Hi
We are having some major difficulties with some clients not paying so, what are other companies doing to avoid this ?
Possibly all images sent out should go with a prominent watermark - this will be removed when we receive payment in full but this might not sit well with some clients.
Chasing payment is mighty stressful and very time consuming and contracts are not the solution as they require alot of time, effort and money to follow up, what do you think ?
Regards
N
Absolutely - render with timecode on your animations or the text “For approval only”. Get some payment up front too - if the client has invested their time or money or effort they’ll treat it a lot more seriously.
make them an offer… they cannot refuse!
we italians abroad made a fortune with that :lol:
Lele
Contracts don’t really help if there is payment refusal. That is a client knows they should pay but don’t want to.
Basically you can threaten. I doubt anyone expects they weren’t going to be charged with or without a contract. Get a lawyer have them write a stern letter threatening more stern letters. I have had to apply for a lein (when I was a drafter at an office the principle had me do this this was not regarding my work). All a lein does is say they cannot sell property without paying you so that has its problems. You need to be cleawr if they are not paying you or if they are protesting an aspect of your work or if they are really slow to pay. I have clients who are under 2 month pay cycles. I have written contracts that say pay me now but I get paid when they want to pay me.
Well, if watermarking drawings doesn’t ‘sit well’ with the client, then maybe you should be looking for different clients! I mean, after all, can you really call them ‘clients’ if they’re not paying you for your work? Plus, what’s the difference between A) getting a job and not getting paid for it, and B) not getting a job you wouldn’t get paid for in the first place?
At least have them pay half up front, the rest on delivery. Think of the wedding photo / video / catering business - they all make clients pay half up front, then the second half on the day of the ceremony, you can’t have the reception and be like, “Ohh, I’ll pay you next week don’t worry about it.”
I think watermarking is the way forward - they cannot use the image until the mark is removed which is perfect because we dictate the payment time and dont have to wait the 30 days to get paid. The only downfall is that the client could drop the project and we would be left with a usless image so, a deposit at the beginning would be ideal.
thanks
N
i have learn the lesson, now i only work this way, 30% in the first image preview while work in progress and than the 70% in work finished but whith a water mark, after good payment i send the clean images, today is only way to work at least here in Portugal, i have done one work six month ago and i didn´t get 1 cent for that work until today, and from 2005 i also have unpaid work about 2500€ , this guys think we only have to press one button to the work be done .
If you’re unsure about the client then I’d go for a 50% deposit upfront and then 50% upon satisfactory completion, then in the worst case you only loose 50%. If you combine that with a watermark then you should be fairly safe.
But, a lot of my clients don’t pay within 30 days. They pay pretty much when they want to, but I will always get the money in the end so I don’t stress about it and they are all repeat clients. I suppose that comes down to an issue of cash flow.
in my contracts i make sure the clients agree to something that they usually gloss over but its a great catch. i ask for downpayment. then if its a short project i make sure to have a work completed payment with a list of goals to be achieved. then an approval payment. last time i had to threaten them they said that they didnt approve of the quality of the work so they were not paying. but according to my contract the approval payment is small. the goal payment reguardless of their approval is the main payment. so any lawyer will know that if i can show the completed goals were met, then the client owes me the money even if they dont like the final product hehe
we usually work on animation and we go like this by contract
30% downpayment
40% after offline movie approval.
the rest (30%) uppon complition of job.
make sure you won’t continue to work before you get paid for stage 1 and 2 , after that yo only have to worry for 30% .
if its a client that coused you problems before i wouldn’t give him any final images or animation before all the money paid.
In my opinion, contracts are a waste of time - involving lawyers or any form of the law is unpredictable, stressful, expensive and creates bad situations that take a long time to resolve and in the meantime - you could go out of business.
Pay on delivery is the best way as far as I can see - that way the work is paid for immediately and there is no chance for the client to change their mind - for whatever reason.
We are going to try the watermark strategy and see how it goes. When we have repeat clients we trust and have developed a good working relationship, then we can discuss with them if they wish to modify the way we invoice them.
I will start to adopt Gilicom way of payment , i think it´s the best way like he says we only have to worry with 30% at the end , and not forgeting the water mark.
Your right, we will be doing that on projects over 4 grand.
Pay
This is why we have small claims. It cost $25.00 bucks to file and you do not need representation.
My current client (which has been good in the past) said she couldnt cut a check for deposit right away (1/3 total amount) but could do full amount in two-weeks as that’s when their company cuts checks.
Needing money and wanting to make a big client happy, I had to say that ‘that was ok.’ Now it’s nearly two months later - what am I supposed to do? I don’t want to lose a big client. I’m also not in a position to pick and choose from work. I’ve been calling and sending emails. I feel like a nag but it’s tough for a little person to survive otherwise.
It’s easy to say ‘don’t work with them’ but I’d be completely broke otherwise. And a watermark probably wouldn’t have gone over very well. Anyone have any idea what else to do in that situation?
Some states allow you to go before a judge with your evidence and place a lien on someone’s property for the amount they owe. This is especially effective in the case of a builder since they can’t sell the property until the lien is resolved.
You could also turn them over to a collection agency. Give their credit score a kick in the pants. Sometimes a letter threatening to turn them over to collections will get them to act.
Well, I’d rather keep a client that pays late than ruin potential future work with them as it’s one of my biggest/highest paying customers. It’s like a high-wire balancing act.
Well then you’ve made the decision that bending over backwards for the client is more important than the client paying you, and that’s something you’ll have to live with.
Normally, if you are up front with clients and are consistent with your procedures and expectations, they will respect and honor them. If you tell them, no, you can’t start work until paid, or that work will go on hold until payment is made, then they’ll be damn quick about making the payment if it’s important. If you bend over backwards for them, they’ll always expect you to bend over. And watermark everything but the final image. Otherwise what’s to stop them from using an image and not paying you what’s due.
Grow a backbone. If you want to do business, learn to run your work as a business. And for the guy who said don’t do contracts… that’s dead wrong.
Read these articles from the bottom up:
http://cgarchitect.com/upclose/DW/default.asp
jujubee - ahh, I know how you feel. If they are a ‘repeat’ customer then all is not lost. When they call you up next for something to be done just say that they will have to settle any outstanding debt BEFORE you start work on anything else… and make sure you don’t start untill the money comes through. It worked for me.
As for contracts… well… I know a guy who swears by contracts but still got done over. He lost about 15k. The contract didn’t stop that from happening.