When a customer burns you.

Mon Dec 1 17:47:26 PST 2003

On Mon, Dec 01, 2003 at 02:32:01PM -0800, Strata R Chalup wrote:
> It's a bit late now that you've quit, but my advice in this
> situation is never to quit unless the client is visibly broke.
> As long as you are still onsite and helping, they have an
> incentive to pay you something, even if it's installments and
> overdue.  Once you walk away, they have ZERO incentive to
> pay you, figuring that it will take more money in legal fees
> and lost wages on your part to collect than they owe.  :-/

On the other hand, the client may use exactly that sort of attitude against
you -- "he's desperate (especially in these times) and wouldn't dare quit."

In some respects, it's also a question of what you're doing for the client.
The one time my last consulting company had a seriously recalcitrant
client, we were their sole IT provider -- we were doing everything from
strategic projects to day-to-day support.  They couldn't let us leave
without suffering some pretty significant danger of downtime, and so we
were in a stronger position when we initiated the work stoppage.

Of course, that's another element -- there's a big difference between "you
guys aren't paying me, I quit" and "We will not be doing work until these
differences are resolved," though again that's likely dependent on the
actual type of duties you're performing.

-roy