[marcomonteiro]

"The real problems are the charming, smooth talking, dream clients offering cool projects, top dollar, and paying on time...until they don't and decide to start making your life hell because you're in so deep already. They're no dummies."

I can completely relate. If only there were a place to keep track of clients and their payment history. Glassdoor meets credit reporting. Clients with no history get charged more and require a higher deposit.

[tomkarlo]

Agree 100%. The follow-on problem is that once you are owed a not-insignificant amount of money by one of these clowns, the temptation is to keep them happy and avoid conflict in the hopes you'll get paid out without having to resort to litigation.

I once worked for a few months with someone before I watched him not pay one of our contractors for no reason. When I raised the issue, he asked me if I'd be willing to take a 50% pay cut - on the work I'd already done for him.

[anthonyb]

Yes, I've seen this happen at a couple of small businesses that I've been involved with. The trick is to have regular milestone payments, and if they miss them, work stops. (It'll annoy idiots like this to the point where they won't hire you, but that's kind of the point...)

[bitops]

Sounds like you have an idea for a startup. :)