Take a look at our site and you decide if we do good work.
We welcome working with anyone and look forward to hearing from you.
Charles

For the future here are some safeguards I intend to do.

1) Only develop on my server (if applicable)

2) If not able to develop on my own server ensure some sort of safe guard ‘back door’ entry into hosting account in the event the client decides to go rogue and lock me out of the files I created.

3) Use contracts for jobs over 100 dollars

4) Use an e-signature service such as docusgn or echosign to have these documents signed legally with an electronic signature making the contracts binding.

I just signed up with both docusign and echosign, i like echosign better, its a bit easier IMO but doesn’t seem as indepth. Can anyone else recommend any good electronic signature services?

1. A friend I worked with was planning to do an art project with body painting (calligraphy text on parts of people’s bodies, etc) and asked if I would photograph it for him. After ranting for 20 minutes straight about how angry he was that people don’t pay him what he thinks is fair value for his work, he told me he wasn’t going to be able to pay me the rate I wanted to shoot his project. When I told him he wouldn’t see the photos unless he paid me - he wrote a check on the spot.

2. Through another friend, I booked a photography job for a very large company taking “headshots” of their executives. After sending them an invoice for this very large job for a deposit, they said that they don’t pay deposits. While a red flag, I knew other people who worked for the same company and they told me they usually paid very quickly upon completion. So I went ahead with the job. After submitting the invoice, I was told the payment would be sent out in 30-40 days. I acquiesced and mentioned that in the contract that any late payments would be subject to fees (10% of the total amount billed immediately the day the payment was late, and every subsequent business week the full balance was not paid). Well, 40 days go by (after reminding them at 29 days, 35 days, and 39 days that the payment was coming due) - I sent them an invoice for the late fee. I was asked what the invoice was in reference to. When I reminded them, they said they would look into it. Another week went by, another late payment invoice. This went on for two months. The original $2000 job was now more than double just because of the late fees. Everytime I tried to call, I would get the run-around. So, I decided to take matters to the next level. I drafted a letter notifying the company that since they had been using my photos without paying me for two months, they had been violating my copyright - and since I could sue them for every instance of copyright violation (and there were hundreds of photos) - we were talking about a rather large lawsuit. A check arrived for the full amount, including late fees, within two days.

3. My absolute favorite story of non/late-payment. A local bar I was a regular at asked if I would create and maintain a website for them. I gave them an extremely fair price based on what they wanted ($500 for the site - including flash and hosting, $50 per update). They paid the deposit, I set up the site and did about half a dozen updates in the first two months (flyers for events, specials, new menu, etc). When I came to them with the invoice for the balance and the updates, they mentioned that business was very slow and they couldn’t really afford to pay at that time (it was during the summer shortly after the anti-smoking bill went through in NYC so it seemed like a legitimate claim) - but they said once football season rolled around they expected larger crowds and would pay me and have me start doing updates again.

Well, football season rolls around - and 5 new large plasma screen TV’s show up at the bar. Still no payment. I ask the owners when they plan on paying and they say “Soon.” A couple weeks go by and a friend tells me that they want to “talk” to me. I figure its about getting things started up again. They tell me they want a copy of the paperwork - I assume they mean the invoice (perhaps it got lost) and I send them another copy. The response? The next time I come into the bar, one of the owners approaches me and asks “What the hell am I supposed to do with an invoice?” My response, “Pay it?” He replies that he wants the passwords for the website. When I ask why he simply responds that he wants it.

After several attempts to contact both of the bar owners, there is no response. I send emails, l leave phone messages explaining that the balance has not been paid and that I still own the design and I would like to discuss why they want the passwords. A couple weeks go by and the only information I get from them is that they want the passwords - ASAP!

So I write them a letter detailing that I am taking the site down, keeping the files until payment is made but they can have the passwords in case they want to go in a new direction. If they want me to continue using my design or having me do updates, they need to pay the balance.

The following week, I am in the bar watching the World Series and the waitress mentions that the owner would like to speak to me. I figure he wants to discuss things. When I am 8 feet away from him, he screams “You are no longer welcome here! Get the f**k out! Don’t ever come back!”

It’s been 4 years and the one time I went into the bar to help a drunken friend who needed help getting home (3 years following the incident) the owner threatened to have me thrown out.

RULE #1 - always get a deposit (even from your friends)
RULE #2 - always make sure your client is aware they will be billed additional fees for late payments
RULE #3 - don’t be afraid to threaten legal action

One thing I would say about deposits actually is that we did used to take deposits … most of the time. There are just some times when its really hard, for example if you are doing say the fourth job in a row for a client and it’s a big rush job, it’s really hard to stop and go ‘we won’t start on this until you’ve paid us a deposit’ because they will say something like, ‘but we’ve been working together for months now and we really need this now, we don’t have time, lets just start and then we’ll sort the invoice out as we go…’ I never really figured out a solution to that problem!