Trying to collect payment

[MaderDesign 3]

Hey guys, I have a lady and her company who I done a shirt design for. She had it all printed and is currently selling. We agreed she would pay me $250 for the design. And still haven't seen the money. She keeps with the same excuses, and i'm to the point where I don't care for excuses anymore. Should I send her one final email and say she has until Monday December 7, 2009 to pay or i'm taking this to small claims court? I've sent her multiple emails and she responds with:

Yes you have been patient I do appreciate that very much.  This has all been entirely too stressful for me.  I am doing my best to make the best of the situation.  So how well do u like the Trojans? I could pay you in shirts... Lol sorry just trying to laugh a little.

It may have gotten too complicated.  I should have thrown on the breaks when he bitched about sizing and sent the shirts back.  By the way that's compete bs about the sizing though.  I am busty and so is my daughter and we both wear the small.

The long sleeves were on the po's.  The thermals were never printed.

Besides womens the mens blue killed this.  I have tons and they simply won't sell they look purple.  That had nada to do with me.

Let's have lunch and talk... Weve had a lot of requests and maybe we can make this up on another project.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Thing is though none of this went as planned.  It was a harder learning experience for me.  I put time and money in and have clearly lost my ass.  I trusted u had worked with this company before and the kind of issues would not arrise.  I realize u want paid for your work and so do I.  I am still working on trying to get some kind of restitution from spreading ink.  As to which they are also blaming on your inexperience on the matter, why we had issues.  ( these are not 

my words) I personally do no care why but I am trying to solve it. 

Clearly if you took on the risk as I did you could understand the situation I am in.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

file it and next time collect at least 1/2 up front before anyone gets the design.  for design work i have paid the entire money up front so this should not be a problem.  On this one send a registered letter to her giving her a 7-10 day time frame to comply and then file!

[MaderDesign 3]

Yuh thats what my wife suggested as well. Just wanted some other opinions, I've been trying to collect since October.

This lady was nothing but a nightmare. I done their business cards before and charged them $450 for them, and not a question was asked and payment was quick. This time I wasn't so lucky. I told her to write up a contract for it, but stupid me started before it was ever sent.

If she doesn't pay do you think I'll get my money if i take it to small claims?

[Rodger 527]

  Hey Mader ,

Do you have anything in writing or an unbiased witness for court ? I would do as you suggest & send an e-mail saying you will file in small claims court . If you don't have a witness or contract , I would try to lure her into admitting the amount & deal you had in an e-mail before any court talk .

When I threaten court , it is a bluff . The time it takes & actual money return " iF " collectable ( you will be surprised how many people are " judgement immune " ) is not worth it in my opinion . I consider it a bought lesson & try not to make the same mistake again .

 I take it as the 3rd party is the screenprinter

[prestonservco 26]

Hey Mader, In my life, free time is limited.  I wouldn't look to spend it in court getting stressed out over $250 dollars.  Write it off as a business loss.

[prestonservco 26]

You can try to get her to send a partial payment.  In my county, if they pay $10 or more, it is an admission of responsibility for the bill, and often the court will side with you.

[MaderDesign 3]

I'm trying to look back in emails to see if we agreed on a certain price in the emails.

btw, i just came across this.

she wrote: Sweet... Lets go forward with a skull or pirate if you can find one.  Asap Dude you ready to make some real money?"

haha yuh real money.

[john! 1]

Honestly, don't do another thing until you get PAYMENT UP FRONT.

I would demand the payment and if she didn't, take it to small claims court. Ask her how she would like it if you had gotten 10 shirts from her and paid when you felt like it.

Doesn't work that way does it 

[MaderDesign 3]

That last message from her was a while back once i finished the shirt design.

I just sent her an email including the invoice and payment request by Monday December 7, 2009 and if i do not receive payment i will take it to small claims.

[john! 1]

That last message from her was a while back once i finished the shirt design.

I just sent her an email including the invoice and payment request by Monday December 7, 2009 and if i do not receive payment i will take it to small claims.

It's just so ridiculous that you should wait for a payment. I had gotten stiffed on some signs a few weeks ago and although i let it go because the person literally has nothing, it will not happen again. This was a "good" customer also.

[midwaste 4]

What I would do depends on what I stand to gain in the long run from this customer. 

She obviously is in over her head a bit here, but that doesn't mean that there isn't opportunity to recoup your $250 and much more in the future.  She is going through a learning period, and if you hardball her, you'll be out if she somehow comes out of it and prospers.  At the same time, all things considered, it's $250, not $2500, gotta keep it in perspective.

