M
m_c
Guest
What is the name of your state? NY
Hello. I was working with this lady who was starting up a new media firm and things have gone a bit sour. She had a client when we first started working with her, and she needed my help to continue any furthur with them. It was a very friendly relationship with her in the beginning, and I made the mistake of not laying out a contract. I am young, new to the city, and new to the job market so just working with the big client with her was excitement enough for me. Towards the end of the project with the client, we finally sat down and talked about finances. Our agreement was this:
A) She would pay me $500/week to work on the development of her company. She expressed that she had girls wimp out and rip her off in the past and that
she needed somebody that would work Fulltime exclusively for her. We would be finished with the client stuff in one week or so (but it ended up going 2-3weeks longer than we both expected) and would be able to concentrate on her company stuff.
B) I would receive 25% bonus from any designs of mine that were used by a
client. Since, at the time of this discussion, we were still to have an
ongoing relationship with our current client, then this was a "client" of ours
and I would be compensated with a percentage henceforth.
She had paid me the $500/week salary, not a problem, but I never received the 25% bonus. Our relationship with that one client was supposed to be ongoing and feed both of our incomes, but was cut short. I felt bad (even though it was her fault the client didn't want to work with us anymore) and decided to wait until we got another client before I brought this up to her and tried to collect my bonus. Things went sour and we were parting ways, so I had no choice but to bring this up. She tells me that this is news to her. That she meant "any future clients that we might have" and that salary was "senior level and not viable" for her to pay me (btw, 24k in nyc is senior level??? even with the 25% bonus, it only amounted to $2000 to be paid to me over a 2 month period). I did not have the final invoices to send her a bill and told her that I trusted she still had them and could refer to them or I could get them for from the client. she called me on the phone and we had an hour long dramatic argument where she cried and screamed bloody murder at me that I was insulting her (she isn't the most mentally stable person i know...). she finally said for me to send her an invoice and she'll "look at it." I replied, "no, you will pay it, not look" and our conversation ended without any real conclusion. I contacted the client for advice on how to collect this and to see if i could get a copy of the invoice to see how much was owed to me. He told me to come on in and gave me a copy of the invoice and instructed me to go to small claims court if she protested in paying. I sent her a detailed invoice with terms stating that half was due in 10 days and the other half due in 30 days ( i felt bad for her financial situation, so i gave her a bit of time to pay the bill). I stated that if i didn't receive the first payment, i was going to take legal action on the full amount on the 11th day. I also included a copy of the original client's invoices for her reference.
anyways, i got 4 huge emails back after i sent this invoice...accusing me of slander (i have never addressed any of the other girls in the company about this, only her) and making herself out to be a huge victim in this situation. One email told me of legal removal and "you are henceforth not permitted to touch any accounts relating to the company or use your name in conjunction with the company. All web email and web accounts and artwork associated with the company are private property and any further access or use of art or reference to the company are punishable by law. You are forbidden to use
any credit cards with my name on it, any use beyond the printer will be considered and punished as theft." The other three emails tell me how i am crazy for interpreting our deal as i interpreted it (seemed pretty cut and dry to me...) and how horrified and embarrassed she is that i slandered (again, i have only spoken to her and have not said anything that is a lie. when i went to get the invoice from the client, all i said was that i was having a payment dispute and needed the figures of what i owed because she wouldn't give them to me) and accused her of these things.
my questions:
1) was it illegal of me to contact our client to retrieve these documents? even if all i did was ask for them and they willingly gave me a copy? (they aren't too fond of her...)
2) is a verbal agreement legally binding?
3) should i still proceed with taking this to small claims court if she doesn't pay the first payment? if so, should i include these emails she sent me in the documentation?
4) should i respond to any of those emails? should i sent a follow-up just stating that i am still proceeding with the invoice i sent her?
any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Hello. I was working with this lady who was starting up a new media firm and things have gone a bit sour. She had a client when we first started working with her, and she needed my help to continue any furthur with them. It was a very friendly relationship with her in the beginning, and I made the mistake of not laying out a contract. I am young, new to the city, and new to the job market so just working with the big client with her was excitement enough for me. Towards the end of the project with the client, we finally sat down and talked about finances. Our agreement was this:
A) She would pay me $500/week to work on the development of her company. She expressed that she had girls wimp out and rip her off in the past and that
she needed somebody that would work Fulltime exclusively for her. We would be finished with the client stuff in one week or so (but it ended up going 2-3weeks longer than we both expected) and would be able to concentrate on her company stuff.
B) I would receive 25% bonus from any designs of mine that were used by a
client. Since, at the time of this discussion, we were still to have an
ongoing relationship with our current client, then this was a "client" of ours
and I would be compensated with a percentage henceforth.
She had paid me the $500/week salary, not a problem, but I never received the 25% bonus. Our relationship with that one client was supposed to be ongoing and feed both of our incomes, but was cut short. I felt bad (even though it was her fault the client didn't want to work with us anymore) and decided to wait until we got another client before I brought this up to her and tried to collect my bonus. Things went sour and we were parting ways, so I had no choice but to bring this up. She tells me that this is news to her. That she meant "any future clients that we might have" and that salary was "senior level and not viable" for her to pay me (btw, 24k in nyc is senior level??? even with the 25% bonus, it only amounted to $2000 to be paid to me over a 2 month period). I did not have the final invoices to send her a bill and told her that I trusted she still had them and could refer to them or I could get them for from the client. she called me on the phone and we had an hour long dramatic argument where she cried and screamed bloody murder at me that I was insulting her (she isn't the most mentally stable person i know...). she finally said for me to send her an invoice and she'll "look at it." I replied, "no, you will pay it, not look" and our conversation ended without any real conclusion. I contacted the client for advice on how to collect this and to see if i could get a copy of the invoice to see how much was owed to me. He told me to come on in and gave me a copy of the invoice and instructed me to go to small claims court if she protested in paying. I sent her a detailed invoice with terms stating that half was due in 10 days and the other half due in 30 days ( i felt bad for her financial situation, so i gave her a bit of time to pay the bill). I stated that if i didn't receive the first payment, i was going to take legal action on the full amount on the 11th day. I also included a copy of the original client's invoices for her reference.
anyways, i got 4 huge emails back after i sent this invoice...accusing me of slander (i have never addressed any of the other girls in the company about this, only her) and making herself out to be a huge victim in this situation. One email told me of legal removal and "you are henceforth not permitted to touch any accounts relating to the company or use your name in conjunction with the company. All web email and web accounts and artwork associated with the company are private property and any further access or use of art or reference to the company are punishable by law. You are forbidden to use
any credit cards with my name on it, any use beyond the printer will be considered and punished as theft." The other three emails tell me how i am crazy for interpreting our deal as i interpreted it (seemed pretty cut and dry to me...) and how horrified and embarrassed she is that i slandered (again, i have only spoken to her and have not said anything that is a lie. when i went to get the invoice from the client, all i said was that i was having a payment dispute and needed the figures of what i owed because she wouldn't give them to me) and accused her of these things.
my questions:
1) was it illegal of me to contact our client to retrieve these documents? even if all i did was ask for them and they willingly gave me a copy? (they aren't too fond of her...)
2) is a verbal agreement legally binding?
3) should i still proceed with taking this to small claims court if she doesn't pay the first payment? if so, should i include these emails she sent me in the documentation?
4) should i respond to any of those emails? should i sent a follow-up just stating that i am still proceeding with the invoice i sent her?
any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!