[TYPO3-english] LATE / NO PAYMENTS - how to deal with it

[Virgil Huston]

Hey Andi,

We get a deposit up front and ,depending on how long the projects is, maybe
some payments every month when we reach certain milestones. For shorter
projects, a deposit before we begin work and a final payment on delivery.
Your contract should also say that you own all rights to the project until
paid in full and clients must sign the contract. I think there has to be
mutual trust between client and agency/developer. Over time, you can tell
the types of people/projects you want to stay away from. In my experience,
individual entrepreneurs can be the worst, which is why I prefer working
with companies. When you get one of these potential problem clients, require
a very large deposit. If they don't like it, then just walk away. It is hard
to turn down business, but sometimes it is the best way to go.

Cheers,
Virgil

On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 12:28 AM, Andreas Becker <ab.becker at web.de> wrote:

> >
> > Hmm Ok it seems here is the right place to discuss it as nobody had a
> > better idea WHERE to discuss this important Theme
>
>
> As a developer we are sometimes facing the problem that customers are
> paying
> there fees late or even that they are not paying at all.
>
> In our Usergroup we had a discussion about this as it affects especially
> smaller developers which can only handle client by client more or less than
> bigger agencies which have employees and can "substitude" a non or late
> payed periode with other client works.
>
> What are your experiences with it and how do you deal with it?
>
> We discovered also that US clients seem to be best payers at all as many in
> our group had similar experiences. In Europe the moral of paying ontime
> seems to be the weekest on the other side.
>
> Does anyone have an idea why this is like this?
>
> TYPO3 offers several ways to actually ensure to get your payment or the
> customer don't get a site, but most likely already you have spent lots of
> time and effort in it. Some agencies and also developers meanwhile work
> only
> when they receive at least 50% prepayment, some even ask for 75% especially
> for smaller projects. Only a few seem to use escrow or dealing with tools
> like odesk, elance, and so on. They seem to be pretty expensive and not so
> effective. Good critics came for freshbooks which quite a lot use for
> timetrack and charge their clients.
>
> What are your experiences with prepayments or time accounts (prepaid man
> hours which customers can buy and than use)?
> What are your experiences with Tools like Odesk, elance, ..., freshbooks?
> Which tools are you using or do you recommend?
>
> Some agencies are developing on their own server and the client gets his
> site when it is finished. Others develop sites on live servers where the
> client has also access and can actually see and even participate in the
> developing process from the beginning. If these servers are belonging to
> the
> client it is often quite difficult to secure his own work if the payment
> does not proceed. On your own live servers you could i.e. deactivate any
> import/export, functionality for the customer.
>
> There are some extensions which enable you to host i.e. your TS on your
> server - has anyone experiences with it? I guess it will slow down the site
> loading a lot - on the other hand the customer would have the
> blank skeleton with his content and you would have the blood to get the
> site
> running ;-)
>
> What are your suggestions? How do you ensure that your work stays your work
> until it has been finished even on a live or often also on a shared host of
> the customer?
>
> There might be some more ideas out there which we would like to discuss and
> perhaps think about developing some tools or ways how to improve it.
>
> I am looking forward hearing from you!
>
> Andi
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-- 
Virgil Huston
COO, Acqal Corporation - Official TYPO3 Agency for Support, Training, and
Website Migration
+1 (866) 924-8645 * +1 (404) 963-8850 x101 * Fax +1 (866) 275-7385
Read more at www.Acqal.com/blog