Help! Trouble with payment for web development work
Discussion
Hey guys,
Early last year I agreed with a client to develop 2 of their websites (sorry, don't want to give names of the businesses atm), the smallest one of which is finished and up and the other bigger website 99% complete, but trying to get the final bit of information out of them has proved very difficult, I tried most of last year to get it all tied up but everything was slow.
The details of the job and costing was all agreed and signed for, no problems, bulk of the work was done to the agreed time and I kept in touch to let them know how it was all progressing.
I have recently spoke to a director and he says he was unaware of a website being developed for either of the businesses and has said he doesn't need the website (thanks for that, why wasn't I told before it was all agreed???). Now I've agreed it all, and had it signed for from the beginning by someone of authority, and didn't know that I had to deal with this director, I was never told and the development of the site went smoothly up until the final bit.
Basically, I have now had enough and the person who I have been dealing with for both sites has not responded to my emails or calls even when asked by one of the directors, I've been trying to arrange a meeting to get everything tied up so I can invoice them, but he hasn't been forthcoming. For the larger site, the director has apologised and tried to be a bit 'friendly' and said that "the business isn't in the right financial position to go ahead with the website" but according to other sources they have just registered for VAT and are doing well. Sounds to me that he just doesn't want to pay for the 100 odd hours that we put into the website!!
What should I do now? I feel I should just invoice them for both jobs and then wait the 14 days for payment, then chase them, if still nothing, should I look at going further and taking it to a small claims court? I can't see that I'm in the wrong when its all been agreed ages ago and their the ones causing the problems!
As I say, I have a signed agreement with costs, and plenty of email correspondence between me and them, and also a witness who I dealt with during development.
Cheers for any advice.
James
Early last year I agreed with a client to develop 2 of their websites (sorry, don't want to give names of the businesses atm), the smallest one of which is finished and up and the other bigger website 99% complete, but trying to get the final bit of information out of them has proved very difficult, I tried most of last year to get it all tied up but everything was slow.
The details of the job and costing was all agreed and signed for, no problems, bulk of the work was done to the agreed time and I kept in touch to let them know how it was all progressing.
I have recently spoke to a director and he says he was unaware of a website being developed for either of the businesses and has said he doesn't need the website (thanks for that, why wasn't I told before it was all agreed???). Now I've agreed it all, and had it signed for from the beginning by someone of authority, and didn't know that I had to deal with this director, I was never told and the development of the site went smoothly up until the final bit.
Basically, I have now had enough and the person who I have been dealing with for both sites has not responded to my emails or calls even when asked by one of the directors, I've been trying to arrange a meeting to get everything tied up so I can invoice them, but he hasn't been forthcoming. For the larger site, the director has apologised and tried to be a bit 'friendly' and said that "the business isn't in the right financial position to go ahead with the website" but according to other sources they have just registered for VAT and are doing well. Sounds to me that he just doesn't want to pay for the 100 odd hours that we put into the website!!
What should I do now? I feel I should just invoice them for both jobs and then wait the 14 days for payment, then chase them, if still nothing, should I look at going further and taking it to a small claims court? I can't see that I'm in the wrong when its all been agreed ages ago and their the ones causing the problems!
As I say, I have a signed agreement with costs, and plenty of email correspondence between me and them, and also a witness who I dealt with during development.
Cheers for any advice.
James
Cheers for the advice, will send them an invoice and get the ball rolling.
One thing I didn't make clear about is that the larger of the 2 websites isn't up and live as it was awaiting the final finishing touches before the final launch... but this does mean that all the hard work was already done!
It was hosted for development purposes so they could access it and make sure everything was fine (which they were encouraged to do on more than 1 occassion!) but as this has been going on so long the hosting has now expired and we won't renew until they give us an idea of what they want us to do (another reason for trying to contact them). However, we can host it locally and give access to it that way for development and we have suggested this.
Cheers
James
One thing I didn't make clear about is that the larger of the 2 websites isn't up and live as it was awaiting the final finishing touches before the final launch... but this does mean that all the hard work was already done!
It was hosted for development purposes so they could access it and make sure everything was fine (which they were encouraged to do on more than 1 occassion!) but as this has been going on so long the hosting has now expired and we won't renew until they give us an idea of what they want us to do (another reason for trying to contact them). However, we can host it locally and give access to it that way for development and we have suggested this.
Cheers
James
Edited by SlimJ on Wednesday 28th March 23:11
Cheers for the advice Justin, thats really useful! 
Had a reply back from an email I sent, but this wasn't helpful at all, basically saying its nothing to do with him now/he's too busy/he's not involved with it... just excuses and trying to wriggle out of paying at a guess. I think they are hoping I will just 'go away' and forget about asking for payment... but I don't think I'll be doing that!
I agree about negotiating payment terms, I'm quite happy to do that, as long as I get what I'm owed for the work produced in good time.
They no longer want the website so I don't know if saying to them "Give me the final finishing touches and I'll complete the site for you" will get anywhere, although I'm still very happy to complete the website but as it has gone on for so long without any input from them (even though I've asked many times) you can understand why I no longer want to chase and just want to be paid for the work done.
I have sent another email today stating I'm invoicing them for the work, and detailed clearly why I'm doing this even though the site isn't complete (as the Director said "No, we dont want it"
. IMO, I can't see a way they would be able to wriggle out of not paying up.
Cheers
James
Had a reply back from an email I sent, but this wasn't helpful at all, basically saying its nothing to do with him now/he's too busy/he's not involved with it... just excuses and trying to wriggle out of paying at a guess. I think they are hoping I will just 'go away' and forget about asking for payment... but I don't think I'll be doing that!
I agree about negotiating payment terms, I'm quite happy to do that, as long as I get what I'm owed for the work produced in good time.
They no longer want the website so I don't know if saying to them "Give me the final finishing touches and I'll complete the site for you" will get anywhere, although I'm still very happy to complete the website but as it has gone on for so long without any input from them (even though I've asked many times) you can understand why I no longer want to chase and just want to be paid for the work done.
I have sent another email today stating I'm invoicing them for the work, and detailed clearly why I'm doing this even though the site isn't complete (as the Director said "No, we dont want it"
. IMO, I can't see a way they would be able to wriggle out of not paying up. Cheers
James
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff