Following on from last week’s tirade against those who owe me money a comic / irritating incident occurred last Friday evening.
There I am, sitting in the splendor of my home office when I hear the rap of the letterbox. Looking out of the window I spy one of my debtors / clients racing back to a car noisily revving its engine in the street outside my house. A slam of the car door, a crunch of gears and off they roar in a cloud of BMW fueled testosterone-exhaust. And I definitely mean it that way round.
At last, thinks I, payment has been delivered unto me! And off I jolly well trot downstairs to check out the cheque.
Imagine my chagrin then to discover that (a) the cheque only covers the amount of one of the TWO overdue invoices and (b) the cheque is dated 16th APRIL 2007.
My first impression was that I’d effectively been given a worthless bit of paper and therefore still haven’t been properly paid. My second impression was one of deep personal insult. Evidently in terms of settling up their accounts I’m right down the bottom of the list and they obviously feel it’s perfectly acceptable to mess me about.
Now I could pay in the cheque as, given the automated nature of banking these days, they wouldn’t even look at the date… however, if the cheque bounces I incur a fee.
In the larger scheme of things this is only a small thing to gripe about but when I’ve spent the last two months prioritizing their (often tedious) work and meeting their company deadlines in order for them to make money it’s a real kick in the teeth to be treated like this.
To my mind it’s damned unprofessional.
I need to get me some other clients and kick these cowboys into touch.
In the meantime I’ve sent them a rather “cool” email voicing the hope that the rest of the payment will be on its way to me soon.
Does anybody know where I can purchase a horse’s head?
4 comments:
I mentioned your situation to my computer teacher who also designs websites and he was of the same opinion as me. Like me he also is amazed that anyone would not pay promptly when you have access to their website. Ethically you are obviously better than your punter but it doesn't mean to say that you cannot threaten return of services you have provided for non-payment for works done.Ethically you feel that you could not follow through on the threat but if payment is not completely forthcoming then it may be a useful tool.
I hope that your punter pays up promptly.
Time your debtor traded in his BMW in order to pay his bills, methinks!
The horse's head has to come from them, doesn't it? (I assume you're referring to the scene in 'The Godfather'). Gotta find something of theirs that's very valuable, then break it, letting them know it's you, but with no proof; but it has to be a gesture big enough that, thinking you a madman, they'd pay to protect their lives...;-)
Thank you all for the support.
Hmm. Maybe I could decapitate their BMW and leave the engine parts in their beds?
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