Should I do this job?
By truthisgod
@truthisgod (106)
India
April 16, 2013 6:42am CST
Dear myLotters,
I am expressing my experience and want to get your valuable opinion on it. I am a freelance writer who works on projects for clients. I have a client with whom I worked last year and she paid me regularly. Recently, a few days back she asked me to do a project for which I delivered the completed work. The system of payment we use is escrow account. Prior to the work she deposits my fees in the escrow account. I was paid for the work as she deposited the fee in the escrow account. After the first work recently for which she made prompt payment, she requested me to do another work and said that she has work for the next 9 weeks but this time she did not deposit the money in advance in the escrow account. My question is should i do her job considering she is more or less a trusted client? But is it right for me to trust her and do the job?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@ayeeesha (1127)
• Philippines
16 Apr 13
Why a sudden change in your arrangement? Maybe you should ask her first about what happened and why there is no deposit in the escrow account yet.
It's much better to trust your instincts. If you feel that this employer is not going to pay you, then just don't accept the job. If you feel otherwise and since she is a trusted client, try to do the job first and if no payment was made, say during the first week, just quit. You don't want to waste your time without getting in return.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
16 Apr 13
Thank you Ayeeesha for your recommendation. I will tell you my experience with another client. She used to send me regular payments to my paypal account after each of the jobs I did. So, I trusted her. Then she asked me to do a huge job (over 200 pounds)I did it, and sent her the completed file. Then guess what? This was her last job for me and she never replied to my emails. I experienced something similar on freelancer. The client selected my bid, asked me to send the work quickly for it was meant to be urgent. I did it under pressure the same day. Guess what? I lost around 30$ for this job. The client did not respond. The support too said they cannot help.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
17 Apr 13
Today I received a response from her. She said that she will make late payment for the next job, that is for a job completed by Tuesday next week, she will pay on Thursday. Still not sure what to do?
@ayeeesha (1127)
• Philippines
17 Apr 13
Why don't you ask for an upfront payment first? At least to assure you that somehow you'll get paid :)
That's the reason why I still prefer oDesk since they indicate whether the client has a verified payment method or how much the client has spent for every contracts. At least before applying for a job, you can check whether the client is paying or not.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
16 Apr 13
Thank you Deepak 2J. I sent a message to the client that I will begin work once I notice the fund in the escrow account, but I haven't heard from her in the last 48 hours.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
17 Apr 13
Today I received two messages from her indicating that for her next job to be done by Tuesday, the payment will be made by Thursday. Still not sure what to do?
@josechukkiri (3014)
• India
16 Apr 13
In my opinion, you should not accept the job unless otherwise, 'she' is not depositing the money in advance.Once 'she' has paid is not a long standing reason for believing 'her'.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
16 Apr 13
Thank you josechukkiri, my past experience in this field definite implies caution. You advice is certainly in my best interest and I honor your opinion.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
17 Apr 13
Today I received two communications from her in response to my querying if she is facing money problem. She said she will make late payment for the next work. What should I do?
@rtslvtwy (1088)
• Malaysia
17 Apr 13
In my opinion, i would think that you should still do her job in a way that you can complete her job but do not deliver to her yet. then ask her to make the deposit for you then only deliver the job you have done to her. This would work as a win-win for both parties.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
17 Apr 13
I didn't do her job because I was pressed with other assignments. However, I received a message from her that the deadline for his job is over.
@airasheila (5454)
• Philippines
17 Apr 13
good day truthisgod,
if i will be placed in your situation having that kind of scenario, perhaps, i would still do the job at some extent. let say, the client would ask me do a work for 10 items, then, i would definitely do seventy percent of it, then, i will just finished the thirty percent after the payment. so in this regard, i would do a bargaining agreement to the client that i would complete the said work after the payment has been done or else, i would stop doing the remaining task if i won't be paid completely. plus i will sight my reason why i have not done it completely, disclosing that i would be needing the fund for some other reason. as i won't say anything that could ruin our transactions. after all, i found her to be a good client so i would still prefer to work with her.
@airasheila (5454)
• Philippines
17 Apr 13
hi there,
after i have read your feedback, i guess, it is really best to tell the client the real truth that you somehow need the down payment to proceed thoroughly with the job. and i believed being honest in such project will surely pays-off.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
17 Apr 13
That seems to be the right strategy, but the problem is that this is the kind of work which is of no use to the client if the complete work is not delivered by the deadline because the client themselves have to submit the complete job by the deadline.
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
17 Apr 13
As an experienced freelance writer, I think you have done many projects with some clients of yours. And during that writer and client relationship, I guess you already knew that it's not always smooth with regards to payments if it could be the right word for it.
The situation now is, you have this regular client who pays you on time for every projects finished. Now it's different, my advice is do the project in installment. I mean, submit the half first so that she/he may know you accepted it and the next half after he/she deposited the payment in your account.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
17 Apr 13
That seems to be the right strategy. However, it may not work in this case because if the client doesn't get the complete work, it may not be of any use to her.
@CandyzNikka (380)
• Philippines
16 Apr 13
When she will pay your projects? That is the question you must ask her. If she means not paying you for 2 months and 1 week that will be a huge risk.
Since she already established her name to you. It's up to you if you can take the risk of getting paid late or not at all. Anyways, if you don't need the money that urgently, you can work for her and if she did not pay you after that period, you can publish your articles to other websites and remind her that you have the right to do that.
@truthisgod (106)
• India
16 Apr 13
I think that would be a better approach but still exposed to risk. I have uploaded some works that were not paid by the employer. Perhaps that is the only thing I can do.
@wangchunxia83 (34)
• China
17 Apr 13
Maybe you can choose to work with other companies,after all,if you doubt someone,you will not concentrate on your job!
@truthisgod (106)
• India
17 Apr 13
Thank You wangchunxia. This is what I am doing currently - working on other jobs.
