Ask HN: What to do if client ghosts and won't pay?

If it can be demonstrated that he is using your work elsewhere, he has clearly stolen your services/work-product, and that has got to be a crime in the UK.

If it was more of a consulting arrangement where there is no tangible work-product, you might be in a tough spot. That becomes more of a civil issue (not sure of the UK equivalent).

Depends how much money it is and how important that money is to you.

If it hurts but you'd rather not have the time sink, drama, stress and effort of pursuing it, then drop it with lesson learned.

The second option, appoint a lawyer in England and if they say you have a case then let them pursue it for you.

I would warn you not to get too involved. Legal cases are extremely stressful and occupy a huge amount of head space. Try to just hand it to the lawyers and give minimal thought to it.

I've seen many people become totally obsessed with legal cases and who is right and who is wrong, and they can't think of anything else and alienate themselves from everyone around them because they can think of nothing except the legal fight. Don't do this.

Depending on who the company is, some people choose to make their quest to be paid public in an effort to shame the company into paying. It might work I suppose.

It's also worth just calling and calling and calling until you get to speak to the right people.

I've had clients who intended to pay but were under cashflow pressure and thus ignored me. My relentless calling twice a day eventually got them on the phone, at which point I asked to understand what was going on, and having secured a commitment to pay, I then relentlessly called daily from the day they said they would pay (they usually don't pay on that day). Start leaving detailed messages with every single employee of the company that you can get on the phone saying why you are calling. "Could you please get him to call me back ASAP regarding the unpaid bill of $X. I've left 30 messages and he has not called me back." I also explain to them that this is a small company and this money makes a real and tangible difference to my ability to feed myself and my family and could they please do their cashflow management with bigger companies who can absorb the pain.

And, if you want to play hard as a final resort, let them know you'll be very vocal with their client base and employees with personal phone calls until you get your money. Become such a thorn in their side that they pay to stop being annoyed by you.

Public posts on LinkedIn asking them to call you about the unpaid bill are also an extremely crass but possibly effective mechanism for getting them to sort it out.

Finally, don't be whiny or strident cause you'll sound like a crackpot. Always keep the story straight and bring it back to the certainty that you are owed the money. "We've got clear signed terms here, the work was done, the costs incurred, payment now 130 days past due, there's no reason this should not be paid". Never get angry when communicating with them about it because this will give an excuse to disengage and will lose you the high moral ground... keep monotonously consistently factual and emotionless with your message.

Another option you have is to sell the debt to an english debt collector. I know of one debt collector who employed a well-known former world champion boxer on salary and I have no doubt he made some personal debt collection visits - there's a fine line there but if these people have effectively stolen your money then why not spend 50% of it to make it their problem with an aggressive debt collector.

Is it a small company or large company? Maybe they have gone out of business? What do you think is the reason they have not paid?

I've always worked this way: I'll do the work for you because you need it. I send you an invoice. You pay. I have a client who gets busy and I sometimes I have to remind her to pay me. Usually, she'll need more work done, and that's when I remind her that until she pays her invoice, no more work will be done. She has always paid it. Because to turn to anyone else will require finding someone who actually knows what they are doing.

If you have any thing running in which they rely on you, suspend it in order to get their attention until payment is due. If a large bill is due, and they are having trouble paying it, than offer them to pay X by this date, and another X by this date. If no payment is made to you, than inform them that if they don't pay X by a certain date, they will be terminated and any future work for them will not be considered at all.

If you wish, you can throw in some legal jargon in there that you will be getting a lawyer or proceeding to small claims court, if you wish to take it that far.

UK small claims courts.

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money

You can file your claim online if it's under GBP$100k (~USD$130k). There is a faster/simpler claims process if the amount is under GBP$10k (~USD$13k).

Usually this is enough, however if it gets to the point where they have a court hearing and your presence is required (unlikely), then give someone right of attorney to represent you (eg. friend, lawyer, etc.).

In my experience this is the only useful approach.

By definition an entity that does not pay, is a leech not a client.

My approach is to break down projects into small units of work. Bill upon delivery of each unit and stop further work until it is paid for. Of course, there are some leeches out there who will bluster to get more work done without paying for what has already been delivered. I simply fire any client who becomes too abusive. They are simply not worth the hassle.