Short version: If a freelancer stops delivering even after multiple follow-ups, what do you do?  Out the situation (give names and do so on the freelance site I used), Write it off, or something else?

Long version:  Almost a year and a half ago I saw a post on a freelancing board where an artist was in a tough situation financially.  I had a project in mind that didn't need to be done, but the plea made me decide to go forward on it with this artist.  Since he seemed to be more established, we agreed to pay 1/2 up front and 1/2 when he was 1/2 way through.

He did a little over the first 1/4 of the assignment within a couple of weeks.  That was much better than expected.  He said his bills were really pressing him, so I agreed to pay the other 1/2.

Since then (as you can probably guess since I'm posting) he has only done about 5% more of the project.  (It is a relatively large number of simple line art images.)  Because of the delays, he promised to color them (the original spec was just line art) and what he has delivered has been colored.  But to get anything I generally have to ping him multiple times.  

There's been no progress in just about 6 months now.  He'll promise a few sketches by a certain day, that day comes and goes with no delivery.  I'll send a reminders.  (Since I'm busy too, my reminders may be a week or more apart.)  Usually it takes a few reminders to get another promise of another deadline.

Take the most recent exchange:
Aug 29: I follow up because it has been a while since I've heard from him.
Sept 13: I post to the freelancer board looking for him since I never got an email back.
Sept 25: He posts a reply that he'll be in touch.
Sept 25: Get an email saying my messages were going to another folder.  (This is the second time this has happened--despite me always using the same "to" address.) He mentions a con he is going to but he can make more progress the following week.
Sept 26: I work out the dates and propose that he give me a set of sketches on Oct 9th.
Sept 26: He agrees with the deadline.
Oct 6: Since he has missed his deadlines before, I send a reminder.
Oct 7: He mentions a play he is in, but that he'll work on them on "Mon & Tues."
Oct 9: Me: "I really want you to meet this, that's why I'm trying to follow-up so much.  Do you have some ready? Later tonight?"
Oct 9: He mentions an issue with dropbox, but he'll have them later that night.
Oct 10: I mention that since we're both using gmail, we can include 25MB of attachments per message.
Oct 11: I ping him again.
Oct 15: I ping him again.  No response since the Oct 9 message.

So what do you do?  Since then I've worked with about 20 different freelancers.  And while some people (me included) get busy and may be a day or two late here and there, rarely is someone more than a week late.  I can't imagine not following through after revising the deadline a time or two.  The work was agreed to about a year and a half ago.  I did expect it to take a few months (I even said up front he could delay it a couple of months to take care of other clients/projects first.)  But I've long since told him I want to see progress ASAP.  (And he's blown a few revised deadlines now.)

Do you have a contract with this guy?  I sure hope so, since he's received the full fee, otherwise you have zero leverage over him other than besmirching his reputation.

Never pay before you get a final submission and approve it (and always use a contract).

It sounds like you may may have already done this, but you should send a letter clearly stating that you demand he return a portion of the payment or finish the manuscript by a clear deadline and failure to respond will be interpeted as him refusing to do either.

I might post a thread asking the person to respond ASAP.

How did you send him the money? If you used paypal they have a time limit on refunds, if by mail you can file a mail fraud case against him. However, as usual this is very much "check with a lawyer" if possible situation.

I try and pay people ASAP, but I do want preliminary work done first, and there are artists I'd trust even if I paid them up front.

However, these are people I've worked with before and have a reputation with me, and I hope I have one with them.

Write it off I'd say, but if there's any public feedback mechanism you should probably use it.

I would think that how much money is involved would be a big factor. If you're talking a couple of hundred bucks, a consultation with a lawyer would cost more than you can expect to get back. Public outing is a damned tricky business, and no matter who is right, can easily backfire.

Quote from: taustin;594083I would think that how much money is involved would be a big factor. If you're talking a couple of hundred bucks, a consultation with a lawyer would cost more than you can expect to get back. Public outing is a damned tricky business, and no matter who is right, can easily backfire.

