Think - the customer is in no hurry to pay for additional work

Vitali2011-08-01 13:22:55

coworking

Vitali, 2011-08-01 13:22:55

I recently made a store based on the Opencart engine for a customer. The project was completed, the money was received, everything works, everyone is happy. Recently, they have a certain CEO who specializes in store promotion and here I was called again. Supposedly due to the fact that the language on the site is changed by a regular POST request and recorded in cookies, only pages in the main, main language are indexed. Therefore, this option is not suitable for SEO. Well, not a problem, I said that I could make the language be like the address.ru/en/index.php while hinting that it would not be free. What I did and now everything works as they want.

But the customer is in no hurry to pay for this work. they say "it was my joint." My position is that because this was not discussed when ordering, it is regarded as additional work and is accordingly paid separately. The deputy customer in this regard was a teapot and could not know that he might need it.

Naturally, no papers were signed.

How can you protect yourself from such situations and how to most tactfully demand money from the contractor for additional work?

UPD: I received the money, a little less than I planned, but I received it.
The question is over.

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7 answer(s)

d4rkr00t, 2011-08-01
@d4rkr00t

Well, you are not a CEO, and since this condition was not immediately stipulated, I think it was quite legitimate to request additional. fee.
And the customer agreed to pay extra and did not pay extra?
In general, in this case, you need to take an advance payment. Well, try to explain that this is not a jamb on your part, but simply two different implementations of the same thing, and that since it was not specifically agreed which of the options is needed, they chose at their discretion.

sskalmykov, 2011-08-01
@sskalmykov

In this particular case, you will not receive money. No documents = no obligation to pay.
In order to protect yourself, it is necessary in the contract for the creation of the site, in the absence of a clearly written TOR, to prescribe the number of hours that will be spent on additional improvements to the site. For example, I usually include 70 hours for adjustments that were not specified in the TOR and the customer feels very good signing such an agreement, because. he thinks that 70 hours is a lot.
In order not to work for free in the future, do not be lazy to deal with bureaucracy and write terms of reference, briefs, acceptance certificates and contracts. Although the contract does not give a 100% guarantee, it is in any way better than working on trust.
As for the sense of tact… What is tactless here, if there was no talk about the cleanliness of the url when creating the site, and only the SEO specialist who appeared decided that you should change them. There is additional work that needs to be paid for. Calculate the labor costs in hours, multiply them by the amount you estimate the cost of an hour of work and send the invoice to the customer.
But I don't think it's possible to get money in this situation. Or you will have to resort to not very good deeds, but I think that the amount in question is not worth it to behave ugly. It is better to smile at the customer and say that they do not intend to work for free in the future.

un1t, 2011-08-02
@un1t

Roll back the changes, and then ask the question about money again.

Alexander, 2011-08-02
@Alexx_ps

If you work as a freelancer, then I do not advise you to even lift a finger without prepayment.

sanfr00v, 2011-08-01
@sanfr00v

For any work, you must sign a contract, even if it is additional. A verbal agreement now means nothing at all. I think that all claims to the customer are meaningless.

ChemAli, 2011-08-02
@ChemAli

No documents - no money. You have done the work of your own free will. Everything is fair.

Kirill Mamaev, 2011-08-02
@r00tGER

I take the side of those who believe that it is better to leave the customer alone.
And for the future, be sure to draw up a contract, technical specifications, and after payment and delivery of the project, knock out an act of accepting work from the customer.
Let him then bring at least a hundred seots, and each of them will express his expert opinion, what was done “wrong”.
You will be on the side, as done in accordance with the TOR. And you honestly worked every penny.