Client cancelling 8 days before job with contract

[not2cleverRed]

It's not actually that. To be frank I'd just rather avoid the hassle and call it a day, but I did just cancel the 25% cancellation fee invoice while I await their reply. I again feel like I probably won't be receiving anything from them until they're forced to respond. The claim is under $1000 dollars and the difference between the cancellation and the other amount i feel just isn't the aggravation, but we'll see how it plays out.

I'm beginning to see why they decided it was worth it to break the contract.

 

[HRZ]

Agree...but if it heads towards court, file for the contractual claim ? O

 

[Jjenkins55]

I'm beginning to see why they decided it was worth it to break the contract.

Yeah sorry, no. You don't know anything about the quality of my work or the product they'd be getting. They still need to replace my product with someone else's. In the end I got 50. If you think $300 is worth the time, aggravation, trips to the court house, and bad blood built up between the two parties is worth it, that's your business, but I make that in an hour and a half and frankly am already going to be up until 4am tonight with the work I'm currently doing.

Thanks though

 

[Jjenkins55]

I'm beginning to see why they decided it was worth it to break the contract.

Also, to be quite frank, I really wasn't looking forward to either that specific job nor the one I passed up on to take it; so I consider it a win.

 

[Zigner]

I'm beginning to see why they decided it was worth it to break the contract.

Yep - it's becoming more and more apparent.

 

[Jjenkins55]

Yep - it's becoming more and more apparent.

Explain, please. Feel free. Use big words, if you'd like. I can handle it. Also, thermometer, for example, while technically containing four syllables, is not a big word, per se, so I'd like to go ahead and stop you there before you've gone too far.

 

[Zigner]

Explain, please. Feel free. Use big words, if you'd like. I can handle it. Also, thermometer, for example, while technically containing four syllables, is not a big word, per se.

You had no desire to do the job. I suspect that your interactions with the client weren't the best, but they thought they were stuck with you. When they found someone they got along with better, they cancelled.

 

[Jjenkins55]

You had no desire to do the job. I suspect that your interactions with the client weren't the best, but they thought they were stuck with you. When they found someone they got along with better, they cancelled.

Not in the slightest bit. My communication is sterling and always on point. It's prompt, as I check my email compulsively, well spoken, and never contains any typos. I'm well spoken and take my job seriously. Up to the cancellation there was never the slightest hitch in dialogue and it came completely out of nowhere.

As far as my desire to do the job is concerned, I'm sorry but you shouldn't really interpret 'I wasn't looking forward to doing the job' to mean 'I've no desire to perform and am going to half ass it.' Not all jobs are created equally and some you simply enjoy more than others, whether it be the nature of that specific job, the nature of the client, or simply how your schedule is looking surrounding it. As well, there are other logistics to factor in, such as how busy you are from one week to the next, how much dispensable time you have, and how many hours you're already logging that week, and how much travel is involved. Simply because my mood going into it was lukewarm doesn't mean I would have allowed that to affect my work output.

If you're trying to tell me that every job that a client has ever been performed should be fulfilled with the same level of innate mental enthusiasm, as in you aren't allowed to even have the slightest shred of motivational erosion, you're beyond delusional. We're human and some roles we enjoy more than others. To say otherwise is beyond unrealistic. Some days you're 'eh' and others you're not. It's called life.

Thanks for the benefit of the doubt, though. I'll be sure to take your above points and immediately throw them in the trash, worthless as they are.

 

[Zigner]

And yet more evidence.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I'll try to explain.

Yeah sorry, no. You don't know anything about the quality of my work or the product they'd be getting. They still need to replace my product with someone else's. In the end I got 50. If you think $300 is worth the time, aggravation, trips to the court house, and bad blood built up between the two parties is worth it, that's your business, but I make that in an hour and a half and frankly am already going to be up until 4am tonight with the work I'm currently doing.

Thanks though

You're right: I don't.

I only know what a pleasure you are to interact with here.

You are a very impatient person, determined to do things your own way, and ignore advice.

1) You are emailed 6/6 AM that they are "going in another direction". Maybe they explicitly cancelled. Maybe they didn't.
2) You respond with an invoice for a cancellation fee.
3) A little after 3 PM you post on here. Based on your post, several of us reply. Xylene, in particular gave you direct, applicable advice that you seemed unable to grasp.
4) Less than an hour after your initial post here, you post again stating the you've cancelled the cancellation fee.

