I don't know why I'm asking this here, but here goes...

[e.rose]

I've recently started working for a friend doing administrative and some business managerial schtuff... and there's a client that I'm dealing with that, come 4pm tomorrow, I may or may not have to take further action with.

And I just... don't know what that is going to look like.

LET ME PREFACE THIS BY SAYING...

Yes. I know none of you are lawyers.

Yes. I know the importance of contracts... GOOD contracts... my friend, however, is not as experienced in working with retail type clients and therefore didn't have a solid contract (he HAD ONE, but he was missing a few key components), and didn't force himself to stick to it... so now we're dealing with that aftermath.

He knows now.

I've corrected him and his contract, so we're straight going forward, HOWEVER... there's STILL this one client...

There's a client we shot a wedding for back in October.

This client was to pay a deposit up front, which they did, and then pay another portion the day of the wedding, which they did... and then pay the final balance upon receiving the proofs... which they did not do.

Luckily no album was ordered for them yet, but they have all the files from their wedding and they still owe my friend $500.

I had no idea this was the case until the day we decided that I was going to start working for him, he brought up this, "Kinda sorta issue" that he still had outstanding...

So I immediately took to emailing the clients (who is actually someone I used to work with), and informed them of my new position with my friend, and then also kindly reminded them they had a $500 balance and asked them what they were planning on doing about that.

I got a response that $200 was getting paid "this paycheck" and that the balance would be paid by a certain date in March (The 11th, I believe... I have it written down).

"This paycheck" came and went, and we even gave them another week to get the payment out, and I finally sent an email inquiring about it.

They responded by stating that they were "actually doing financially better" would get the whole payment out all at once this past week.

He supposedly dropped it in the mail Wednesday after work, which means it wouldn't have gotten sent until Thursday morning, which means it should have gotten to my friend by Friday.

We had a snow storm so we gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed that maybe mail wasn't running one of the two days... which means at the LATEST it should have gotten to us by yesterday.

It did not.

So we're waiting until tomorrow's mail comes to see if there's a check.

If there is not, I'm going to get a lot more stern than I have been, but this will be the third for fourth time I'm having to send a, "WHERE'S OUR MONEY B****?!" email to them, and because of the relationship between the groom and my friend, and myself, I feel as though he's taking the opportunity to try and drag this out as long as possible, even though he finally did start to feel a little pressure once I started sending e-mails.

So I need some advice as to what my next step needs to be here if this check doesn't come tomorrow.

I'm past the point of sending, "Oh so... about that check..." type emails. I need to do something that is going to light some kind of fire under this guy's ass, because the impression that I'm getting from his peers is that this is a typical thing for him to do. Not okay. Clearly.

Has anyone dealt with anything like this? How did you handle it? How did you word your communications?

I'm looking for practical advice here. Not a lecture on what my friend should have done. I've already done that. Dude knows what he shouldn't have done, what he should have done instead, and what he will be doing going forward in the future. I just need need ideas of what move to make *next* assuming this check isn't in the mailbox tomorrow.

 

[pixmedic]

the time for emails is over.
time to shank-a-*****

 

[e.rose]

the time for emails is over.
time to shank-a-*****

I mean. That's where I'm at.

He won't let me do it though.

Something about jail time, and business reputation....

 

[pixmedic]

the time for emails is over.
time to shank-a-*****

I mean. That's where I'm at.

He won't let me do it though.

Something about jail time, and business reputation....

damn. Pity tho...
right now im picturing you with a letter opener stabbing that client yelling "wheres that $500 mother******!"

 

[bribrius]

You can't get blood from a stone. Make sure they have it.

Talk to the wife. She may care more.

That don't work. Forget about it. Just don't shoot again for them.

 

[e.rose]

the time for emails is over.
time to shank-a-*****

I mean. That's where I'm at.

He won't let me do it though.

Something about jail time, and business reputation....

damn. Pity tho...
right now im picturing you with a letter opener stabbing that client yelling "wheres that $500 mother******!"

 

[pixmedic]

in all seriousness...
or, as serious as i can be at this point picturing you shanking some delinquent client....

if his contract is weak...he might just have to eat this one and call it a learning experience from the school of "not allowed to shank people who owe you money".
its possible that a certified letter mildly threatening legal action might get it done...they may not know whether there is actual legal recourse available, or that the contract is weak. (if thats the case)

 

[e.rose]

You can't get blood from a stone. Make sure they have it.

Talk to the wife. She may care more.

That don't work. Forget about it. Just don't shoot again for them.

The wife doesn't care more. She's the one that initially responded, with a very cold, annoyed-sounding email with the payment schedule, which was immediately followed-up by the husband, who apologized for her "seemingly cold tone", and then reassured us they would have the payments made by the projected time-frame.

Forgetting about it is also not an option. -- Dude is living off photography full-time and every penny counts for him right now. He doesn't have a day job to fall back on, and while his workload is increasing... it was just/is wintertime. Winter is slow. Which means money is slow.

If they're needing to spread out payments, that's something I can work with, but they are seeming to choose to lie about the situation, rather than being frank (this is, of course assuming, it doesn't come tomorrow.)

*I'm* not the one that even set the payment schedule or the amounts. That's what she came up with. If the situation were worse, I would think the response would have been a "We can't pay this right now", or more payments broken up into smaller amounts.

 

[AlanKlein]

Maybe they lost a job. Maybe they broke up. Whatever. $500 doesn't pay to sue. Just tell him the rest of the photos and albums will be furnished when they pay the balance. Then move on. time is more precious and expensive mentally and financially then getting involved further with them.