Agreed. Public outing is probably a bad idea for a variety of reasons.

It was one of my earliest experiences, so no contract.  I've used on ever since, of course.  We are talking about a few hundred dollars.  Certainly not 1000s.

Quote from: taustin;594083I would think that how much money is involved would be a big factor. If you're talking a couple of hundred bucks, a consultation with a lawyer would cost more than you can expect to get back. Public outing is a damned tricky business, and no matter who is right, can easily backfire.

Yeah, maybe its not worth it.  But it is amazing that he hasn't come through.  Even if he just did 1-2 sketches/week, he'd be done.    I think I've been very, very patient & accommodating.  And at one point I had hoped to do a lot more with him.

There comes a time to just write it off and move on. If you tell him that, buntly, you've given up because he's clearly not going to deliver, it might shame him in to a little more work.

But mostly, it'll give you closure to say out loud it's over.

You have three professional options, and one unprofessional[/b] option.

1> Eat the loss, n habd the work files to someone trustworthy, learning a lesson not to pay the whole bill for incomplete work. A down-payment is fine, but a full-payment on completion is normal. A full-payment before-hand is normal for work on continual basis, as in, he has completed projects for you int he past, or is well-know to do the work he's paid to do.
2> Wait, and try again later. Sometimes people's lives turn to shit, and they can't handle everything. you may get what you paid for in the end, especially if you show consideration, but make sure to outline what you need out of him in detail, and set some kind of reasonable deadline.
3> Take the matter to court.

The fourth option, I suggest avoiding, is to say who it is in public. This only earns enmity in the end, and you'll get nothing from it, very likely. if you want to go down that slippery-slope, you can, but you get more bees with honey than with vinegar.

Here are some golden rules to follow when contracting work:

1> Have everything on paper, signed, and agreed in ink. No facsimile or electronic signatures. be sure the person you are contracting is of legal age to enter into a binding agreement as well.

2> See if the person turns out timely work. If you need it fast, this usually costs more. If the rates are low, you're probably dealing with someone young who does this as a hobby, and you can expect unprofessional behaviour and low-business ethics.

3> Set a deadline. make sure your contractor knows the deadline and sticks to it.

4> Pay only a part of the initial project in advance. Freelancers won't do anything without some kind of front money (unless they're idiots), but they don't need it all up-front. If you don't pay them, they will re-sell your work, claimed by them, so beware of flaking on them, and be sure they don't flake on you at the same time.

5> Agree to a rate by the project, or by the hour, and ensure it is in the contract. If for ongoing work, a weekly pay and payment by submission is not unfair, and keeps your contractor busy for you, as they know it is regular income.

6> Ensure you own the final product on delivery. Some contracts will stipulate terms that you can use it, but the artist/writer owns it. Try to avoid this, unless:
A> They are collaborating with you on a project with no payments by the week/period.

B> They are paid mostly in royalties (over 60% of their pay is royalty-based) . This means that they get some front-money, but not as much, and no additional payment on completion, but instead, they will get a percentage of your profits on the final product. The percentage is based on how much artwork is contributed to the product: Say that a cover is worth 2% to 5%, repetitive interior art (e.g. page borders) about another 1% to 3%, and panels a percentage equal to the amount of page space they occupy versus the amount of page space text occupies.

Thus if the illustrations occupy 12% of the book, they get a 12% commission in royalties on each sale. The front money ensures that get something out of it, rather than gambling on your success. Essentially, they are willing to take less money for a project in the hope that it is commercially viable and they make more than they could have for the design (owned by you) in royalties.

7> Always have a correct mailing address and telephone number for anyone that works for you. That way, they can't just dodge you, and if you need to serve them with a subpoena, you have their address of residence or work on file (preferably both).

8> Set  budget, and let your contractors know to stay within it, and that you won't pay 'more than this'.

