adding insult to the injury: "Not read: Fwd: Re: XXXXX - missing the paperwork"
Thread poster: Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Germany
Local time: 08:02
Member (2004)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Mar 23, 2018

... feedback from an agent to a polite post re "can I have a PO to be able to charge"

background: did a short-term job for the client, delivered it, then wanted to charge, but then , er, oops, "missing the paperwork". Wrote the agent asking for the PO. No reaction. Except the message mentioned in the subj line, 3 months after the fact: somebody (probably the client's mailing system) decided to empty his/her garbage can.

I do not think this is anything personal. I see
... See more
... feedback from an agent to a polite post re "can I have a PO to be able to charge"

background: did a short-term job for the client, delivered it, then wanted to charge, but then , er, oops, "missing the paperwork". Wrote the agent asking for the PO. No reaction. Except the message mentioned in the subj line, 3 months after the fact: somebody (probably the client's mailing system) decided to empty his/her garbage can.

I do not think this is anything personal. I see the unpaid cost of 100€ as my education fee. Tthe agency already had received a blue-eye badge from me on the blue board, before this has occurred. But still ... the ignorance of the subject line (distilled: gfy) ranks.

smo
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Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 07:02
Danish to English
+ ...
PO Mar 23, 2018

Why do you insist on a PO after the work is done? It serves no purpose any longer. Have you actually sent them an invoice?

 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 01:02
Dutch to English
+ ...
Email? Mar 24, 2018

I don't quite understand the problem. Did you not at least get an email with the details of the job: deadline, word count, and a request for a quote? If you have their email address, there is no reason why you couldn't simply send them an invoice. There are actually very few clients who send me and actual PO; most just assume that an email is sufficient and I'm fine with that.

 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 07:02
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Please don't just walk away Mar 24, 2018

Vito Smolej wrote:
I see the unpaid cost of 100€ as my education fee.

There are times when we have to pay the price of our own learning, such as when we give a firm quote that ends up providing us with a paltry hourly rate. But that isn't the case here.

Okay, the agence might be one of those juggernaut ones that steamroller their way through relationships with freelancers. They can be horrid business partners. But they MUST pay you for your work.

Obviously we need to remain polite at all times - that's only civilised - but we need not beg for our money, we can demand it. We have a unalienable right to it, a right upheld in any commercial court. So please do the rest of us a favour as well as yourself: send an invoice and expect it to be paid. Otherwise who can blame them for thinking they have a choice in the matter?


Anna Augustin
 
Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Germany
Local time: 08:02
Member (2004)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
SITE LOCALIZER
backdrop of the background Mar 24, 2018

Tina Vonhof wrote:

I don't quite understand the problem. Did you not at least get an email with the details of the job: deadline, word count, and a request for a quote? If you have their email address, there is no reason why you couldn't simply send them an invoice. There are actually very few clients who send me and actual PO; most just assume that an email is sufficient and I'm fine with that.

The email "order" -stemmed from one of the rowers down below the deck - that's where the material has come from and where the work was sent, so to say by hand, not via entry into their beautiful new jobs/orders/invoices system getting introduced.

The Email discussed above went to the responsible product manager. If the PO does not exist and/or "I have nothing to do with it" (Deny, when in doubt), there'll be no invoice. Go ask Kafka for support.

My assumption: they are swimming in a sea of chaos. "We dont need users, we shoot ourselves in the foot all by ourselves."

smo
[edit] Since 2015 I have invoiced the client (and got paid) 1100€. On and off cases. Sapienti sat;)


[urejeno ob 2018-03-24 11:01 GMT]


 
Michael Newton
Michael Newton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:02
Japanese to English
+ ...
missing the paperwork Mar 25, 2018

One more reason not to do business with mega-agencies whose PMs are in Hong Kong, their editors in Mumbai and their accounting office in Ireland.

Anna Augustin
 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:02
French to English
Be practical about this Mar 25, 2018

You have trace of a request to do the job. That order came from someone in the agent's office. You agreed to do the job for the particular price and supplied the work ordered. You have an offer of work, there is acceptance and you supplied the work. There is a clear contractual relationship. A client who fails to pay the agreed amount within the agreed time is in breach of contract. From what you write, the paperwork is not missing.

Send the invoice if you have not done so already.
... See more
You have trace of a request to do the job. That order came from someone in the agent's office. You agreed to do the job for the particular price and supplied the work ordered. You have an offer of work, there is acceptance and you supplied the work. There is a clear contractual relationship. A client who fails to pay the agreed amount within the agreed time is in breach of contract. From what you write, the paperwork is not missing.

Send the invoice if you have not done so already. If you have, then follow the usual steps: send a formal letter saying payment is overdue. In that letter, ask the client to pay you within one week. Explain in the letter that if you do not receive payment within that time, you will take further action.

If you have already taken these steps, then take further action. Use a small claims system. Many countries operate such systems through the courts. These systems are often free or only a minimum cost.

Don't work with them again, and be careful to keep track of all e-mail exchanges in the future. Even if you agree terms over the telephone, never hesitate to confirm the terms by e-mail.
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adding insult to the injury: "Not read: Fwd: Re: XXXXX - missing the paperwork"







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