| You're not wrong, but I'd feel remiss if I didn't make a point. > but merely an email trail will suffice to make your point and get the other party (if honorable) to pay. This is true if and when you are expressive in your emails. As soon as a new feature is added to the scope, it is imperative that you speak out and say "Well, this is out of scope, but we can likely accommodate by adjusting the scope <however>". Far too often I see freelancers just take on the work without mentioning it's a scope change, only to have to fight for the bill to be paid later. In fact, most of the people I see complaining about customers not paying are due to a failure of setting appropriate expectations. If timelines are changing as a result of your efforts, notify the customer. If they're changing as a result of the customer's actions, notify the customer. If the scope is changing for any reason, notify the customer. Do not expect to be able to submit a bill at the end of the day and have it be paid -- in companies of a sufficient size, the person paying the bills is not the same person you're dealing with on scope, and the person paying the bills is likely being paid, in part, to ensure that they aren't being over billed. Where that's the case, they'll examine the contract line by line and compare it to the invoice, and pity to whomever meets someone good at that job. They're not trying to screw you over, they're just trying to make sure taht they're not getting ripped off, and changing how you bill the customer without notifying the customer of a change, looks very much like ripping them off (even if it isn't.) Use contracts. Use email. Speak plainly. |