, make him go to district court or circuit court, and hire a lawyer. Also, make sure you have a clause in your contract and terms and conditions letting the client doing the suing that they have to not only pay for their own legal fees, but yours as well, regardless of outcome.
Apr 27, 2015
Thank you everyone for your answers, they made me feel better! Good news, I met with them today and all was resolved. I brought along all the ammunition to the meeting in case I needed it, but luckily it was resolved in a friendly way, and they even apologised for their behaviour. I have now just been paid the TOTAL amount for the job, which we'll be finishing off this week.
In future, I am going to pause any work if a deposit is not paid, as the lesson learned.
Apr 27, 2015
Hi Louise,
Having read this post, i'm glad that you got it all sorted. I'm not trying to endorse anybody here but just as a suggestion, we use QuoteRoller to send all our clients quotes before we start any work. So far we have had no problems in dealing with this sort of scenario but it may be an idea for the sake of when this does happen and holding it up in a court (worst case scenario). It might be of use to you but it does cost... If you look around there might be a free single user version out there somewhere
Apr 28, 2015
Louise -- Great news! Thanks for the update! It's good to hear it worked out for the best for all involved!
Apr 28, 2015
Woo hoo, I just saw this. Bam, way to go Louise.
Apr 30, 2015
Hi Louise we have had such challenges with WDA but now we choose projects which involve less client interface as the economic climate has led many to do the avoid and dodge when it comes to payment. We have had to wear mistakes for continuing work pre-payment and like you decided the job does not continue unless a deposit is made and intention to complete payment within a fortnight. Our new software means we make money without client involvement and this provides us enormous freedom from the scenario you described. You coped with all the dodging and weaving and the position between you and the client improved - Well done! Not many can achieve this positive outcome with that type of pressure. The joys of one-to-one client management, those who rely on quantity rather than quality clients would have hand-balled that debt off to collections a long time ago. Such is the dilemma for small business owners. :-)
Apr 27, 2015
Not nice. My suggestion is to be direct with them. Ask them why they haven't paid what was agreed and explain that you wish to work with them but you cannot continue unless the account is up to date. If they remain aggressive, politely explain that that is not acceptable behaviour and that if the agreed payment is not made for the work carried out then you will have to take the matter to the small claims court (easy to do and fairly inexpensive). It sounds, at this stage, like you really don't have anything to lose, either way. Regards, Steve
Apr 26, 2015
Louise,
Compromise may be reasonable under extenuating circumstances when it is clear that both sides are operating in good faith.This is not one of those situations. The client is already bullying you. What makes you think they'd pay you the balance due when the project is completed? If you wanted to, you might hand over the appropriate amount of work covered by the deposit and leave it at that. Or, just eat the whole thing and let it be a lesson not to begin work without a deposit. Either way, I'd get out now. Otherwise, you're likely to be opening yourselves up for a lot more aggravation, and perhaps no more money. Everyone has had an experience with difficult clients. I wouldn't worry too much about it. You haven't done anything objectionable, and they've probably got better things to do than bad mouth you.
Apr 26, 2015
You are not being looked at seriously and they are not valuing your company and time. Stick to your agreement. You may posibly loss monetarily at first however you could lose even more by agreeing to undervalue your company by bending. Best of success, Gil
Apr 26, 2015
My general rules on this subject are:
1- Compromising is OK if the deal is still manageable.
2- If still manageable, then it must also be still profitable. The added cost to bend the rules just for them can be seen as another cost of doing business. A customer demanding more ongoing support from your company while still paying on time could be seen as more of a compromise than one that pays late, but is less demanding on your staff for example.
3- Over time always try and steer them back to a less compromising situation. This can be masked and structured in many ways.
4- Leopards in business rarely change their spots. If anything they will get worse if they know that they can take advantage of you.
Above all sometimes a little more give can still leave you in a better position compared to not having them as a customer at all.
Apr 26, 2015
There is no perfect solution but sticking with few key rules should help a bit.
1. Ask for deposit before start work (probably a give and take of 3 days) ...you must afford to loose business
2. Ask for payment progressively - normally for big projects, I claim monthly; for some projects, I claim upon 50%, 70%, and 90% completion (normally, the last 10% is hard to receive on time). If I cannot receive money on time, I will activate debt chasing operation which are normally very effective.
As for your current sticky client - depend your nature works of the 70% completed and whether they depend on you for the balance works. Who is in control, who has the bigger call.
Apr 25, 2015
I would stick to my guns. They need you more than you need them. Bullying tactics are unhelpful. Communicating that such tactics are not going to effect change is a good start. Calmly discuss that the agreement stated that payment would come with the work. You are providing a service. Make your own choices. If you need to cut your losses, that is an option that you might want to consider. Aiming to have a positive work environment is something worth pursuing. You need to make some tough choices.
BTW, when someone bad-mouths a business, I always consider the person that's talking and how much "weight" - character they have and question whether it is true or not. It sounds like your integrity is still in tact. Wishing you the best!
Apr 25, 2015
Thanks Yvon, I also do take any one-off complaints I've read about any company very subjectively, as no-one really knows what really went on, and if majority are favourable, you're probably going to be ok.
Apr 25, 2015
Hi Louise, thanks for writing in. It is a challenging situation and in this day and age of rapid-fire information the risk of blow-back is considerable. First, I agree with all that you have done thus far except one thing- work should not have commenced without the deposit in hand. OK, it's done and gone but for the next time...the way that you are managing the client seems quite reasonable. You have said you are meeting face to face to square up the deposit and sort the rest. The first step will be to see how that meeting goes; their demeanor may change (for better or worse). This will have to be your guide. Based upon that 1) accept the deposit for work done and hand over the project as is; they did in fact ask for this or 2) accept the deposit and complete the project with very specific conditions set in advance including failure to pay clauses that will immediately result in termination of the agreement and no further deliverables to the client. Finally, should the client choose to "get back at you" take the high road. Trust in the good work you've been doing and will continue to do and let this episode serve as a lesson for the future.
All the best,
Ed...
Apr 25, 2015
Thanks for your great response Ed. Yes you are right, from the beginning he changed the payment terms we agreed upon, and it set off alarm bells straight away. There's always that hope that it will come good, after all, they are trying to set themselves up as a legitimate business and have a reputation to look after.
I like your suggestions, this is what I was thinking to do, so thank you.
Apr 28, 2015
Cheers Louise, I know you are going to come out of this OK.
Apr 25, 2015
Although even business relations are build on trust that should not imply you can just bend the rules at a whim.
I would personally stick to the terms you agreed upon. Take the moral high ground and perhaps get a PR advisor in when they in fact do start badmouthing you. In case your client is braking any legal agreements warn them of that fact and do not hesitate to take legal action if they do not respond.
Apr 25, 2015
Thanks for your response. It would be nice to think you could trust other small business owners, but then, as in life, you can't always trust everyone.
:) The customer is not always right .. I agree