Based on that you seem very impatient.

Additionally, you seem to be rather dismissive to rude to other posters. I do not believe that you come across as an easy person to work with. I have no basis for evaluating your work product, as I have no idea what it is. I can only say that you come across as condescending, and not at all polite. I find your communication skills to be more brass than sterling.

 

[Zigner]

I'll try to explain.

That is an excellent post

 

[Jjenkins55]

I'll try to explain.



You're right: I don't.

I only know what a pleasure you are to interact with here.

You are a very impatient person, determined to do things your own way, and ignore advice.

1) You are emailed 6/6 AM that they are "going in another direction". Maybe they explicitly cancelled. Maybe they didn't.
2) You respond with an invoice for a cancellation fee.
3) A little after 3 PM you post on here. Based on your post, several of us reply. Xylene, in particular gave you direct, applicable advice that you seemed unable to grasp.
4) Less than an hour after your initial post here, you post again stating the you've cancelled the cancellation fee.

Based on that you seem very impatient.

Additionally, you seem to be rather dismissive to rude to other posters. I do not believe that you come across as an easy person to work with. I have no basis for evaluating your work product, as I have no idea what it is. I can only say that you come across as condescending, and not at all polite. I find your communication skills to be more brass than sterling.

You only know what a pleasure I am to interact with after the member above said 'I can see why they cancelled,' without knowing anything about my situation. Prior to that I was respectful and courteous in my responses to everyone, highlighted with that part you may have missed where I said, 'thank you everyone.' And seriously, I'm not a teen and have outgrown the acronym LOL, but your accusation that I'm impatient simply because I'm in a dialogue with other members of the board and responding to them at the pace of an active conversation is laughably absurd. We were simply having a conversation. If you're under the impression that I should wait one to two hours before replying, that's not one I especially agree with.

Moreover, if my points seemed all over the place, it was because I chose to address and answer each person individually. The reason I posted that I had cancelled the cancellation fee was because I taking the direct advice of HRZ, whom I then thanked thereafter. I only became adversarial when other members began making snide comments and talking about how they 'could see why the client cancelled.' Because what, I chose not to take them to court for the full amount?

This is a board about legal advice and that's it. Going off topic and making remarks along the lines that question the posters ability or competence as a contractor or service provider is obnoxious, and perhaps should be given consideration in future discussions.

Have a great day

 

[Jjenkins55]

And yet more evidence.

That I'm well spoken? Thank you, I agree

 

[not2cleverRed]

That is an excellent post

I'm glad someone read it.

You only know what a pleasure I am to interact with after the member above said 'I can see why they cancelled,' without knowing anything about my situation.

Um... I am that member.

Prior to that I was respectful and courteous in my responses to everyone, highlighted with that part you may have missed where I said, 'thank you everyone.' And seriously, I'm not a teen and have outgrown the acronym LOL, but your accusation that I'm impatient simply because I'm in a dialogue with other members of the board and responding to them at the pace of an active conversation is laughably absurd. We were simply having a conversation. If you're under the impression that I should wait one to two hours before replying, that's not one I especially agree with.

My issue is that you chose to issue an invoice, and did not even allow the other party 1 business day to respond.

You came on here, asked for advice, but didn't follow it. HRZ didn't say to cancel the invoice. HRZ said that the fee might not stand up in court, because it was different from the contractually agreed upon cancellation fee. (This is assuming that the contract was legally valid as written, that both parties really had agreed upon the terms.) HRZ agreed with Xylene that your invoice could be viewed as an attempt to settle the issue, and that if the other party refused to pay the cancellation fee as invoiced, that would not be held against you, should you subsequently take the other party to court for breaking the contract.

However, all this is predicated on the idea that you actually have a contract, and that its terms are as you have represented them to be.

 

[Jjenkins55]

HRZ didn't say to cancel the invoice.

Frankly I would rescind in writing my 25% cancellation fee and demand payment in full as per the contract ...and file small claims shortly afterwards if they don't pay.

You seem to read things very selectively.

As far as issuing the invoice is concerned, it's specifically why I came here after doing so. It was a reactionary gesture on my part and after I thought better about it I came to the forum, where things were going well and then took a turn for the worse after, once again, remarks started turning snide.

If you've an issue with naiveté and the decisions it produces, you should probably not be on an advice forum that attracts people with little experience on the particular topic you're hoping to dispense advice on.