What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX
I am a self-employed IT consultant.
Since about 11-21-2008 I had been doing work for
another IT consultant. He would send me out on
jobs to his customer's sites and I would complete
them. I would send him an invoice for work done
and he would usually meet me in person and get
me cash. He made up about 50% of my business
so he was a good source of income for me.
Lately the payments started dragging but I would
end up getting paid so I didn't think much of it. Now
he has a $3800 bill ($45/hr) and he doesn't want to
pay me. I make about $50k per year so this is alot
of money for me.
I continually (for the past 30 days) have called him
and he continues to give me a different excuse each
week for not giving me the money.
The last time I met him, he gave me a blank signed
check. At the time he owed me $3200 so that is
the amount I filled in on it. I go to his bank every
few days and the money is not there. It's his company
account, so there is probably money passing thru the
account in smaller amounts than my check is written
for. I'll continue to try and cash his check.
The last time I spoke with him he completely changed
his attitude and he blew up at me. He said he now
has a professional business consultant working for
him and this consultant examined my invoices and
is sure that I am overcharging him. I then proceeded
to tell him that if I was overcharging him he should
have let me know immediately instead of racking up
a $3800 bill. His response is just to say my charges
are ridiculous and I take way too long to complete
tasks. He says he could be hiring $10/hr guys to
do the kind of work I am doing. I told him then
he should of thought of that before and stopped using
my services. However nothing has changed on
my end. I had been doing things the same since
day 1. This is the first time I had heard that
complaint.....after he racked up a large bill.
By the way, I invoiced him every few days so he
has no excuse for "not knowing about them".
The oldest invoice is 90 days old. The newest
invoice is 20 days old. My plans were to wait
until all invoices were 90 days old before doing
anything legally. Is that a good idea? If I keep
bugging him he might actually pay me.
At 1 point he had told me to take on some extra
responsibility and do more "managing" of a particular
client. He told me to bill him $10 more per hour for
that customer. He is now using that against me. He
says that he expected a much better job of managing
from me. The truth is that our managing styles
are different and I think he was mad because
I didn't do things like him. However, this particular
customer's work only makes up for about 25%
of the $3800 he owes me.
He is saying that I am ripping him off because
I want the best of both worlds.....He says I want
to be treated as a W2 employee even though I am
1099. He says that I charge him for every little
thing. I do charge him for every little thing because
it's my time and if I have to stop one of my other
projects - even for 15 minutes - to take care of
his customers - it costs me money. So I bill for it.
He also says that contract labor should only get
paid if their services can be billed to the customer.
He says it is always done that way. I told him that
I simply "worked per hour" under his direction every
single time. He said "....and there it is." and treated
me as if I were some predictable tech that doesn't
give a rat's a** about his company.
So after the last conversation we had where he
was saying I was ripping me off I called him again
and he is back to his same old lines..."I'll have it
for you by the end of the week".
I'm looking for someone that has been thru this
type of situation. I'm not simply looking for someone
to tell me to take it to court although in the end
if I have to do that I will. I'm looking for some
practical advice.
There are a few things I could be doing to really
piss him off such as...
1) report him to the authorities for his occasional use of hacked software
2) I could market my services to his customers directly.
Keep in mind, at present we are on friendly terms. He's
the type of guy to like a challenge so if I piss him off he'll
just work harder to prove his point. He'll allow other people
to influence his mind and he will lie convincingly if needed.
I'm better off not getting into name-calling etc.
Friends or not, I really just want to collect money for
the many hours I worked for.
We had no written agreement...I simply do the work,
invoice him, and he pays.
What should I do?
I am a self-employed IT consultant.
Since about 11-21-2008 I had been doing work for
another IT consultant. He would send me out on
jobs to his customer's sites and I would complete
them. I would send him an invoice for work done
and he would usually meet me in person and get
me cash. He made up about 50% of my business
so he was a good source of income for me.
Lately the payments started dragging but I would
end up getting paid so I didn't think much of it. Now
he has a $3800 bill ($45/hr) and he doesn't want to
pay me. I make about $50k per year so this is alot
of money for me.
I continually (for the past 30 days) have called him
and he continues to give me a different excuse each
week for not giving me the money.
The last time I met him, he gave me a blank signed
check. At the time he owed me $3200 so that is
the amount I filled in on it. I go to his bank every
few days and the money is not there. It's his company
account, so there is probably money passing thru the
account in smaller amounts than my check is written
for. I'll continue to try and cash his check.
The last time I spoke with him he completely changed
his attitude and he blew up at me. He said he now
has a professional business consultant working for
him and this consultant examined my invoices and
is sure that I am overcharging him. I then proceeded
to tell him that if I was overcharging him he should
have let me know immediately instead of racking up
a $3800 bill. His response is just to say my charges
are ridiculous and I take way too long to complete
tasks. He says he could be hiring $10/hr guys to
do the kind of work I am doing. I told him then
he should of thought of that before and stopped using
my services. However nothing has changed on
my end. I had been doing things the same since
day 1. This is the first time I had heard that
complaint.....after he racked up a large bill.
By the way, I invoiced him every few days so he
has no excuse for "not knowing about them".
The oldest invoice is 90 days old. The newest
invoice is 20 days old. My plans were to wait
until all invoices were 90 days old before doing
anything legally. Is that a good idea? If I keep
bugging him he might actually pay me.
At 1 point he had told me to take on some extra
responsibility and do more "managing" of a particular
client. He told me to bill him $10 more per hour for
that customer. He is now using that against me. He
says that he expected a much better job of managing
from me. The truth is that our managing styles
are different and I think he was mad because
I didn't do things like him. However, this particular
customer's work only makes up for about 25%
of the $3800 he owes me.
He is saying that I am ripping him off because
I want the best of both worlds.....He says I want
to be treated as a W2 employee even though I am
1099. He says that I charge him for every little
thing. I do charge him for every little thing because
it's my time and if I have to stop one of my other
projects - even for 15 minutes - to take care of
his customers - it costs me money. So I bill for it.
He also says that contract labor should only get
paid if their services can be billed to the customer.
He says it is always done that way. I told him that
I simply "worked per hour" under his direction every
single time. He said "....and there it is." and treated
me as if I were some predictable tech that doesn't
give a rat's a** about his company.
So after the last conversation we had where he
was saying I was ripping me off I called him again
and he is back to his same old lines..."I'll have it
for you by the end of the week".
I'm looking for someone that has been thru this
type of situation. I'm not simply looking for someone
to tell me to take it to court although in the end
if I have to do that I will. I'm looking for some
practical advice.
There are a few things I could be doing to really
piss him off such as...
1) report him to the authorities for his occasional use of hacked software
2) I could market my services to his customers directly.
Keep in mind, at present we are on friendly terms. He's
the type of guy to like a challenge so if I piss him off he'll
just work harder to prove his point. He'll allow other people
to influence his mind and he will lie convincingly if needed.
I'm better off not getting into name-calling etc.
Friends or not, I really just want to collect money for
the many hours I worked for.
We had no written agreement...I simply do the work,
invoice him, and he pays.
What should I do?
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