If you are new to freelancing, Sometimes you have to face a couple of frustrating moments in your career. This is a sad reality. One of the most frustrating situations of this is that it will all too often present itself in the form of a client who refuses your payment for your design services when all of the design work has been completed.
You may also take a look at our past articles;
- Poster Series of What Design Client Demands : Good Quick Cheap
- 9 Excuses of Design Clients Who Don’t Want to Pay
- As a Freelancer How to Say No to Client and Refuse Bad Projects
- How a smart designer completely Rock their client in first meeting
How to Deal With Clients Who Refuse To Pay
So how do you handle these kinds of situations?
1. Never, ever again, work without a contract
In the proposal, One standard safeguard is a comprehensive project contract. This sets up a payment structure that usually prevents an unfavorable outcome, or at least prevents the client from withholding full payment for whatever reason. Use the language and structures that most contracts follow. Most contracts call for a deposit at the beginning and partial payment at various stages of the project. But this is not always preferred by the client, or even occasionally by the freelancer.
Make sure you have a solid contract that is very specific, ensuring that there are late fee ramifications and legal fee clauses.
2. Don’t forget to follow-up
If your invoice hasn’t been paid by the agreed-upon deadline, don’t hesitate to send an email to Client. Make sure you keep it friendly but firm. If your Client not responding to you, don’t be afraid to change your tone. No matter how frustrated you might be, it’s important to keep your tone professional and laser-focused on finding a solution to the issue as soon as possible.
3. Don’t just give up, be active
It’s no fun to have to involve third parties in your business, but if you aren’t getting paid it might be your best bet.
After following up on your own, there are a few things that can be done before resorting to small claims court
4.Don’t put them on social media blast
I know you might be tempted to conduct a public shaming, but don’t. It’s always better to take the high road in these cases. Remember, you have other clients who are watching how you do business, and you never want to make a bad impression. Keep it professional and classy.
5. Get a lawyer
Hopefully, this will be the last resort. If you haven’t gotten anywhere with collecting your payment, it’s time to get legal assistance
How did you deal with a non-paying client? Would you do the same again?