Stupid Clients don't pay, then what?

RonaldS

New member
Jun 17, 2010
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So, I need to rant...



I wrote for this guy called parvez on wf and well he wanted me to write daily articles for around 40 days. We had agreed on payment every 15 days. On the fifteenth day he says that he will pay at the end of the entire 40 days. I was like WTF, send me my damn payment now! He says that he will be able to pay me once Google news accepts his site (go figure man. Apparently he thinks that Google news will pay him or that some dude on the internet will shell out 1000$ for a wordpress site... I lol’d)
Right, anyway he says that he doesn’t have any money in PP and that he can pay me only after Google accepts the site. Naturally I told him to send me the payment for 15 days before I continue writing further. So now it is like 5 days after the fifteenth day and he says it would be best for both of us (go figure again) if I continued to write for him. He owes me around $650, which is quite a lot and preferably I would like to be paid for it before I write again for him. He says that since I stopped after 15 days, Google news might not accept his site. (BTW he has been into seo for a year now and has absolutely no bloody clue as to what Google really wants which can be seen from the fact that he expects to earn around $700 from AdSense in a month from 2 sites..... even I know better than that!)
So what do I do now? He keeps ignoring my mails and if he does reply, all he says is that it would be best for both of us if I write again, but still no payment.
I guess that a ban would be in order, but my real question is aint it best to charge upfront and are clients willing to pay, even for daily content? I previously had a client whom I wrote daily content for and he paid me well (a bit late around a month later.., but quite well) So naturally I never charged upfront for this job either.
 


always get paid first, at least 50% if not 100%

you aren't doing anyone any extra service by not getting your money first. they have to pay you either way, the advantage for you is you get to weed out the losers
 
Chalk it up as a learning experience and move on. Find new clients and charge them up front. I've never worked with a copywriter who would work for free for 15 days.
 
Unless they are a long-term client, no one gets anything from me without at least 50% down. Even then, I still usually require it.

Don't write another word until you get paid. From the looks of it, the dude is a jackass anyway. Your time would be much better spent looking for a new client.
 
Agree with the other posters, use this as a learning experience. Honestly almost everyone who freelances has been burned in one way or another, just use the experience to make sure you are better protected in future deals.
 
Why not just post all of the content you have written for him for free?

upload it all into a .zip file and go post it on WaFo, DP, & BHW.

THEN

upload the articles to EZineArticles.com and etc. all of the article websites.

make it useless for him.
 
You have to pay to play

Unless there was a strong referral or you personnaly know this guy is not full of shit. You must throw him in the BUCKET yesterday!

Dont let this guy toss you around like that... You should put him out on blast... Let the world know he is a scammer!
 
Why not just post all of the content you have written for him for free?

upload it all into a .zip file and go post it on WaFo, DP, & BHW.

THEN

upload the articles to EZineArticles.com and etc. all of the article websites.

make it useless for him.

lol, nice.
 
Why not just post all of the content you have written for him for free?

upload it all into a .zip file and go post it on WaFo, DP, & BHW.

THEN

upload the articles to EZineArticles.com and etc. all of the article websites.

make it useless for him.
I agree with you 100%... That way this guy can not use his writing as if it were his own
 
Don't waste your time worrying about this. 99% chance you've already been screwed, move on.

Definitely don't write anymore content for him.

And I agree with the posting his content, I would go to him and tell him that he either pays you now, or you're screwing up his content. Have an honest conversation with him, if he doesn't have the money, maybe he has half the money, negotiate with him to see if you can get anything...
 
yeah all the above comments are good, combine then like this: tell him he is immediately suspended from receiving any more work until a payment is made. the give him a 3 say deadline and day if it is not paid you will release the articles as stated above, because ultimately it's best if he pays you. and as said above, chalk it up as exp and next time get something down.
 
Well I think the best thing to do is to make the content useless for him. I shall post it up else where. I already had an honest conversation with the guy on the fifteenth day and when he told me to tell him 'how much you think I will earn from google adsense?' I knew I was dealing with a douche.

The problem is that google might have already approved his content or so as it is past the fifteenth day.

Also do you really think clients will pay upfront for daily work? I normally thought they pay at the end of the month or twice a month... If I charge upfront, it might safeguard me, but might cost me some clients....
 
Give us some more info about this guy so we avoid doing business with him... give us a link to his profile.

But frankly man it's your fault, why would you work for free for some random guy you met on a forum? I always require full payments right from the start. The only moments I accept billing after work is done is when I'm dealing with an established member, a friend or a renowned organization.
 
have your attorney call them and politely inform them that if they don't pay their bills they will unfortunately be facing a much more expensive legal battle.
 
The guy is a dick, no doubt about it.
But I would point out the worth of a GN site. It will easily get $1000-$3000 on Flippa with little to no earnings. Chuck in a few months solid earnings at will get well north of those figures. Not that I'd pay, as there is no guarantee that a GN approved site will remain approved, as many have found out to their cost.

As for making $700 in a month, I made near $5500 in a month with Adsense on my first GN site. But I got lucky and struck the right niche, timed with nationwide events happening at the time.
 
Why not just post all of the content you have written for him for free?

upload it all into a .zip file and go post it on WaFo, DP, & BHW.

THEN

upload the articles to EZineArticles.com and etc. all of the article websites.

make it useless for him.

Good idea, if you want to waste even more of your time. Or you can cut your losses and forget about this schmuck.

Sounds like one of those cases where every additional second (starting right now) that you spend thinking about it is a second wasted.
 
Personally, I don't think revenge tactics are worth it unless you already have liability mitigation tactics in play and a good lawyer you can afford to pay. For $650, that's probably not going to be the case. Doesn't matter how much of a scumbag someone was to you, if you give them any reason to sue you could still end up having to deal with a lawsuit that isn't worth it.

Best plan is to learn from your mistakes and never put yourself into a position of weakness with clients again. Give parvez bad rep and now people know not to deal with him.