sullivan leh designs

Follow your gut: sometimes ya gotta sue.

I once had a client named Chet Przygoda of USM Systems (usmsys.com) here in Michigan. When introduced to him I was working with two people I trust. That project went OK even though I didn’t care for working with him very much.

Fast forward and Chet wants some updates. He’d paid on time before, so I accepted the project. For the bit I couldn’t do I hired a programmer to handle that part.

Cue Learning Opportunity.

As you may have guessed, Chet didn’t pay. I got all the excuses – the check is in the mail, is your address correct, all my checks are disappearing, I’m out of town, my secretary quit, I thought it was odd you didn’t cash it yet.

Of course I paid the programmer out of my pocket because that’s what you do when you run a business.

He strung me along for many, many months. I was nice when I added on the late fees and added a big red “OVERDUE” to the invoices. Finally, I took him to small claims court. Chet Przygoda didn’t show and I won. Nothing happened. I followed through on the next step through the court – but nothing happened.

What did I learn?

First – ALWAYS have a written contract. I couldn’t pull down the web pages because I couldn’t prove I’d done work that Chet Przygoda had agreed to pay.

Second – never work with someone you don’t trust or that feels funny. And if that is unavoidable, get a deposit in advance.

Third – do not subcontract work unless paid in advance. Or let the contractor and client come to their own agreement.

Fourth – if you sue, be all over the person used for follow-up collections or that’s just more money wasted.

What now?

This all happened years ago, but it’s a lesson I still work on. The biggest change is how I handle contracts now. There are tons of resources for contracts, but this one is my favorite right now: 24ways.org/2008/contract-killer or the follow-up: stuffandnonsense.co.uk/blog/about/contract_killer_the_next_hit. They’re for web design but can easily be changed to whatever kind of project you’re working on.

These are by Andy Clarke of Stuff and Nonsense. He’s a very well-known web designer/developer with the wonderfully unique ability to speak about complex things in plain english. And best yet, you can download the contract and use under Creative Commons.

Other projects for this client:

More thoughts projects: Grading a logo | picking on the peacock (or, usability fail at nbc.com)

This post was written on a Sunday in August 2010, when I probably should have been working on something else.