I honestly don’t know how it works in the Netherlands when a company tanks. However, here in the US, it’s possible for such companies to file for legal bankruptcy, which effectively provides them protection from collectors while they reorganize or shut down. If a similar sort of filing exists over there, you wouldn’t have gotten paid either way. However, if they weren’t protected in that manner, you probably still could’ve filed a suit against them even if the banks drained their accounts.
Were you over here, you could’ve gotten a judgement in court against them and could’ve gotten your money back based on their future earnings. Courts and debt collectors do it all of the time. The amount they owed to you was only $2,600 USD, which would preclude you from retaining a lawyer. However, filing the suit yourself would have been significantly cheaper. You would’ve come out on top anyway. More than that, if you could have proven that they defrauded you then you would not only have gotten compensatory damages to the tune of what you were owed, but also punitive damages to some statutory maximum. IOW, over here, a court could say, “Here’s what they owe you. We’re going to tack on an extra ‘x’ number of dollars to punish them and send a message.” That’s how it works over here though. Not sure about the Netherlands.
Oh, I get your anger. I’d probably have hung up the phone too. However, to those who wouldn’t have, here’s my advice.
- Get paid the previous balance first. Until that check clears, don’t even think about doing business with guys like this again. This is, at the very least, a good faith gesture and sign that they’re trying to do right by you. If they’re not willing to do that, walk away immediately. They’ll just see the word “sucker” printed on your forehead and try to use you again.
- Get everything in writing. Never work with a verbal contract. Sounds like common sense, but you’d be shocked how many people are still naive enough to do handshake deals.
- Again, in writing, demand a much larger portion of the final balance up front. It’s not that you don’t trust them, but… Okay. You don’t trust them. They’ve got to earn it back.
- Deliver proofs or whatever else they need to know that you’re doing the job, but make finals contingent on payment. Like I said, you can’t give them payment terms at this point. You got burnt once. If they want to rebuild that relationship and value your work, they’ll suck it up and swallow their pride. This is a case where they need you more than you them.
Look. I don’t want to come off as a jaded d***. It’s easy to think that all people who end up owing you money are jerks. You can see the manipulators and users coming from a mile away.
Sometimes, however, it just turns out that there are good people who are REALLY bad at business. Not everybody deserves a second chance. However, what if YOU were in the position of needing that do over? All I can say is, if you’re the type of person willing to give or ask for a second chance, do things right the second time around. Trust isn’t owed. It’s earned. If they (or you) aren’t willing to take extreme measures to earn it back, don’t even try. You can’t (re)start a relationship in bad faith or with misgivings.
They might well take 30% or more of what you’re owed. That’s a basic fee. If they somehow tack on other hidden fees, you might well just come back with far less than 50%. Most people throw out collection letters and ignore calls anyway. It’s a dead end on that front.
Again, he’s much better going down to his local court and filing a case against them. There’s probably a nominal fee that has to be paid up front, but it’s WAY less dealing with a collection agency or a lawyer. Taking these people to court comes with several benefits.
- You can compel them to answer your complaint and have your say. They can’t hang up on a judge or tear up the complaint.
- If they refuse to show up in court, you can have a default judgment ordered against them. Them not showing up in court is about the same as them not fighting the complaint and admitting fault. This happens all of the time in courts over here. People ignore the debt collectors, who then try to take them to court. They ignore the lawsuit as they would any other collection letter. The next thing you know, the state is taking money out of their paycheck or from their tax refunds.
Court is the best option, especially if the OP has tried to collect themselves. Hiring a collection agency is just asking somebody else to do what you already did before, but with pro stationary this time around. Court is, imo, the next logical option if they’re in the same country. (Another country than you? Good luck with that.)
One word if the OP wants to go to court: Evidence. You can never have too much of it.
- Provide the judge with a lengthy paper trail. Contracts. Text messages. E-mails. Whatever you can provide, especially if you have correspondence from them that acknowledges the debt.
- Provide proof of what has already been paid and what is still owed. Copies of checks. Bank statements. Any sort of receipts from Pay Pal, Venmo, or whatever. Collection letters.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt if, before going to court, you send another collection letter to them via some sort of certified mail with a return receipt. This way, they can’t argue that they never received your letter. This is something that you can track.
I look at it a different way. Sometimes, it IS just the principle and not about the money. Some of these debtors count on the fact that the cost of long term collection is more expensive than the money owed. They know that you’ll give up because it’s costing you more money than what they owe. Buying into this line of thinking is what allows them to do it to somebody else. It doesn’t matter if you owe me $10k or 10-cents. If I can’t get free money then you shouldn’t either. It’s not childish. It IS the principle. My time and hard work are worth something. Stiffing a contractor is not professional. I’m not keen on reinforcing negative behavior. It may cost me more than what’s owed to me, but sending a message is sometimes worth going that extra mile.
