Write a Twitter bot and make anyone that mentions that company aware of their tactics.
In some countries that would be Libel.
It isn't libel if its based on a fact...
Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
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Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#22Get a collection agency involved if the outstanding bill is really high, but if you can forgo the payment, tell your friend and friend's of friend privately about the misbehaving company, then just forget about them. You can make more money working with a new company than you would by worrying about this one. It's unfortunate, but that will teach you for the future (like it has to probably every single person who tried freelance consulting before). btw, would appreciate a private message with the name of the Co as well, for future ref ;)
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#23Write a Twitter bot and make anyone that mentions that company aware of their tactics.
In some countries that would be Libel.
Libel is a false statement. Therefore not libel. However they could sue you for "libel" and then you'd lose because they had a bigger budget for lawyers fees.
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#24I expect Australia has a relatively efficient system for settling small claims, assuming you have a reasonably solid paper trail involving signed contracts, dated invoices and evidence of work undertaken. They certainly have decent law firms who should be able to advise on a much more effective way to get noticed and paid than making probably illegal threats involving glassdoor reviews.
There's also likely to be an Australian debt collection agency willing to buy their debt at a substantial discount (again assuming a paper trail) if you've reached a situation where you just want some money for the work done now.
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#25Happened to me too, lost about $350 on one client and $1100 on another. The first one was dissatisfied with my work and kept demanding more and more minute changes to reach even the first milestone (essentially a feature creep issue). The second paid initially but I made the mistake of finishing the work on the promise of a final payment which never came. I just ate it.
The truth of the matter is that loosing a grand and a half to learn the F U pay me principle is probably pretty cheap. What hurts more is the time I lost (6 weeks to the first client, maybe 2 weeks to the second). I was inexperienced and "just wanted to do a good job" and assumed that my contribution had little value and that the clients knew best.
Software development is not a handyman service. Clients can’t just drop someone else into a project and expect it to ever be finished. So a contractor that can actually deliver is rare and his or her skills are in such demand that clients really don’t have the leverage they think they have. I think the myth of the ninja programmer stems from this. An overachieving freelancer that doesn’t charge enough is the holy grail.
So in the end, I think the single biggest problem in contracting today is an information deficit on the part of developers. We forget just how much education we’ve acquired, how few of us are being considered for a contract, how much regular employees are getting paid for similar work, etc. Even now I am almost pathologically incapable of setting my rates correctly and charging the appropriate amount for the hours I’ve worked.
I’ve been thinking lately that we need a set of guidelines that all developers follow, for the good of the whole. Things like charging half up front, refusing to work for free beyond the hours agreed upon and charging say 75-150% of the going rate for the type of work performed. Freelancing sites like eLance and oDesk should track these at least as much as, say, how often a developer responds to job invites. As it stands, I think we are in a race to the bottom and losing our influence day by day until this mobile bubble implodes by decade’s end.
In other words, this nonpayment problem shouldn’t have happened in the first place, because our industry has serious issues that older professions have done a better job of addressing.
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#26Write a Twitter bot and make anyone that mentions that company aware of their tactics.
In some countries that would be Libel.
But not in America.
America even has a law giving that notion teeth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPEECH_Act
> The Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage (SPEECH) Act is a federal statutory law in the United States that makes foreign libel judgments unenforceable in U.S. courts, unless either the legislation applied offers at least as much protection as the U.S. First Amendment (concerning free speech), or the defendant would have been found liable even if the case had been heard under U.S. law.
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#27Australia? You're in luck. Australia has a "Civil and Administrative Tribunal" system for disputes up to $25,000. It can be used entirely on line and by phone. See "http://www.qcat.qld.gov.au/matter-types/debt-disputes/applic.... If there's a hearing, you can request that it be by phone.
I used this once after a problem with freelancer.com. They paid up within hours after filing.
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#28Use facebook.
I frequently make a facebook connection with clients. As a last resort I will post a subtle comment to there facebook page.
Works everytime, and it doesn't cost anything.
I should add that I don't use facebook for anything important myself.
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#29Here are my suggestions (in order):
1. Get the CEO on phone. This worked for me TWICE. If you face the person face to face and tell him that you need the money to operate, odds are he is going to pay.
2. How much can you sabotage him? Can you get/have access to his site/business. Don't tell him that you are going to shutdown the site if he doesn't pay BUT "in case of non-payment, the site might go under-maintenance because of lack of blablabla"
3. See if you can reach some of his friends/clients and if one of them will pressure him to do it. This is very effective if 2 and 1 doesn't work.
4. DMCA notice. If you don't have access to his login/servers, you might want to shutdown the site or a part of it.
Email me if you need help with a cold call.
Re: Ask HN: Handling an international non-paying client
#30Bitcoin.