Terms of Engagement

[dragos]

Wonder how do you guys do up with your terms of engagement.

Reason I am asking is because for organisations which I have good working relationships, I will allow 2 to 4 weeks for payment to be in.

For other organisations which I do not have prior working relationship or much knowledge, I demand COD. Cheque/Cash on delivery of CDR/Photos.

Just kena a company today, agreed on COD, went down to deliver the photos, and guess what, said the boss is not in town and cannot issue cheque, claims cheque is prepared and just no one to sign...

Then suggests that they pay 50% first and then when their client accept the photos, they will give me the other 50%. I disagreed as this was never mentioned when I was engaged.

After some "argument", agreed that they will send me the cheque and I said that I expect to get it latest this Friday...

Now, I can only wait...if no $$$ this friday, getting my lawyer fren to send letter of demand liao....

How would u guys handle this sort of situation? Was thinking to the extend, show lowres photos on the CD, password zip the hires ones and will only release the password when payment is in...haha..

 

[wildstallion]

Wonder how do you guys do up with your terms of engagement.

Reason I am asking is because for organisations which I have good working relationships, I will allow 2 to 4 weeks for payment to be in.

For other organisations which I do not have prior working relationship or much knowledge, I demand COD. Cheque/Cash on delivery of CDR/Photos.

Just kena a company today, agreed on COD, went down to deliver the photos, and guess what, said the boss is not in town and cannot issue cheque, claims cheque is prepared and just no one to sign...

Then suggests that they pay 50% first and then when their client accept the photos, they will give me the other 50%. I disagreed as this was never mentioned when I was engaged.

After some "argument", agreed that they will send me the cheque and I said that I expect to get it latest this Friday...

Now, I can only wait...if no $$$ this friday, getting my lawyer fren to send letter of demand liao....

How would u guys handle this sort of situation? Was thinking to the extend, show lowres photos on the CD, password zip the hires ones and will only release the password when payment is in...haha..

Just hold the photos untill payment if they need them they will pay for them

 

[sk.images]

Do not give them the high-res photos at all, not even with password until full payment is delivered and cleared (if cheque). For low-res, make sure they are totally unusable. It will be cheaper in the long-run to write off your time spent on this one (if they don't pay) then to spend a lot of time, money and effort chasing them afterwards...

 

[dragos]

unfortunately, i handed over the CDR with the invoice and then...they return to tell me that they are not able to issue the cheque.....

cyber monkey: how do u do that? after the assignment, they pay u first or??

 

[catchlights]

When company ask for qoutation, state clear the term is COD.
perpare the invoice before the shoot, and hand them right after the shoot, or aleast mail it to them the next day.
When contact them regarding delivery of finish products, remain them COD again.

If they give funny excuses, this will be first and last assignment from this company.

 

[waileong]

Since you already gave the hires pix, what's there to do except to wait? As you said, if they don't pay, you should take legal action against them.

But in any case, I think they should be given benefit of the doubt, sounds like you're dealing with a small company here, nothing unusual about boss being the only one who can sign cheques.

 

[dragos]

When company ask for qoutation, state clear the term is COD.
perpare the invoice before the shoot, and hand them right after the shoot, or aleast mail it to them the next day.
When contact them regarding delivery of finish products, remain them COD again.

If they give funny excuses, this will be first and last assignment from this company.

That's what I did.....stated COD, did the shoot on Sat, went down to company today with invoice and CDR, before going remind the person it is COD.

He said Finance prepared the cheque. Went down, handled over the CDR + invoice, they took to check the photos, later came and say unable to give me cheque because big boss not ard to sign....

After some big hooha, that's it in my first post...wait till this friday, no $$$, letter of demand goes.....not even more than $500, waste my time today...fed up...

 

[dragos]

lesson learnt...anyway to do this?? thinking next time, password protect the hires images in a zip file. Watermark the other files...any suggestions?

 

[dreamerz]

lesson learnt...anyway to do this?? thinking next time, password protect the hires images in a zip file. Watermark the other files...any suggestions?

haha...p/w can b crack quite easily nowadays...jus giv them thumbnail size first...after they pay then giv them full res...:devil:

 

[catchlights]

That's what I did.....stated COD, did the shoot on Sat, went down to company today with invoice and CDR, before going remind the person it is COD.

He said Finance prepared the cheque. Went down, handled over the CDR + invoice, they took to check the photos, later came and say unable to give me cheque because big boss not ard to sign....

After some big hooha, that's it in my first post...wait till this friday, no $$$, letter of demand goes.....not even more than $500, waste my time today...fed up...

no invioce how to prepare cheque? don't let them find any excuses..

next time bring a notebook down, settle everything right after shoot, don't waste time and money on this.

 

[dragos]

haha...p/w can b crack quite easily nowadays...jus giv them thumbnail size first...after they pay then giv them full res...:devil:

do u really do that?? i.e. give clients thumbnail size pics??? haha...thinking of maybe giving them 400 x 200 or size or something like that....with the hires ones in a zip file with password protect.

 

[dragos]

no invioce how to prepare cheque? don't let them find any excuses..

next time bring a notebook down, settle everything right after shoot, don't waste time and money on this.

told them in advance the amount and cheque payee liao mah....

 

[dreamerz]

do u really do that?? i.e. give clients thumbnail size pics??? haha...thinking of maybe giving them 400 x 200 or size or something like that....with the hires ones in a zip file with password protect.

haha...i dun do commercial photography...LOLX...those are jus my .02 cent...i find that p/w are quite redundant...zip p/w can be crack by s/w that could b find online...

 

[dragos]

anyone have anymore ideas how to prevent this in future?

 

[catchlights]

anyone have anymore ideas how to prevent this in future?

Shoot weddings only lor.
pay first shoot later.

 

[solarii]

Don't worry too much about it. A lot of companies only allow 1 or 2 people to sign checks, and the staff preparing them can be bloody inefficient. They know the guy signing it is going out, they know they need to make payments, but they don't think of getting everything done before the guy leaves.

Don't think the company is trying to cheat you... I think they're just really messed up.

 

[Ah Pao]

Well, as you said, what to do but to wait...

I guess you learnt your lesson; since you've already made a big fuss, you could have made a bigger fuss and ask the person to return you the CD until the cheque comes in. Since the person you dealt with is not the boss, he/she won't be insistent not to return you the CD. After all, the goods has been inspected.

Next time, 一手交钱，一手交货。 I guess you know that liao lah, after this incident.

 

[dragos]

haha...hi catchlights, not really into weddings, only did 2 for frens whom i know really no $$ type...

thanks all, will just wait for friday and see how lor....

already told my fren to help me standby another letter of demand...just in case...hahahaha

 

[Belle&Sebastain]

Always protect your interest, draft a contract and make them sign before you shoot.

in the contact, state your terms

also state unless payment in full, all rights belong to you.

always state for new business, an upfront is needed.

always protect your interest, that will make you seem more pro as well to have an agreement before hand.

 

[Witness]

u still have your end of the invoice dont u hahah