To name and shame a big company that has just screwed me over

[SmallBuisnessOwner]

Name change.

I did some work for a huge company, it was exactly as they requested (even against my advice that I thought they were missing the point). It was over a weeks work.

Was delivered to them they said thanks bla bla and I invoiced.

Now a month later I'm expecting payment and they are saying they were expecting more from me due to the track record of achievements I told them about at the begining of negotiations. But these achievements are averaged out across all of my work, I can't guarantee anything for a single peice.

They are asking for another one for free.

Aibu to refuse to do so, request payment ASAP and if not (on my social media) make a post where I talk honestly about what happened to me and by whom?

You don’t think a potential client knows how to google your name?

I’ve no idea what business you’re in but I’m gobsmacked at the idea you’d actually publicly badmouth a client on social media. Or threaten them with small claims because of an overdue bill.

If you don’t have a clear outline of deliverables, then you need to chalk it up to a miscommunication and learn from it.

Your shocked that a struggling artisit would threaten a multi billion pound company with a small claims court for non payment? Are you in buisness

OP I think the point is that , whether you like it or not, if you bad mouth clients you are going to come off worst. You’ll look unprofessional and the company could sue. In these situations, you need to be more less forceful if you want to get your well deserved money. It means communicating with the client and negotiating from there. In particular because art is subjective. The service you have provided does not meet objective criteria. Therefore it’s your word against theirs and they will win

I find that as ridiculous as the last post.

I need to be less forceful about non payment and just ask them nicely to pay for the services they requested at the price we agreed on?!

It's not my word against there's, they set no performance objectives in our negotiations. Yes art is subjective but we agreed on a price!

What work do you do?

I wonder if some people actually work in business.

The time for negotiations on price was before agreeing to pay for something, not after it has been delivered at the price both parties agreed on.

If they wanted something based on performance they should have said that and I would have said no thanks, as that offloads all the risk onto me.

Take it to court. Most big companies will settle as just the idea of going to court to fight this (and the potential media exposure they would receive of insufficient procurement practices) will chill them.

I work for a big company. They settle every claim up to 200k pounds and pay other parties legal fees. You just take it to court.

I see it as you have two choices

Offer to redo the piece but charge them again and be clear you will not be working for free

Explain they ignored your advice and now it is time to pay.

Do not go to social media, then they have grounds to come for you and with billions in their pocket they will not loose that case.

I would take them to court for an unpaid bill. Just make sure your item fit the requirements first

I would write a clear email/letter outlining exactly what you agreed to with evidence if possible and explain clearly that you did exactly as you all agreed even though you thought x,y,z would be better.

You could say something along the lines of, it basically belly flopped because of x,y,z and as you had explained to them earlier (and been ignored) it wouldn’t have belly flopped if you had been able to do as you suggested in the first place.

I would then give them the option of paying you and drawing a line under it all or they can pay you for your first lot of work then pay your fee again with a slight discount and you will do the work again but with the suggestions you had made in the first place and they will achieve whatever it was they wanted in the first place.

Give them x amount of days or take them to small claims.

I wonder if some people actually work in business.
Says the person who carried out the work without having any sort of contract in place.....

Haha Nike. Yes, OP comes across as the most naive out of everyone who has posted on this thread when it comes to business.

People on here would not be so happy to walk away if they for example worked for a month as a employee and the company they worked for said we are unhappy with the work done previous month so not paying you for it but want you to work another month to make up for it...

Nikephorus to be fair the email record may count as a contract, but isn't it more about how the lack of a more formal one would look, if it goes to court?

IME you either behave professionally with the "big boys" or you don't ... and if you don't they might pay up just to get you off their backs or then again they might not

In OP's position I'd probably give the Small Claims Court a whirl, but without necessarily assuming anything about the outcome

Op - I’m earn a lot of money in finance and I also part own a successful gym. Therefore, yes I work in business. However, to be frank anyone with any common sense would have a contract in place setting out the work, the price and more objective criteria to be measured by and would also realise that leaving yourself open to being sued by posting on social media is daft! You should absolutely not walk away from this contract without payment however I think you need to work WITH them to get your money rather than antagonising.

People on here would not be so happy to walk away if they for example worked for a month as a employee and the company they worked for said we are unhappy with the work done previous month so not paying you

Exactly. I had a formal written agreement that is clear. I'd love to hear actual advice about how I can "work with them" when they aren't replying to emails or messages I've left when I've phoned.

