What to charge?

godskitchen

Hello all, I don't think this is the correct forum, i cant think where else to put it though.

I have completed a leaflet for a company, complete art work and its all ready to go to printing.

I quoted the prices separately for my part of the job and the printers, so the customer knows what i am expecting to be paid.

The customer rings me the other day to inform me that the leaflets are no longer needed (for the moment, maybe never) and not to go ahead with the printing.

He told me to bill him for the work completed and I am pretty sure he will honor the original amount i quoted.

The problem i have is this............do i charge the full amount, all the work is completed, but it almost feels wrong to be changing anything at all for something that the customer may never see. Now while i dont have a problem charging I dont know what the right thing to do is in terms of the business.

Do i not charge in the hope that other work will come my way? Do i under charge? Do i offer some kind of discount in the future?

Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance.

jetsonx

He sounds like a time waster of a customer...the type of customer you will never hear from again...

So charge him about 65 % of price ...include a nice note explaining the work had already been completed and that you hope you can serve him in the future yada yada....

If you do lose him as a customer - so what - no business wants customers who renege on contracts.

antoinolachtnai

Why do you think he decided not to print? Do you think he's getting it redone somewhere else? Was he happy with everything? Did something else happen that he just decided not to do the promotion?

If it's the latter, I would just charge him the full whack. That's sales and marketing for you. Stuff changes, things get cancelled. Maybe put a special effort into selling him something else.

Duckjob

If your time has been spent and he didn't cancel because of dissatisfaction with your work then I don't see the problem with charging him full whack.

Maybe make him an offer now of a discount on the next job he gives you.

godskitchen

He had a franchise for something and it was taken away from him, so he no longer needs to promote the product. I know him indirectly and I am told he is very honorable by some i trust. I know there would be no problem asking for the full quoted price, its just knowing what the right thing to do is............

Thanks for all your advice guys, its been a great help.

antoinolachtnai

Well, then I would give him a call and discuss it with him. If he definitely wants to pay, take the money and tell him that your sorry things didn't work out and that the next one is on you (or whatever).

I think that he might rather be charged the full whack, if he isn't actually stuck for the money.

Eoin

I presume you spent as much time on this as you would have on a job that did go to print, so there is absolutely no reason why you should feel bad because the customer had to back out. You have your own costs and wages to worry about first. Having said that, I would discount it slightly in the hope that he will come back to you with more work. This would be strictly a marketing decision, not a conscience one though.

The customer rings me the other day to inform me that the leaflets are no longer needed (for the moment, maybe never) and not to go ahead with the printing.
...
all the work is completed, but it almost feels wrong to be changing anything at all for something that the customer may never see

When you're invoicing him, can you send him a copy of the brochure, and mention that it is good to go, should be he need it printed after all? Sounds silly, but at least you're supplying the work that you are looking to get paid for, in some way.

At least he sounds like he is willing to pay. I did an eCommerce site for a "friend" (no money in advance), and it wasn't until it was completely ready to go that he told me he had changed plans, and stopped returning my calls.

jetsonx

eoin_s wrote:

It wasn't until it was completely ready to go that he told me he had changed plans, and stopped returning my calls.

a class act eh!

Eoin

jetsonx wrote:

a class act eh!

Don't get me started. The last phone call I got was him telling me he had checked his bank statements, and the check has gone through. So according to him, I had not only forgotten that I had received the check, but had also fogotten I had lodged it also!

jetsonx

hound the f*cker till he pays up.

blue4ever

godskitchen wrote:

He had a franchise for something and it was taken away from him, so he no longer needs to promote the product. I know him indirectly and I am told he is very honorable by some i trust. I know there would be no problem asking for the full quoted price, its just knowing what the right thing to do is............

Thanks for all your advice guys, its been a great help.

Charge the full whack less say 12% - its only fair for all- however - if he's into the business stuff as you say- he could bring more businesss later-

blue4ever

eoin_s wrote:

Don't get me started. The last phone call I got was him telling me he had checked his bank statements, and the check has gone through. So according to him, I had not only forgotten that I had received the check, but had also fogotten I had lodged it also!

DONT start me. DONT. I work = you pay!

if he has the statement - ask him for the check number. I found that normally made things difficult. I also found turning up at the place of business also worked - last resort but fcuk it - I won't be working for that 'class of person' again.

Mr. Presentable

Ask for what you think he'll pay, plus 30%. Be prepared to settle for your costs, you need that at least.

tyler_d

Firstly, It really depends on how important the customers COULD be to you in the future. If you think he will give you plenty of business in the future then maybe charge him at a discount and specify to him that you are giving him a discount because you know him. He will probably come back to you for doing this.

Secondly, if you think its a once off job and he really isnt going to give you much business, then you need to make a stance now because he could do it again in the future and it is these type of customers that can jeopardise your business.

Finally, you need to write terms and conditions from the get go, and get your new customers to sign at the start. Then when you charge them full whack for incidents like this, they will be understand as its in their contract.

broadsheet

Charge him full and offer him a discount on the "next" job, its hardly your problem that it was cancelled.