 

[e.rose]

in all seriousness...
or, as serious as i can be at this point picturing you shanking some delinquent client....

if his contract is weak...he might just have to eat this one and call it a learning experience from the school of "not allowed to shank people who owe you money".
its possible that a certified letter mildly threatening legal action might get it done...they may not know whether there is actual legal recourse available, or that the contract is weak. (if thats the case)

That was actually my thought. I was trying to consider the possibility of threatening legal action, to the point of just getting them to pay.

I looked at his contract again after posting this, and I realize now what the issue was. It wasn't that the contract is *weak* per say... it's that he's asking for payment upon the receipt of these proofs, and rather than getting paid FIRST and then sending the proofs, he sent the proofs and then expected to get paid.

The part he's missing is the part that states that if they don't pay, they don't get anything, until payment is received. It only states WHEN the payment is due, and then he went ahead and ignored his own contract, and delivered images before receiving payment. He's a little too trusting.

Which is why I'm now in charge of this stuff, because I trust no one, and he's not going to get screwed with me handling it.

I have yet to be screwed by any of my own clients. Haha.

 

[bribrius]

You can't get blood from a stone. Make sure they have it.

Talk to the wife. She may care more.

That don't work. Forget about it. Just don't shoot again for them.

The wife doesn't care more. She's the one that initially responded, with a very cold, annoyed-sounding email with the payment schedule, which was immediately followed-up by the husband, who apologized for her "seemingly cold tone", and then reassured us they would have the payments made by the projected time-frame.

Forgetting about it is also not an option. -- Dude is living off photography full-time and every penny counts for him right now. He doesn't have a day job to fall back on, and while his workload is increasing... it was just/is wintertime. Winter is slow. Which means money is slow.

If they're needing to spread out payments, that's something I can work with, but they are seeming to choose to lie about the situation, rather than being frank (this is, of course assuming, it doesn't come tomorrow.)

*I'm* not the one that even set the payment schedule or the amounts. That's what she came up with. If the situation were worse, I would think the response would have been a "We can't pay this right now", or more payments broken up into smaller amounts.

Go knock on their door. That is what i have always done when someone owed me money. "hello? ummm.. yeah. Kinda wondering WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO PAY ME!" you know, nice though. But stern, Maybe a touch of sarcasm if need be.

 

[e.rose]

Maybe they lost a job. Maybe they broke up. Whatever. $500 doesn't pay to sue. Just tell him the rest of the photos and albums will be furnished when they pay the balance. Then move on. time is more precious and expensive mentally and financially then getting involved further with them.

They didn't lose a job, they didn't break up, these are people in our social circles. We know what they're up to.

Again, moving on is just not an option at this point.

Is it WORTH it to sue over $500? Certainly not. We're not ACTUALLY planning on doing that.

What I'm ASKING for is advice to help figure out a way to put the pressure on and get them to pay the damn balance.

 

[e.rose]

You can't get blood from a stone. Make sure they have it.

Talk to the wife. She may care more.

That don't work. Forget about it. Just don't shoot again for them.

The wife doesn't care more. She's the one that initially responded, with a very cold, annoyed-sounding email with the payment schedule, which was immediately followed-up by the husband, who apologized for her "seemingly cold tone", and then reassured us they would have the payments made by the projected time-frame.

Forgetting about it is also not an option. -- Dude is living off photography full-time and every penny counts for him right now. He doesn't have a day job to fall back on, and while his workload is increasing... it was just/is wintertime. Winter is slow. Which means money is slow.

If they're needing to spread out payments, that's something I can work with, but they are seeming to choose to lie about the situation, rather than being frank (this is, of course assuming, it doesn't come tomorrow.)

*I'm* not the one that even set the payment schedule or the amounts. That's what she came up with. If the situation were worse, I would think the response would have been a "We can't pay this right now", or more payments broken up into smaller amounts.

Go knock on their door. That is what i have always done when someone owed me money. "hello? ummm.. yeah. Kinda wondering WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO PAY ME!" you know, nice though. But stern, Maybe a touch of sarcasm if need be.

YOU KNOW...

That's actually not a bad idea. Ha.

 

[runnah]

I'd say your friend just learned a $500 lesson.

 

[pixmedic]

You can't get blood from a stone. Make sure they have it.

Talk to the wife. She may care more.

That don't work. Forget about it. Just don't shoot again for them.

The wife doesn't care more. She's the one that initially responded, with a very cold, annoyed-sounding email with the payment schedule, which was immediately followed-up by the husband, who apologized for her "seemingly cold tone", and then reassured us they would have the payments made by the projected time-frame.

Forgetting about it is also not an option. -- Dude is living off photography full-time and every penny counts for him right now. He doesn't have a day job to fall back on, and while his workload is increasing... it was just/is wintertime. Winter is slow. Which means money is slow.

If they're needing to spread out payments, that's something I can work with, but they are seeming to choose to lie about the situation, rather than being frank (this is, of course assuming, it doesn't come tomorrow.)

*I'm* not the one that even set the payment schedule or the amounts. That's what she came up with. If the situation were worse, I would think the response would have been a "We can't pay this right now", or more payments broken up into smaller amounts.

Go knock on their door. That is what i have always done when someone owed me money. "hello? ummm.. yeah. Kinda wondering WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO PAY ME!" you know, nice though. But stern, Maybe a touch of sarcasm if need be.

YOU KNOW...

That's actually not a bad idea. Ha.

bring that letter opener i mentioned earlier.....
just in case