Client Seems to be Avoiding Completion of Work

If im reading this right - this chap has paid you but wont commit now to the final design?

If thats the case i would sit back and wait for him to call you. If you are owed money i would simply send him an invoice for work done to date and state that further work will be commenced on further payment & confirmation on what exactly he wants. If you cant complete the contract without his input then i really dont know what else you can do.

As long as you have set all this in writing to him then surely he cant come after you for breach of contract?

If ive totally missed the points - its Monday & been a long day lol

I'm with garde on this one.

As long as he's paid in full and you aren't owed any monies, I don't see any reason for you to be chasing him for feedback - he obviously isn't desperate for the work and the money that he's paid out can't have made that much of an impact on his finances.

I do understand from the point of view that if you've quoted for the job on a per hour basis, with reliance upon him to provide input into the project to be completed and it's being dragged out, but even if you've based the quote around 10 hours of work, it shouldn't make a difference whether this is carried out in one week or one year, as long as it's not you who is causing the delay.

Give a time to cut off, politely but firmly.

Had this a few times when I was starting out too, now I have feedback and contents time cutoff in my terms, not something I ever want to use, but have used terms as a reminder on 2 occasions, if you do not have terms stating these things, there is nothing for the customer to work with. Just take it as a lesson that will help you improve your business and add more professionally to it.

If DFS didn't have you sign a contract, you could pay them whenever you felt like it . . .

I don't usually suffer with this but had a flurry of late.

As a result I have improved my terms to be much more precise about completion dates, and yes they all pay up front anyway. However many months down the line I may have a rise in my rates so I can't give work priced in 2010 at rates being charged higher sometime in 2011. So that's one point.

My quotation states the completion timeframes for all 3 items, so that in itself is an agreed contract as far as I am concerned.

Additionally, I schedule work to meet completion dates, making sure everyone gets their website on time, with just slight delays sometimes, caused only the client. Therefore if other work that wasn't finished on time, now impacts on my other future projects, then him suddenly coming back say next week, is not good for me. I have no large amounts of spare time in June for example. If it were the other way around clients be on ukbf beating their drum about their web provider not finishinhg on time!

I am quoting for completion timeframes based on work that is already scheduled in for the future, as a priority of course. Once we get started, I have a leniency added on to that of around 2 weeks for general delays, etc. which normally works out just fine.

This guy isn't just saying he is busy, he is simply just not contacting me to discuss it. He didn't say "I'm unexpectedly stacked out with work, can we put it on hold for one month and let's review it then?" in which case I would have agreed.

This is just dragging out and i'm expecting him to suddenly at some point, return and expect to pick up where he left off, as well as expecting a reasonable turnaround and completion time. So I have left it this long (now 3 weeks) waiting for him to make the next move (as suggested above) but I do also need to warn him there is a cut off date that means his delays are unreasonable in any sense.

He can't for instance, go awol on me for 6 months, then just re-appear to finish off. Anyone would expect 'reasonableness' to come into it. I can more than show how many calls I have made, how many chasing emails I have sent, how quick I have replied to him, and so forth, so i'm satsified knowing I have made every effort inso far that I am not getting heavy-handed, or setting any tension by sending formal or harsh/serious sounding emails. However and unfortuantely, very shortly the client will leave me no option but to draw a line in the sand and he will have to decicde.

I have 3 choices as I see it:

1. Do nothing more. The website order has breached the timeframe for completion already and has therefore effectively been cancelled by the client. I would however, like to know how many months over the completion dates, people think to be unreasonable.

2. Give him a revised date for completion that he must adhere to to get the 3 items finished so he doesn't lose out; but this is my final date and anything over this, he would be charged for, or give him the items in the state they stand as of that final date.

3. Keep waiting and do it all as best I can when he does decide to progress it, all at my own expense (impact/cost).

The thing to note is that all he has needed to do thus far is review and feedback on a logo and in what, 2-3 months, he hasn't managed that.

Anyway, lunch over, back to work and will have a think on my next move.

Ok i was close then - To be honest if this was me (im changing my mind slightly) id go for an email stating what you think you need to do.

Something along the lines of we agreed certain dates and you cant complete the work until you have his feedback - explain you have other projects that you want to commence and give him a deadline, say 7 or 14 days from date of email.

I would gently somehow explain what it is you expect from him and that failing to contact you within the time frame would mean that whilst you may be able to continue the work at a later date you could not commit to any set dates. Id also explain that your expecting to increase your rates in the near future and work carried out at a later date could be subject to an increase in your fee. (if that doesn't get his attention nothing will)

If he doesnt come back to you - i really dont see what else you can do but can the project until he comes back to you & then it will be reacting i suppose to whats said - you could always post for some advice then?

I cant believe people are so blas

Thank you, I guess you have said out loud what I am thinking, word for word.

It could also be a personality trait of being indecisive rather than an environmental or circumstantial factor! I would only know that if it carried on through the website design too.... into 2012 at this speed!

But the not knowing, and pointless me guessing what he's thinking, is hard to work around. I'm not going to keep chasing him as it uses up my time and seems to have zero effect anyway. He may reply with a "i'll ring you tomorrow" but then doesn't and goes awol, so pretty much waste of tme replying.

PS He has paid many hundreds, not just a couple. I think I am more concerned than he is!

Think you may have hit the nail on the head

Im guessing you will get a reply within 48 hours - i know damn sure i would

Well I didn't send anything since I posted this thread, and low and behold a letter arrived today containing a disk and some other info and a letter saying he acknowledges the timeframe "has slipped" and he will have to let me fit it in when I can.

It did occur to me that if I cease the chasing he will notice I am not contacting him and then may start to worry about getting his website - enough to prompt him to not leave it too long before contacting me. I hoped that might work and it seems to have.

Good stuff - glad its getting sorted