Website work no pay... small claims court?

Question

I do freelance web design, and this is a new problem for me. I usually know my clients very well, but this time I took a referal from an old coworker. I met with the person, and did quite a bit of work on their site. Now the time has come to get paid, and I haven't heard from my "client" since I emailed him the bill. I tried to email him a few times over a month with no success.

If it was around $100 I'd forget about it, but the bill is about $450 (which we discussed prior to me starting). I have all of this guys site content, so that isn't the issue. The main issue is all the time I worked on his site, which was a lot.

Since we had a verbal agreement and I have lots of back and forth emails between us about the site, should I take him to small claims court? Do I wait and see if he ever gets back to me? I don't know what to do... argh!

Answer 1

First of all I'd recommend you come up with a contract for clients. Right now you are using verbal agreements and emails as you said above. That will hold up to some degree but to put everything in writing and having your client sign a contract with you before the job ensures your payment one way or another. The emails will hold up in small claims court but you may end up with less than your bill states because you did not have a solid written contract with your client. In the end the it will be your word against his with the emails swaying it your way. Though again, get agreements in writing to have a record of the transaction. With that situations like this will be very easy to resolve without alot of hassle and "he said, she said". Good luck and next time get it in writing.

Answer 2

As mentioned before - you should always have a contract signed with your client. This will also ensure that you only do the work that has been orginally requested.

If any changes or additonal work has been asked for by the client, you can then re examine your original contract and make the additions and costs for your client to agree and sign to.

It may seem like extra work but then at the end when its time to get paid there can be no disagreements - as the client has signed a contract.

I would recommend that you search around the internet or query other freelancers/agencies for examples of contracts that they use. You can easily create a contract template that will only require small additons / changes per client.

Answer 3

Argh is right! Keep his site down until you hear from him. I would give him 30 days.
As far as court unless you are going on principles you are going to spend more time and money then what it is worth, unless you can get paid for all the time and effort court takes which I do not think you can?.....
Just see it as a lesson learned....Hopefuly he contacts you...