One of my co-workers also does freelance designwork. Now he ran into a problem with a client:

He does the businesscards, brochures, catalogue, website, logo for a client of his. About 9 months ago he created a catalogue and it was a big one where he spend a lot of time on.

Basically this clients takes about 3 to 4 months to pay (it's also a client of mine). He knows this and never made a problem over it.

Now the problem is that he made this catalogue and a month later some brochures and later on a website. All of these things are paid but not the catalogue. He send some letters about it and called but still not paid.

I told him to go to an attorney and get his money that way. He wants to put the site offline (that invoice is already paid for).

So how would this work? Possible or not? The website was done later than the catalogue.

ianal and belgium will obviously have different laws, but i think taking a web site down that he's been paid for would put him in the wrong as it's tantamount to blackmail.

speaking to an attorney or filing a claim with a service like dunn & bradstreet would be the best option.

leave the site online for sure

yeah, dont touch the site...in hindsight it's too bad they weren't billed together that way he could have some recourse as the total invoice was not settled.

I'd contact an attorney focusing on collections and have them start with a scary attorney collections letter.

ooops... I don't know why the site is offline (it's probably a little bit of mis-puncuated code somewhere). I would be happy to look into it for you, however our billing department indicates that you have an overdue bill with us, and we cannot provide any service until this has been corrected.

Please make payment to...

i don't even think you need to contact an attorney yet. can't he just send a letter to the client asking him to remit payment within 30 days to avoid being sent to collections? if it works the same way there as it does in the us, that usually scares people into paying.

send him a picture of his daughter alongside the bill

Originally posted by: jessica i don't even think you need to contact an attorney yet. can't he just send a letter to the client asking him to remit payment within 30 days to avoid being sent to collections? if it works the same way there as it does in the us, that usually scares people into paying.

I find it quite bizar they didn't pay him the catalogue and the rest they did. Like i said, it's also a client of mine and we don't have problems with them.

But that letter thing doesn't work in Belgium, he already send some and basically the only thing what works here is going to court. When they do he will get paid in about 2.5 years, court is so damn slow over here.

Only thing that taking to court thing can do is a settlement before they actually go to court.

I think he could put the site offline though, even if the invoice has been paid here in Belgium. Not sure though. We have a telecom company here which do digital TV, internet, cellphone, telephone,... and i forgot to pay an invoice once for digital TV and all the rest was paid, even the next month invoice for the digital TV and they put all offline (TV, internet, phone). I paid the bill but complained about it and they said all was legal.

Oh well, we'll see what will happen.

What's his contract say?

ah, well... what i have done in a similar situation—client was slow on paying but continuing to request new work)—is kind of what papaya mentioned. no more work until all outstanding bills are paid. that usually worked with my client because they needed the new work, so i would always get paid immediately after i stopped working. that was always after 90 or 120 days though.

i think what your friend (and you) need to ask yourself is if you want to continue the professional relationship, and then act accordingly.

Originally posted by: jessica i think what your friend (and you) need to ask yourself is if you want to continue the professional relationship, and then act accordingly.

I always get payed or they don't get their stuff I'm also not gonna mingle in this, i was always paid.

Guess he needs to decide if he still wants this client. I probably don't know all so...

In my particular situation, my only leverage was taking the site down temporarily until a check was put in my hands. That was useful, however it was really the client calling the agency and telling them they had to pay me asap or the client would be pulling their contract.

So other businesses/vendors sticking up for your friend might do a lot to help get his client to pay. I don't know how things work over on your side of the pond, but there's wiggle room over here to get businesses to act with integrity without having to worry about an impending lawsuit. I wouldn't call it blackmail, either, just calling a bastard client on their bullshit. "Hey, pay this dude - what's wrong with you?" can really go a long way towards getting results.

What about a cease and desist letter? Since he's not been paid, the catalogs is his property, and they're distributing without his consent. If they can't distribute their catalogs they'll pay up very quickly/

Originally posted by: dashiel ianal and belgium

Please tell me that ianal is the new country where all the mac fanboys will be sent.

ianal in belgium