The ex-client!

[Angie]

Hello everyone I am new to this forum and really need some advice, can you help?

Up until the beginning of this year I was freelancing for a small print company, everything was on a casual basis so no formal contracts or anything. The first invoice I sent was paid with no problems but all subsequent invoices were ignored and they then decided they were not going to pay for the work they had requested, even though they had received all the high res files etc.... (It all became very embarrassing as I was introduced to these guys through a friend!)

Anyway to cut a very long story short I eventually managed to get just over half of the money owed to me, and from that point on have decided for obvious reasons not to take on anymore work from this company.

Yesterday to my amazement they have emailed me requesting that I resend some artwork files as they have managed to lose there copies!!! I personally think this request is outrageous, but I am worried about there request, because I am not sure if I am legally obliged to resend them these lost files or not?

Can anyone help?

Thanking you all in advance!
Angie

[djb]

I would have a couple of beers/G&Ts/vodkas to gather some dutch courage and then send them back an email politely (or impolitely - up to you) suggesting they pay you what they owe you before you will give them anything. If these artwork files form part of a job they have paid you for then they would have a (very small) leg to stand on in asking for the files (I think), but would have to take you to court to get anywhere... at which point you would take them to court for the money owed.

That's my take on it... I would wait for some more comments before you take my advice though!!

PS: Don't listen to them if they promise the owed money if you give them the files. It'll be a lie so get the money first.

[emmacowley]

In short, nope!

There was no contract, which exists both to protect yourself, and the client by making clear what each party can expect to receive from the exchange, and so that if one party reneges on the agreement, legal proceedings can be taken if necessary. Which is why you must ALWAYS insist on a proper contract, even if it's just a casual arrangement. You are not being pushy or overly formal to do so, it is in the best interest of both parties. But I expect you've heard all that before, and when you're freelance you're bound to be screwed at least once :)

As there is no contract, you are not obliged to do anything (just as they had no formal promise to pay you, so wriggled out of doing so quite easily). They failed to pay you for work that you did in good faith, and betrayed your trust. So unless you have a very strong reason for remaining on good terms with the company, just tell them to get lost. Or offer to re-send them the files after you receive the rest of the money they promised you (as in, the cheque is cleared and in your account, and not before!)

If they start being rude, ignore them and move on. It's not worth doing business with people that have no respect for you and your hard work. Hope that helps!

[CYoung]

Let us know how you get on, but in future take deposit or full amount beforehand. I larnt this a few months ago and I'll never start work without some sort of payment, because unfortunately there are people out there who will happily do you out of a few hundred, if not thousand pounds if they can do it.

[Angie]

Thank you so much for your advice it is really very much appreciated!

On a positive note the one thing I have gained from this experience, is I have learnt some really valuable lessons (the hard way), and I certainly don't intend on making the same mistakes again!! Going freelance after years of working as a in-house designer is certainly a huge learning curve.

I have decided to take your advice and not send them anything, so I will keep you posted on what happens next, I am kind of hoping that they will just crawl back under the rock they came out from!

Another positive is discovering this Graphic Design forum and I am looking forward to utilising it a lot more and maybe being able to help someone too.

Anyway thanks once again for taking the time to reply and I will try to be more careful next time!

[this_is_peter]

I have been in this position before and its not very nice.

As a rule of thumb now I take 50% upfront and the final 50 before delivery of the final artwork. All my PDF proofs are watermarked as passwords can be hacked.

Generally if a client is trustworthy enough they are happy to pay the deposit.

Obviously in a tough climate the last thing you want to do is lose work over asking for funding up front. But believe me there will be more people wanting to do that to you, than you do to them.

[john watters]

Hi Angie.

We all learn bitter lessons in this business, but I would (if you haven't done anything yet) wait until they
contact you again with the same request and write a small story based on somebody needing something that
they have not paid for...maybe farm animal story or similar and make a pointed outcome that can be taken
from your story that suggests what goes around comes around. Suggest that they may wish to pay outstanding
amounts and you will be more than happy to send 2 disks incase they unfortunately lose one.

Then a little about professionalism and honesty (if you like). Nothing ventured...

John

[Dave L]

The potentially sticky bit as I see it is that you've taken half the money, and the follow-up question is: did you take that half as a settlement? I know you won't have been happy with it but was it accepted as final payment for the job? If you're still in dispute over payment (i.e. you maintain that you haven't been paid for the work done) then, as has been suggested, invite them to meet their obligation to you before supplying replacement artwork. At the same time, though, I'd view replacing lost artwork as something you'd do as a courtesy (i.e. there's no real requirement for you to take the time to do it without additional payment) ... and why would you do that?

[Ian Bonner]

The problem I see is that you accepted half the money and didn't pursue it anymore. If you had complained that they still owed you half then you may have had a valid comeback in regards to their request.

One of the lessons is to always take a severance fee before you undertake any work. In that case you would have taken say 25 - 50% of the agreed fee and you would have only been left with the remainder to chase, which probably would have resulted in the half you took, making up the full payment.

Once a client has paid the severance fee before you do any work it normally means they have committed themselves and entered into a contract. In your case you had already done the work so it unfortunately played into their hands. You would have still held the artwork then and could have released it on full payment.

Unfortunately I think you'll have to take it on the chin and accept its one of them learn from moments. We've all been there I'm afraid and once bitten...

[Dave L]

The problem I see is that you accepted half the money and didn't pursue it anymore. If you had complained that they still owed you half then you may have had a valid comeback in regards to their request...

Even if it is established that she was paid, she was paid for the work she did, which included supply of the artwork; if they've lost it, she's under no obligation to re-supply (this is where it would have been in their interests to have an agreement in place). If it were me, I'd tell them I didn't retain a copy after the originals had been handed over but I could do it again for them at the original cost (there's an important lesson for them in there somewhere).