Writers – What It Means When Your Client Refuses to Pay?

Feb 2, 2011
Cherie Burbach

Writers Should Contact Clients to Get Paid on Time - John Ridley

As a freelancer, getting steady, paying clients is key to maintaining your business. But what if one refuses to pay at some point? How should you proceed?

A client that balks at some point about your cost usually means that there is an underlying issue of some kind. Here are some possible reasons, along with solutions on what you can do going forward to ensure you get paid for your time.

Client Didn't Understand Terms of Agreement and Payment

Sometimes a client is in a hurry to get a project completed and quite frankly doesn't understand the terms you both agreed on. A client may, for example, think he is required to pay at the end of a project when you have stated on your invoice that you need a certain amount down in order to even start the project.

On rare occasions a client may think that you only get paid if your post or article gets a certain number of Tweets or Facebook likes. Or, conversely, think that social media work is automatically a part of your writing output.

To make sure you get paid from these types of clients, take extra time to go over the terms of your agreement. Sometimes clients are new to hiring freelancers and don't understand how the arrangement should work. Other times, their project deadline is coming up so fast they aren't paying attention to the terms of your contract. A few extra minutes (or even hours) before you begin work will save you time on the collection end later.

Client Wasn't Happy With Your Work

Sometimes clients have a hard time articulating their needs, and then become disappointed at the end result and refuse to pay. When a client tells you the work isn't what they wanted, go over your agreed on terms with him to show him that you did the work required. If you didn't deliver, the client has a right to have you revise at your cost.

If, however, you did exactly what was asked, you need to talk to the client about what exactly he is unhappy with. Did he have an expectation he didn't articulate? Did he assume part of what the end result would be but failed to tell you? Discuss the original terms of the agreement, and if revision needs to be done, you should get paid for your extra work.

To avoid this type of issue in the future, make sure you include a revision clause in your agreement. This type of verbiage will allow the client a number of revisions (two is common) included in the original cost estimate. This way the client can get what he wants and you get paid for your time.

The Project Cost More Than the Client Expected

Sometimes clients do not understand how long a project really takes to complete. Clients may think that an article takes minutes, when in fact it can take hours. Add in time to look for photos, hype it on social networking, or revise it, and a project that "should just take minutes" can end up costing a lot more.

While a hard and fast estimate may not be possible for a project, writers should try to give clients an idea of how long certain projects can take. If possible, writers should pull up previous and similar projects as an example. It's important to explain that researching, writing, and revising takes time for a quality project.