Teahon-Freelance writer For all writing services and advice.

Non payment, Sorcha Doyle, and a big pile of rubbish

As mentioned previously, it appears I've had my first non paying client.  I feel it is only fair to say at this point, that it was in part my own fault that this has happened, as for some reason to do with being in need of the cash, I failed to protect myself.

To give you the big picture, I responded to a job on Freelancer.co.uk, to write an essay.  The job entailed completing a draft for which I would be paid £100, then a further £100 upon completion.  All sounds fair enough.  Normally, I work for companies which means that one, my contact is not spending or rarely spending their own cash.  Two, I have someone higher up the ladder to talk to if there is no resolution over an issue with my contact.  So far, I have not had cause to do this.

With an individual however, there is no ladder, no chain, and other than the site you obtained the work from, no other point of contact other than the person you are working for.  If that point of contact dries up, you are stuffed!

To surmise, here is a list of the crucial mistakes I made in this instance.

• Failed to obtain full contact details before working on the job.  This was especially important as it was an individual that I had not worked with before.  This leads us to
• Did not use the Escrow system.  To be fair I did kinda need the cash and thought an escrow system would work on a monthly basis.  Saying that, getting £200 at the end of the month is better than nothing at all
• Supplied the work in full without half payment.  There was a deadline involved that I did not want to miss, and thought the client needed the essay ASAP too.

After emailing the client on numerous occassions, I have not managed to get anywhere.  Subsequently, I am going to investigate a website that can find contact details if you submit an email address, and try and pursue the matter through the small claims court. I will keep you posted as to progress.

photo credit: Patrick Hoesly