Last argument of developers
As you know, war is the last argument of kings. In this topic, I want to highlight such a question as pre-trial and litigation with a reluctant to pay for the developed product / service provided by the client. It is clear that such a "showdown" is the last argument of the developer, it is better not to bring the situation to this, however, there are different cases in life, especially in the current crisis time.
So, you have made a wonderful website, and the client does not want to pay you the money earned by hard work. What to do? In order to develop an action plan, we need to consider what we have at our disposal. Let's start in order.
If there is no contract, then by legal means to receive money from a client who went into denial, you most likely will not succeed at all. All that remains is to put pressure on his conscience, which, unfortunately, is completely atrophied in some. Therefore, we write down the developer's security rule " No contract signed - no work started ." If a client says something like “guys, let's get started, time is running out, then we will swing the contract,” you should be wary, often this is not a good sign that this client will bring problems later. In general, we will not focus on this anymore, to work without a signed agreement is the path to potential problems, this is an elementary truth.
A properly drawn up contract should provide for situations when the client, in order to delay payment, begins to "bewilder": not answer the phone, do not provide information to fill the site, do not give approval to sketches or beta versions, etc. In order to remain a bona fide party in such unpleasant cases, the contract should include clauses limiting the time for performing such actions, for example, something like the following: “The customer is obliged to sign the acceptance certificate of the delivery of work within 3 working days after receiving it or to provide the Contractor substantiated written objections. In case of non-receipt of such objections, the work shall be deemed accepted. ” It is also highly recommended that the payment of the contract be divided into parts so that you do not risk the entire amount of the contract, but only part.
Suppose your contract is good, the reservations mentioned above are there. What to do when the "miracles" began and your client began to "disappear". To begin with, you should write an official letter of approximately the following content: to the
Director of RiK LLC, I. Ivanov
Dear Ivan Ivanovich,
NN / NN / IUUU our company has concluded an agreement with you to develop a website ...
IU / NN / IUUU we have fulfilled our obligations under the agreement, which was informed by the responsible officer of RiK VV Petrov, who was the act of acceptance of work has been transferred. However, until today we have not received an act signed by you, nor payment according to clause IUU of the contract, nor objections to the fact of non-performance of work. We earnestly ask ... (pay us money) ... We
send a letter to the customer with a confirmation of delivery.
Perhaps this will be enough for the client to comb his hair and decide to pay, if not, go to step 4
If the letter did not help, a complaint should be made. To do this, if you do not have a lawyer in the state (as you probably have, otherwise this note would be of little interest to you), you should hire a lawyer. The claim summarizes all our claims and is the last attempt to reason with the defaulter before going to court. Also sent by registered letter with delivery confirmation.
Again, in some cases, after receiving complaints, a bad client understands the seriousness of your intentions and prefers to pay.
So, the case is difficult, the client does not want to pay at all. If you decide to go all the way - a statement of claim is written in the economic (arbitration court), usually at the location of the defendant (legal address). The application, which is also worth assigning to draw up a lawyer, is accompanied by documents confirming that you have completed the work (for example, site sketches, screenshots, intermediate acts signed by the client) and tried to solve the problem of receiving money peacefully, pre-trial way. The lawsuit with the applications goes to court, about a month later a hearing is scheduled, at which your lawyer will prove that you are white and fluffy, and the client is a malicious deadbeat. If your position is confident, and the defaulter is liquid, then most likely the defendant will simply ignore the hearing and probably the court will decide in your favor.
PS My firm opinion is that courts and lawyers are an extreme means, it is better to do without them, but work must be done so that, if necessary, you can resort to this last resort.
Update: moved to the blog "Business Studio", as a more suitable topic
So, you have made a wonderful website, and the client does not want to pay you the money earned by hard work. What to do? In order to develop an action plan, we need to consider what we have at our disposal. Let's start in order.
1. The contract.
If there is no contract, then by legal means to receive money from a client who went into denial, you most likely will not succeed at all. All that remains is to put pressure on his conscience, which, unfortunately, is completely atrophied in some. Therefore, we write down the developer's security rule " No contract signed - no work started ." If a client says something like “guys, let's get started, time is running out, then we will swing the contract,” you should be wary, often this is not a good sign that this client will bring problems later. In general, we will not focus on this anymore, to work without a signed agreement is the path to potential problems, this is an elementary truth.
2. How good is your contract.
A properly drawn up contract should provide for situations when the client, in order to delay payment, begins to "bewilder": not answer the phone, do not provide information to fill the site, do not give approval to sketches or beta versions, etc. In order to remain a bona fide party in such unpleasant cases, the contract should include clauses limiting the time for performing such actions, for example, something like the following: “The customer is obliged to sign the acceptance certificate of the delivery of work within 3 working days after receiving it or to provide the Contractor substantiated written objections. In case of non-receipt of such objections, the work shall be deemed accepted. ” It is also highly recommended that the payment of the contract be divided into parts so that you do not risk the entire amount of the contract, but only part.
3. Write letters.
Suppose your contract is good, the reservations mentioned above are there. What to do when the "miracles" began and your client began to "disappear". To begin with, you should write an official letter of approximately the following content: to the
Director of RiK LLC, I. Ivanov
Dear Ivan Ivanovich,
NN / NN / IUUU our company has concluded an agreement with you to develop a website ...
IU / NN / IUUU we have fulfilled our obligations under the agreement, which was informed by the responsible officer of RiK VV Petrov, who was the act of acceptance of work has been transferred. However, until today we have not received an act signed by you, nor payment according to clause IUU of the contract, nor objections to the fact of non-performance of work. We earnestly ask ... (pay us money) ... We
send a letter to the customer with a confirmation of delivery.
Perhaps this will be enough for the client to comb his hair and decide to pay, if not, go to step 4
4. We have a Claim to you.
If the letter did not help, a complaint should be made. To do this, if you do not have a lawyer in the state (as you probably have, otherwise this note would be of little interest to you), you should hire a lawyer. The claim summarizes all our claims and is the last attempt to reason with the defaulter before going to court. Also sent by registered letter with delivery confirmation.
Again, in some cases, after receiving complaints, a bad client understands the seriousness of your intentions and prefers to pay.
5. The court goes, the statement of claim.
So, the case is difficult, the client does not want to pay at all. If you decide to go all the way - a statement of claim is written in the economic (arbitration court), usually at the location of the defendant (legal address). The application, which is also worth assigning to draw up a lawyer, is accompanied by documents confirming that you have completed the work (for example, site sketches, screenshots, intermediate acts signed by the client) and tried to solve the problem of receiving money peacefully, pre-trial way. The lawsuit with the applications goes to court, about a month later a hearing is scheduled, at which your lawyer will prove that you are white and fluffy, and the client is a malicious deadbeat. If your position is confident, and the defaulter is liquid, then most likely the defendant will simply ignore the hearing and probably the court will decide in your favor.
PS My firm opinion is that courts and lawyers are an extreme means, it is better to do without them, but work must be done so that, if necessary, you can resort to this last resort.
Update: moved to the blog "Business Studio", as a more suitable topic