 

She's also probably not buying the small claims threats, anyone with any sense at all knows its a waste of time and money to pursue $250 in court.

I had to laugh at this part "Asap Dude you ready to make some real money?"  She sounds EXACTLY like someone I used to work with, who used to always say that sh*t, lol. 

Good luck either way, but don't get too worked up about it, every minute you spend pondering and fuming about it is just more money down the drain.

[pitkin2020 1]

Sorry but wheter its $1 or 1 million dollars it comes down to the principle of it, if it were me i would be chasing it and any further work would require 100% payment up front.  I love it when people think there might be further oppourtunites with customers like this and even think they are good customers, definition of a good customer is one who pays on time, how much time have you wasted chasing this money with emails back and forth, if you have restricted cash flow that money could be holding up other work for "GOOD" customers not to mention charges you could incur for late payments on bills or worse still staffing payments.

Aside from the fact if you let the bill slide this time next time they may pay 100% up front but ask for credit againthe next time around, you will become an easy target for them

CHASE WHAT YOU ARE OWED, but most importantly change the way in which you deal with customers to ensure you dont get stung like this again,

[MaderDesign 3]

All other customers I always always always have them sign an agreement. For some reason after working with her and doing other projects I just assumed everything was okay.

This lady wanted me to do all her new stickers, hang tags, design work. Also I got an email couple weeks ago asking me to build her a website. Ummm wrong. As far as I'm concerned I do not care about doing business with her ever again, even if she is willing to pay me $2500. It's the principal and just like someone else said. I done the design work on time now I expect the money on time. I don't walk into your store and walk out with $250 in stuff and say I'll pay ya later.

I sent her an email with the invoice and payment due date.

[pitkin2020 1]

it is a hard situation for anyone to deal with as you dont want to lose a customer, especially in these economic times but a non paying customer takes up a lot of time with having to chase around and yes it maybe only $250 this time and the next 3 jobs of similar value maybe paid promptly but you only need 1 large order and "i'll pay when completed and installed" to happen and it could be detrementel to your own business.

I do hope you get it sorted without court action, most times any respectful company will not want there details listed in the courts section of the local paper for such a small amount and will just pay it,

[BannerJohn 1,324]

fact is, if you take her to court and win..all you will have is a Judgement.. Then you are right back where you started, trying to collect the money.It's up to you to collect, still. Is it worth the trouble? The court will help you but still..for $250 I wouldn't waste my time. That is the price of doing business.

Mark it down as a lesson learned, hope the threat of being sued scares her into paying..and move on.

[chefgary 4]

All I can say is that really hurts.  I am a trusting person too and I know it will bite me in the butt some day.  Good luck and learn from it.

Gary

[tekcorps 50]

An alternative "MIGHT" be to turn her over to a collections agency. Last resort perhaps instead of court. Depending on your state laws, turn her over, agency then does all the foot work and if they collect you will get usually half the amount which is better than a kick in the rear. If she doesn't pay agency then they on your behalf will take her to court. States very in agency/collection laws.

Just a thought if you can't make any progress and don't want the hassles of suing.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

An alternative "MIGHT" be to turn her over to a collections agency. Last resort perhaps instead of court. Depending on your state laws, turn her over, agency then does all the foot work and if they collect you will get usually half the amount which is better than a kick in the rear. If she doesn't pay agency then they on your behalf will take her to court. States very in agency/collection laws.

Just a thought if you can't make any progress and don't want the hassles of suing.

I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy.

[tekcorps 50]

Yes you would! hehehehe         

[MaderDesign 3]

So I sent her the invoice and payment date. And the response I get is:

Here is where I am.  Clearly you have no ground to stand on so if you feel you must take me to small claims court.  I guess you will.

[neron15210 10]

Pay her a visit, and talk to her one last time.

Cut your loses take what you can.  Consider it as a $250.00 lesson, and start taking deposit regardless how small job is.

I'm not starting to work on 1 coroplast sign $15.00 worth without deposit. Learned it hard way.

[Rodger 527]

  " make her an offer she can't refuse " 

[neron15210 10]

  " make her an offer she can't refuse " 

Good one 

[pitkin2020 1]

So I sent her the invoice and payment date. And the response I get is:

Here is where I am.  Clearly you have no ground to stand on so if you feel you must take me to small claims court.  I guess you will.

Well i think that says it all, can i ask is she actually the boss of said company or just staff?? (Not knowing size of company your dealing with) if she is just staff you need to get above her, to the organ grinder and not the monkey so to speak

[MaderDesign 3]

She's 50% owner.