Oldfield

[glorybound]

I signed this 2 1/2 months ago, but I just got the deposit this week. Every week the project manager asked if the check arrived and every week I told her no. About a month ago I stopped working on it and she got pissed. I don't think it is her fault. I think her accounting department thinks 90-day payouts are normal. I don't think the check I got was even from the 90-day cycle, but she had it cut to get her images finished. The check I got was in full because last month I told her that I don't release finals until the balance is paid in full; I wasn't about to wait three months for it.

[pixelplume]

beautiful work!

with some clients (especially from larger firms) I try to get to know the bookkeeper as project managers can totally flake out on paperwork.

[glorybound]

Thanks! I don't go for the, "wait until I feel like paying you" clients. I work too hard to have to worry about getting paid for my work. It angers me when people think a deposit is optional and they can pay me the balance whenever. I put up with a lot with clients, but not that. Just saying

[JezUK]

What I struggle to understand the concept of (in real life business) is how clients believe their payment terms trump your own.

I mean, you don't walk out of a shop with an armful of goods claiming you'll return in a week to pay for things because your payment terms are 7 days.......

My own personal payment terms are 14 days, and only once ever have I had a client ask me beforehand if I could meet their payment terms of 30 days - I appreciated that and accepted (they were a big client too, so their departments weren't next door to one another).

Payment terms are an agreement - it's not all one way.

By contrast, my current beef right now is with a huge client who doesn't issue Purchase Orders - yet expects me to do work based on emails. Yes, I have gotten paid, but a simple official document taking minutes to produce is like asking the impossible (in their case).

Great images Bobby

[Syclone1]

Beautiful renderings! and good for you for sticking to your guns

[glorybound]

I don't mind playing by their rules. I'll wait 90 days for the deposit and I'll hold the images for another 90 days for the balance. Their turn-around time with me will be 6 months .

[Crayox13]

Beautiful renders! How did you make the grass and where is that tree in the front from?

About the payments...JezUK said it perfectly. Just so frustrating sometimes.

[glorybound]

The grass is Forest Pro with a bitmap pasted over in PS. The tree is from Evermotion 154.

[windrockwater]

some people put in their bills that if they are paid within one week, there is a small discount. Otherwise the full amount becomes due.

[glorybound]

Or, if you don't pay then late charges start accruing. This is what mine says. 1.5% every 15 days.

[windrockwater]

Have you been able to collect late charges in the past? I have something like that too in my agreement and have never once collected it. Ha!

[glorybound]

No, I have always waved it

Have you been able to collect late charges in the past? I have something like that too in my agreement and have never once collected it. Ha!

[windrockwater]

I know. Its kind of a toothless clause. Unless you are a bank or credit card. That's why the 'discount' for fast payment actually makes sense. You could also let people pay with a charge card (and you add a little for the card processing fee). People ask me if i take charge cards.

Or give them renderings with a big, nasty watermark. Hee haw!

[glorybound]

My contract says that I'll have a watermark until it is paid for, but I don't. I worked all weekend on a rush job that he needed for today. The last thing he did was ask for PDF's and he was only taking one of them to his meeting because he has changes that he still wants to make. NOT! I didn't ignore my family all weekend to make your deadline so you can keep making changes. These are times I wish I had a watermark. I told him that I am months out, but I'll drop what I am doing to work on it over the weekend. I responded with the PDF's, saying that any changes after the deadline will be quotes separately, per the contract and he can't us them until the balance has been paid, per the contract. I was nice about it. but it did run me wrong. He was a pain for the past three days with literally dozens of emails and at least a dozen phone calls.

[Crayox13]

Thanks glory, will check it out.