When do you collect the remaining 10%? :) (30% + 30% + 30% = 90%)

Two things:

1). The due date should have been defined in the contract (You DID have a contract, right?:-) with the client.

2). 10% may be a little weak to know if a potential client is serious enough. I usually set up the following payment system:

- 30% up front (this tells me the client is DEFINITELY serious)
- 30% in the middle of the project (to make sure we are going down the right path)
- 30% at the end of the project (Project Completed according to the contract/spec)

Everything should have been defined in your proposal to the client. When you don’t have anything in writing, the sky is the limit.

Hope this helps.
Jonathan Danylko

When I finally did get hold of him a few weeks ago, he told me that he’d lost his phone and all his contacts, and that he’d had some big family events (including a wedding) that had kept him tied up. Once again, he assured me that he wanted to get the project finished. But as with the last time he told me this, he didn’t give me a list of what still needed doing, and once again I’ve hardly heard from him in weeks.

I’m particularly worried, because I only charged 10% upfront, and at this rate, I don’t know if I’ll ever see the full amount that I’m owed. Maybe I should change my policy, and start charging 50% upfront, like most people seem to be doing.

Two so far — one disappeared after paying half up front and the work was completed. Yep, he promised and promised and promised to pay but two years later — nada.

The second I flew to Australia to meet and work with (from Russia) — he promised to pay for the airfare and expenses but the day I was leaving he came up with the “I’ll send it to you when you get back” story and never paid.

If I were working for any other company in Australia — I’d get 100% up front or never work one dollar beyond what was paid in advance.

US customers are generally no problem — their legal system has plenty of shark laywers to keep clients moving unless they are bankrupt.

When a client disappears, don’t say or do anything drastic until you have the facts. Keep delivering. Assume the best. Be professional in your correspondence. And don’t let your brain and its crazy negative thoughts make you do something stupid.

well, thats some sound advice. :) but sometimes the wait may last forever. at my last job, I was handling a website for a client with whom the only communication methods we had were phone/fax or email since he was from another country. now that client paid 50% advance before starting the project, okayed the design & specs etc. & we were going on full steam. As per our work-policies, we sent links to him to show off some new sections & stuff & the working features, but got no reply. no phone calls were returned, no emails, so after a week of futile attempts to contact him, we put the project on hold. now its been more than 17 months, I’m no longer with my last company, but I still know for a fact that that client hasn’t called back yet. so it has been assumed that either he’s no longer interested in the project or his company has gone bankrupt. that website’s still lying there on my ex-company’s intranet server, unfinished & orphaned!!