9> inspect work quality at regular intervals. Demand proofs on a weekly or semi-weekly basis. Ask for a log of progress and reports, with time and date stamps, ESPECIALLY if you are paying by the hour. Professional writers and artists can keep these, such as:


Monday, 29th Oct 13:01 -- START of Work
Monday, 29th Oct 13:02 -- Working on chapter 34, 'Helmet Making'.
Monday, 29th Oct 15:10 -- BREAK for coffee.
Monday, 29th Oct 15:26 -- RESUME working on Ch 34
Monday, 29th Oct 15:10 -- Stop work on Ch.34, begin on Ch 35 'Basket-weaving'
Monday, 29th Oct 20:53 -- Uploading updates & sending messages.
Monday, 29th Oct 21:00 -- STOP for Day.
Total Time Today: 7h 50m.


This is my report format, in case you are wondering, although I obviously keep more detailed notes on what I do with the time when possible, but this way they let you know where your money is going, and you can examine it, to decide what is a priority in your budget.

I hope this helps you... If not now, then in the future. If you ever need paid writers and/or artists again, send me a PM and let me know what your budget is, and I can try to work something out with you. I do both, and have other writers and artists as sub-contractors on staff in addition to members of the Guild, as resources from which I can select, based on the product and your direction with it.. (X|S)

Quote from: SowelBlack;594036Short version: If a freelancer stops delivering even after multiple follow-ups, what do you do?  Out the situation (give names and do so on the freelance site I used), Write it off, or something else?

Long version:  Almost a year and a half ago I saw a post on a freelancing board where an artist was in a tough situation financially.  I had a project in mind that didn't need to be done, but the plea made me decide to go forward on it with this artist.  Since he seemed to be more established, we agreed to pay 1/2 up front and 1/2 when he was 1/2 way through.

He did a little over the first 1/4 of the assignment within a couple of weeks.  That was much better than expected.  He said his bills were really pressing him, so I agreed to pay the other 1/2.

Since then (as you can probably guess since I'm posting) he has only done about 5% more of the project.  (It is a relatively large number of simple line art images.)  Because of the delays, he promised to color them (the original spec was just line art) and what he has delivered has been colored.  But to get anything I generally have to ping him multiple times.  

There's been no progress in just about 6 months now.  He'll promise a few sketches by a certain day, that day comes and goes with no delivery.  I'll send a reminders.  (Since I'm busy too, my reminders may be a week or more apart.)  Usually it takes a few reminders to get another promise of another deadline.

Take the most recent exchange:
Aug 29: I follow up because it has been a while since I've heard from him.
Sept 13: I post to the freelancer board looking for him since I never got an email back.
Sept 25: He posts a reply that he'll be in touch.
Sept 25: Get an email saying my messages were going to another folder.  (This is the second time this has happened--despite me always using the same "to" address.) He mentions a con he is going to but he can make more progress the following week.
Sept 26: I work out the dates and propose that he give me a set of sketches on Oct 9th.
Sept 26: He agrees with the deadline.
Oct 6: Since he has missed his deadlines before, I send a reminder.
Oct 7: He mentions a play he is in, but that he'll work on them on "Mon & Tues."
Oct 9: Me: "I really want you to meet this, that's why I'm trying to follow-up so much.  Do you have some ready? Later tonight?"
Oct 9: He mentions an issue with dropbox, but he'll have them later that night.
Oct 10: I mention that since we're both using gmail, we can include 25MB of attachments per message.
Oct 11: I ping him again.
Oct 15: I ping him again.  No response since the Oct 9 message.

So what do you do?  Since then I've worked with about 20 different freelancers.  And while some people (me included) get busy and may be a day or two late here and there, rarely is someone more than a week late.  I can't imagine not following through after revising the deadline a time or two.  The work was agreed to about a year and a half ago.  I did expect it to take a few months (I even said up front he could delay it a couple of months to take care of other clients/projects first.)  But I've long since told him I want to see progress ASAP.  (And he's blown a few revised deadlines now.)