Not in every industry is there formal contracts in place.

Thanks to the helpful people

Take them to small claims - I agree that once this gets to the legal department on their side it will likely be automatically settled to avoid any hint of a smell as long as it is reasonably low value.

I don’t think you did have a formal, clear written agreement and your client obviously feels the same. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have basically asked is this all when you presented your deliverables and then specifically said they were expecting xyz. It’s also not clear how exactly they’re asking for a freebie. I wonder if from their side, they’re not asking you for further work they were expecting to begin with.

And yes, I’ve worked with lots of designers/artists and I’ve also worked for a huge international firm. I’m not surprised they’re no longer dealing with your emails.

@ShiftyMcGifty You're very fortunate to have never worked for or with someone who would always try to knock money off supplier costs no matter how amoral but I'm afraid it absolutely does happen and on a regular basis. OP may not have had a formal contact but she had a clear written brief and she met that brief. They're not even arguing that she didn't. Instead they're introducing performance-based metrics after delivery in an attempt to save a bit of cash.

Peach, I’m afraid you’re making a lot of huge assumptions about my experiences. This is a public forum and I’m not stupid enough to put any identifying details to “justify” my opinion by referencing actual experiences.

The OP said “... expecting more from me due to the track record of achievements I told them about at the begining of negotiations.”

It’s a week, not a bloody year! How much did she big herself up and what the hell did she make them think she could do in a week? And why would you present that if that the “average” and you’ve been contracted for a week’s worth of work?

It's perfectly normal to reference previous projects during the pitching process. That's not the same as agreeing to specific metrics.

Let's say OP is a web designer (she said she's a creative). Perhaps as part of her pitch she said "the microsite I created for X achieved Y hits in the first week." The company then engaged her to create a microsite for them. At no point did they agree metrics, or did she promise to achieve the same figures for them. She delivered the microsite to their specifications - which went against her recommendations - and it didn't achieve what they were hoping for. But that's not OP's problem, because they didn't contract her to any metrics.

They can't introduce performance metrics post-delivery.

What should happen in jobs of this sort where objective metrics are difficult (and what I have used in the past) is that your contract stipulates the client can make 3 changes (discussed with the artist) before payment. This ensures both parties are clear upfront and the client shouldn’t complain as they had input into the final product.

OP - i hope you’ve gone quiet coz they’ve paid

They can't introduce performance metrics post-delivery.
Exactly that! It's sad that some think this is an acceptable way to things. If I did a reverse aibu where I was the person commissioning and asked for all these extra things introduced after agreeing and the person delivering I would get flamed.

Thanks peach you are right I just told them some averages, that in no way means I'm promising to deliver any kind of figures. It's just what you do give examples of previous work.

A week's pay is alot if you only have a few projects a month and it was your biggest single one.

No luck yet, but some people have been very helpful and given me hope. Thank you.

But surely if you're doing any work for a big company you get everything down clearly in writing first? It's not like a small company where you can talk as you're going along and where the person you're doing the work for is the one raising payment at the end (and even then I'd have a written contract).
Plus, at the start you're saying all you have is emails & they wouldn't stand up to small claims court, the next you're saying you have 'a formal written agreement that is clear'. Which is it? If you have something clear in writing then you go straight for small claims and they'll probably pay straight up because it will be peanuts to them and far cheaper than paying their (expensive) lawyers to sort it. If not then you have to put it down to experience and learn from it (and maybe threaten them with court).

I've been on both sides of this sort of arrangement and unfortunately it would be very common for a manager to ask me to push back on a bill even after they'd approved the work. In fact the bigger the organisation, the more it happens! It's also extremely common, even within big organisations, for a client to brief informally (and to drip feed requirements during the course of the project!). I agree that OP should have got a formal contract in writing as it would have made this stage easier BUT ultimately the email chain is enough.

I've seen this exact situation only from the other side - Marketing Manager spent almost £90k on a really ill-advised campaign which only generated £24 - yes, £24! - in return. He tried to blame the agency who had delivered it (despite it being him who briefed and masterminded the whole thing) but because he hadn't agreed any performance metrics with them he didn't have a leg to stand on and ended up having to pay up. Goodness knows how he didn't lose his job...

OP, just to clarify - the impression I'm getting is that they approved the work that you did, then put it out into the field and only now that it didn't get the results they're hoping for are they pushing back? Is that right?