My client has disappeared

[nineseven]

Well I kind of had to seeing as she completely refused to write the brief down.

This is why all clients write down the brief - so we can both clearly see what I have been asked to do. I even sent her a template. How she expects me to describe her stupid training courses in-depth if she doesn't give me any information about them is beyond me. And she's used up her two rounds of amends.

ETA: It has now been 12 weeks since she commissioned me :woteva:

[nineseven]

Another update.

She requested a third (big) round of amends, on the advice of her marketing team. A third round is out of scope, so I said it would had to be quoted separately and sent her the invoice for the remaining balance of the work so far. It has now been more than 14 weeks since she commissioned me.

She is refusing to pay, and "disputing" my invoice.

She had refused to give me a written brief in the first place, at which point I should clearly have walked away, as I was tempted to do. Luckily I recorded the spoken brief. She requested a copy of the recording on 14th June; I emailed it immediately; she didn't download it and the WeTransfer link expired. She later huffily messaged me it didn't work so I had to send it again three weeks later.

Her brief was shit and she gave me very little source material. She's now saying that despite requesting a "brief overview" of her courses on the recording, she now wants lots of detail to be included. Put simply, she has not given me the type of detail she wanted. I still don't have it. Even if I was willing to do a third round of amends, she hasn't actually briefed me for it or told me what info she feels I have omitted.

She's also saying the second round of amends can't be counted as amends, as it was due to me "misunderstanding" her brief. My side is all backed up by the recording.

The invoice is due to be paid by Friday. She won't pay it. We are at loggerheads. I can't decide whether to walk away as this has already taken up so much time, or take her to court.

The site isn't live yet, but if she uses my copy online then she has to fucking pay for it!!!

[Squirrel]

So once she doesn’t pay, is she in breach of the Ts&Cs that you emailed her? Have you fulfilled the brief that you have invoiced her for? Assuming it’s yes to both of those it does sound like the claims process would be worth doing.

I say this every time but I know a few people who have used it for non-payers and they have been successful, and it is straightforward.

[nineseven]

Writers give clients two rounds of amends to make changes; this stops clients just doing more and more amends into infinity and never signing off the project. The changes she's now mentioning have never even been mentioned until now. She's basically changed her mind. My quote was for the web copy + two round of amends and yes, I have finished this. Time to pay.

Her marketing team even said it was very well written!

[Squirrel]

Ha! There you go then. You go g’friend .

[smalex]

What a nightmare. I guess it comes down to how much money it is versus the time/mental energy spent pursuing it ? I've got to a point of considering taking things further a couple of times but always just run out of mental energy to do it.

[Cosmopolitan]

Small claims court is super easy and straightforward, I really recommend you do it.

[nineseven]

Is murder still frowned upon?

[Cosmopolitan]

Ha. Honestly, I think she's counting on you doing nothing and it's behaving so badly. Dickhead

[Texaco Shirley]

Is murder still frowned upon?

I believe Pip is available...

[Squirrel]

Is murder still frowned upon?

Fine as long as you send a letter before action .

[Hobbes]

https://www.thomashiggins.com/

We use these guys to chase unpaid invoices - they do a scary letter before action for a few quid, which works most of the time, or you can take it further to small claims.

The court costs are not even paid by you anymore if it’s upheld, and it sounds like you have a good case, so it’s worth pursuing.

[nineseven]

Final update. After a string of tedious emails in which she straight-up lied, I told her I completely disagreed with her but offered her a choice: I'll do a third round of amends out of goodwill (ha) but only if you send me a full, detailed, written brief, OR pay me a kill fee and use another writer to finish it off. The money was in my bank account this evening and I never have to communicate with that wretched bitch again

[emma_p]

The end! Phew nine.

[nineseven]

I am SO relieved. I have put the money straight into savings as I never thought I'd see it.

[Squirrel]

Thank goodness for that! Well done for bringing (dragging) it to a conclusion. She sounds a bit thick.

[nineseven]

My worst client ever, bar none. I'm trusting my gut from now on (and I have deleted the woman who referred me to her from all platforms).

[Tsu]

Glad you've been able to put it to bed.

[nineseven]

Glad you've been able to put it to bed.

Thanks for your detective work before. I could still send the boys round.

[Luna]

Thank goodness you finally received payment. And good riddance. Why do people have to be lying arseholes?