Eek - invoiced client for second month, she thought first month was full payment

[Clientpayments]

So I work in marketing and signed a client in September. All payments are taken in advance with a contract written by a lawyer.

In the portfolio we first send out it clearly says we have a minimum three month retainer and the payments are monthly.

In the contract it states that the payments are monthly, the amount and our payment terms. It’s clear with ‘per month’ over three months.

I also made sure in my email to let her know that the prices were per month.

She signed the contract and made the first payment so I thought all was clear.

I have sent the second invoice and I have had an email asking what it’s for because she’s already paid. I explained that as per our previous conversations and contract, we work on a monthly retainer.

She is now confused and doesn’t want to pay as she assumed it covered three months (which would make the fee ridiculously low for the amount of work involved).

What do I do here?

We have had great results which she has been very happy with, telling me how excited she is to see so much traction

Hmmm - push her for the money and it wouldn't surprise me if she suddenly "remembered" several things she "meant to mention before"

As a PP said you might want to release her for the third month, but having been so clear I'd defnitely insist on payment for the second

Agree with this

It sounds like you provided way more than ample times for her to understand and clarify if not

Her lack of reading/understanding isn't really your problem OP

Ime there are more stupid people than chancers, not everyone reads contacts and emails, if it's an expensive service and she's not in the business she may well have assumed the charge was for 3 months

Perhaps she thought she would pay for three months up front and then go onto a rolling monthly contract, not realising that "minimum three month retainer" was more to do with a three-month notice period if she immediately got cold feet.

@Clientpayments This is what you should be saying to her! Send her an email outlining how many times it has been made clear about the payments, just as you did here. Her lack of reading comprehension isn’t your problem! And also, please don’t say that you’re sorry she misunderstood as you have nothing to be sorry about and all the paperwork pointed to monthly payments, with a 3 month minimum. Just say that she appears to have misunderstood the contract, the email, the portfolio that was sent out and the onboarding email. That’s a minimum of 4 times that it’s been written that payments are monthly and the minimum term.

I agree, if it really was that clear then surely she can't be this stupid?

Yikes, why aren't you getting monthly retainer payments in advance, rather than once the work is done?

She's trying it on. Refer to contract, remind her of your payment terms.

we have a minimum three month retainer and the payments are monthly

This might be the bit she misunderstood. On a literal read it's not that clear what it means.

Rather than rupturing the relationship, clarify what she understood the contract to mean.

Lawyer-speak isn't very understandable to most lay people, so whilst the contract might be legally robust that doesn't mean it is understandable to non-lawyers!

I would not apologise for the misunderstanding - I'd pick up the phone and speak to her though. Have all the info to hand - be very helpful about resending it - so she can check.

Don’t apologise or try to persuade that you are in the right.
Simply send a factual message referring her to the terms of the contract and previous she signed (attach another copy for her to see) and emails you sent. Say you are pleased she is happy with the results she is seeing from your work and look forward to payment by X date.

Are you a very small company and deal with this legal stuff yourself? If not, pass the message onto the contracts/legal dept to deal with and do t reply yourself.

This kind of thing is pretty common. You’d be surprised how many people sign contracts that they haven’t read or don’t understand. But they are committed. Don’t make a big fuss or apologise for her misunderstanding or be threatening or aggressive….simply assert the facts if the matter…and expect payment.

In most cases, people then grasp what they’ve signed and pay up. If they resist ir dint pay, then further action will be needed….hopefully by your legal team. But you aren’t there yet. Expect that you will be paid as per the contract.

Pursuit payment.

If necessary use small claims, she doesn't stand a chance.

This is exactly the sort of thing I am paranoid about doing (as the invoicee), which is exactly why I triple check the terms of EVERYTHING I sign for, and have no issue asking for absolute clarification even if I sometimes think it makes me sound a bit dim

Agree with above PPs, she's either trying it on or thick as a submarine window. Insisting on month 2 but releasing her from month 3 might be your best bet.

Yeah, CF. Put a stop to this.

Reiterate terms and request payment, reminding client of the need to avoid late fee which I assume you also had written into the contract.

Don't be afraid to enforce as necessary.

Give her 7 days to pay or you’ll commence legal proceedings

Thanks everyone. She has asked for a call next Tuesday. We do have 7 day payment terms.

In regards to those commenting on invoicing at the start of the month: This is common practise within my industry. I’ve never myself paid for a service that hasn’t been pay upfront.

When I was a freelancer I had 30 day payment terms. 30 days would quickly turn into 3 months plus of chasing and sometimes never getting paid.

I don’t risk that now.

We have this all the time in my job, people sign the contracts agreeing to terms but the second they need to pay up it's " I didn't realise" or " I thought different ". It's really really irritating. I'd put money on her trying it on. Good luck.

"In the portfolio we first send out it clearly says we have a minimum three month retainer and the payments are monthly."

I wonder if the word 'retainer' is confusing her? Normally a 'retainer' is an upfront fee to secure services. I wonder if she thought she was paying a 'retainer' for the first 3 months, then monthly thereafter to continue the service.

It's possible that she only really read the portfolio, then signed the contracts, etc., without properly reading the rest.

Her mistake but worth trying to understand what's happened.

This 👆

Send her a simple email tomorrow, because you don’t want to deal with her ‘confusion’ on the call next week

Hi X, the agreement is for three months at xx a month, as as stated in the contract attached (attach signed contract)
best wishes

Don’t apologise, waffle or offer any get out. If possible get a member of the team responsible for contracts or accounts to send it and cc you, to depersonalise

If she still wants the call, have someone else with you as room meat. Agree the shit sandwich you want to say (we’ve loved working with you / the terms of the contract you signed is monthly payments for 3 months / we hope to continue working with you) and then bounce that between you.

Do not engage with any of her waffle about what she thought, just let silence fall and repeat your 3 messages like broken records. Don’t give her any gap to get though, pen her in.

Whether she genuinely misunderstood or not, is not your problem, so don’t engage with that either.

Do not offer to let her off month 3. You may decide to do that strategically, but certainly not on the call. Leave it a week and offer it back as a ginormous favour

If she doesn't bother reading contracts AND emails, she's an idiot.

Be kindly firm, it's astonishing the length people go to trying to avoid paying, and the look of innocence.

She’s having you on, don’t let her get away with it.

I would ask her to pay and if she doesn't then stop working for her.

Next time, I would put the total 3 month cost as well as your monthly cost in your contract / initial email so that this can't happen again

I would just repeat terms and not engage further and certainly wouldn’t do any further work

I’m in the same business. My clients pay a retainer one month in advance so I tend to get the money and then fulfil the work. When finalising a contract, I also send them over a Terms of Business, a payment schedule which lists the amount each month eg.

worded something like.

TOTAL: £xxxx split evenly in to 12 monthly payments, commencing 1 November 2023.
Due Date
1 November 2023 - £xxx
1 December 2023 - £xxx
1January 2024 - £xxx

And I also send a standing order mandate too.

hope that helps.