what would you do? Problems with a client

[David Chandler-gick]

What should you do?

“On Thursday 8/25/05 I get a letter in the mail telling me to appear in small claims court
on December 7th, 2005, I’m being sued for $700.00”

At this point, you should shut the hell up and do NOT discuss this on a public forum! Once the courts are involved, anything you say here could serve to work against you.

Contact an attorney IMMEDIATELY! Outline what you have stated here without embellishment, and ask if you have grounds for a counter-suit, going after monies owed as well as costs (attorney’s fees, etc.)

It sounds like they took advantage of your ignornace (all the photos for free) – If you had emergant situations, and can provide ample proof, and made a reasonable effort to keep your clients informed and they were okay with this and most work was completed, I can see an argument being made for your side. However, without a written agreement, what actaully happens is anyones guess.

A qualified attorney is your best source of information at this point.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how this ends.

-DJ
David Chandler-Gick
DavidChandler-Gick.com
Event Video COW Moderator
Contributing Editor eventDV magazine

[David Chandler-gick]

One more pitfall: Stay focused. Don’t discuss with anyone but your wife and attorney. The last thing you want to get into is a self-imposed minefield of differing opinions, conjecture and general mis-information.

This is another reason you should avoid requesting public response. None of us (okay, well, maybe 1) are attorneys nor qualified to give you appropriate legal advice no matter how sound and resonable it may seem.

Don’t believe me? Ask your attorney. 🙂

-DJ
David Chandler-Gick
DavidChandler-Gick.com
Event Video COW Moderator
Contributing Editor eventDV magazine

[Tony]

Well part of the issue is you took way to long to deliver the product.

Did you expect the client to wait forever because of your personal and business problems?

But since the client has already paid you and you are actually delivering a product they have to be willing to receive the product and then refuse it on other grounds such as it is unprofessional, does not stand up to what was promised in the contract etc etc.

In small claims court you will have to show that you actually have a product to delivery and offer it as evidence that you have complied with the verbal contract to deliver a finished product.

I hate to say it but the manner in which you delayed delivery of the product would have pissed me off too as a client except I would have never given you as much time as your clients did. You have damaged your reputation as a professional because you cannot deliver within a timely manner. You need to develop a workflow in which you can spit out the products much faster even if that means you have to hire an editor to get the work done.

Good luck in Court – just state the facts and let the judge decide.

Tony Salgado

[Mark Suszko]

Having a lawyer come to small claims with you will likely, win or lose, cost more than the 700 bucks they want from you, so settling may in fact be the best *business* decision.

I do think you should pay between $50 and $150 to consult a lawyer or at least paralegal in his/her office or by phone or e-mail to get some guidance on your odds and if/how to contest it and what to bring/prepare, etc. Small claims is not quite like you see on Judge Wapner’s TV show, but my experience of it was that if you have your paperwork in order and a simple claim that’s proven by facts, and a trail that shows you tried to do the right thing all along, you get a sympathetic hearing. It goes by pretty fast, the cases I saw while waiting, and my case, from swearing-in to ruling and exit paperwork, took an average of five minutes per case. But nobody is going to hold you by the hand and walk you thru the process, pro se court means DIY, and you are expected to have done all your own homework. Sometimes the court clerk’s office has some resources they can point you to, or you can bone up at the library or online.

My obervation as an ex-event video guy is, while everybody is sympathetic with your medical emergency situation, a business deal is a deal, and if you are suddenly incapacitated and can’t deliver as contracted, you need to be able to refer the work off to a trusted peer, and be ready to take the financial hit for having to sub it out, or you have to efund the money. If you charged a realistic price for your level of service (which from your description, sounds like you lowballed yourself), your financial hit after referring the job would have been less, maybe not a profit, but maybe a break-even. But good referrals have a way of paying you back over time, a successful long-term events person builds a network of people he can lean on, andthat can lean on him as needed; you generate more business between you than if you only were competitors.

I think since they agreed to give you an extension, you might have some luck in court showing you did after all deliver the product. But you should ask a real lawyer.