Invoice left unpaid from foreign branch of good national customer: what to do?
Quote from Bel on January 3, 2023, 1:28 pmUpdate on this:
Quote from Bel on October 24, 2022, 1:47 amOne month has passed and no further sign of this person.
I think I was wrong here, and just came to be manipulated by a highly skilled manipulator, who probably now switched onto another younger lawyer who could be "not paid" just like I could be "not paid" when he switched onto me from my former law firm in the first place.
I thus think Lucio and John's suggestion was right, and my "intuition" was wrong here.
Chalking it up to learning and a bad decision on my side.
So I'm even more convinced I'll now always push for payment after doing work.
Or at the very least, in "in-doubt situations", leaving the invoice as it is, so that my "credit" is kept always on.
This very client, totally unexpectedly, sent me a bottle of sparkling wine for Christmas.
I am really puzzled by his behavior.
At the same time I feel the uncertainty in me has nonetheless reduced.
Kind of "doesn't matter what he's doing, I have learned now to keep my bar steady should we interact again".
Update on this:
Quote from Bel on October 24, 2022, 1:47 amOne month has passed and no further sign of this person.
I think I was wrong here, and just came to be manipulated by a highly skilled manipulator, who probably now switched onto another younger lawyer who could be "not paid" just like I could be "not paid" when he switched onto me from my former law firm in the first place.
I thus think Lucio and John's suggestion was right, and my "intuition" was wrong here.
Chalking it up to learning and a bad decision on my side.
So I'm even more convinced I'll now always push for payment after doing work.
Or at the very least, in "in-doubt situations", leaving the invoice as it is, so that my "credit" is kept always on.
This very client, totally unexpectedly, sent me a bottle of sparkling wine for Christmas.
I am really puzzled by his behavior.
At the same time I feel the uncertainty in me has nonetheless reduced.
Kind of "doesn't matter what he's doing, I have learned now to keep my bar steady should we interact again".
Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on January 3, 2023, 5:02 pmQuote from Bel on January 3, 2023, 1:28 pmAt the same time I feel the uncertainty in me has nonetheless reduced.
Kind of "doesn't matter what he's doing, I have learned now to keep my bar steady should we interact again".
Nice, I liked that one a lot.
I think it shows that you're starting to become more and more mentally independent/empowered.
The game player can play his game, but he's not gonna command much real estate in your mind.
And it's not even a struggle in the sense of "no, I'm not gonna let you", but more like a natural, effortless consequence of your new way of being.
Quote from Bel on January 3, 2023, 1:28 pmAt the same time I feel the uncertainty in me has nonetheless reduced.
Kind of "doesn't matter what he's doing, I have learned now to keep my bar steady should we interact again".
Nice, I liked that one a lot.
I think it shows that you're starting to become more and more mentally independent/empowered.
The game player can play his game, but he's not gonna command much real estate in your mind.
And it's not even a struggle in the sense of "no, I'm not gonna let you", but more like a natural, effortless consequence of your new way of being.
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Quote from Bel on July 1, 2023, 10:45 pmHi Guys,
wanted to update this thread as to the original first post here about the invoice left unpaid and the non-responsive manager.
I now see another crucial mistake I made with this manager, that contributed much to the relationship being terminated.
It was something I did not even write about in this thread, that totally escaped my consciousness:
In the course of me doing the work, the manager sent me an email where she asked if I was sure of something I had told her.
I replied by writing a detailed email where I "assembled" lots of information and documents that "proved" I was sure. And, I invoiced the time I employed in writing this email.
I don't even know why I did this at the time. I think it was a combination of:
- me not being "sure of my legal judgment", as if the client wouldn't believe my evaluation but instead I had to "prove it"; and
- me thinking the "big company" had no problem in paying for one hour of work on answering something like that.
I now realize it was a big, big mistake: the manager probably got a feeling I was trying to "exploit his honest quick question to gain money".
Instead, I should have basically said something like "Yes X, I confirm what I told you, the legal situation has not changed unfortunately". I could have then maybe added that I was available to study it more and provide proof if he wanted.
I want to share how I got this insight: I recently received a similar email from another client, and I thought: "Of course I cannot make him pay for this". Then I immediately remembered of this thread. Incredible.
The discussion here was invaluable: even though I was not even aware of my "mistake" at the time and so could not get feedback on it on this thread, I still got to see it later by learning more power dynamics and reflecting again on it. And I also learned lots of other invaluable things in the process.
Hi Guys,
wanted to update this thread as to the original first post here about the invoice left unpaid and the non-responsive manager.
I now see another crucial mistake I made with this manager, that contributed much to the relationship being terminated.
It was something I did not even write about in this thread, that totally escaped my consciousness:
In the course of me doing the work, the manager sent me an email where she asked if I was sure of something I had told her.
I replied by writing a detailed email where I "assembled" lots of information and documents that "proved" I was sure. And, I invoiced the time I employed in writing this email.
I don't even know why I did this at the time. I think it was a combination of:
- me not being "sure of my legal judgment", as if the client wouldn't believe my evaluation but instead I had to "prove it"; and
- me thinking the "big company" had no problem in paying for one hour of work on answering something like that.
I now realize it was a big, big mistake: the manager probably got a feeling I was trying to "exploit his honest quick question to gain money".
Instead, I should have basically said something like "Yes X, I confirm what I told you, the legal situation has not changed unfortunately". I could have then maybe added that I was available to study it more and provide proof if he wanted.
I want to share how I got this insight: I recently received a similar email from another client, and I thought: "Of course I cannot make him pay for this". Then I immediately remembered of this thread. Incredible.
The discussion here was invaluable: even though I was not even aware of my "mistake" at the time and so could not get feedback on it on this thread, I still got to see it later by learning more power dynamics and reflecting again on it. And I also learned lots of other invaluable things in the process.