refuses payment after signing contract

lia · 04-28-2007, 05:40 AM

Hi Ladies,

I've been absent from the forums for a while trying to catch up all loose ends and family, work etc.

I have had a situation where a client signed up with me and we had two prenatal visits and then 5 days away from her due date she said she no longer needed me.

She failed to pay my deposit and now claims not to have understood the terms of our agreement.
Have any of you run into a similar problem and what have you done about it?
I am currently wondering if I have any recourse because she signed a contract and agreed to my payments and said she was going to transfer money over. She then went ahead and kept me hanging on saying she had done the transfer and when I asked her for proof of payment she avoided my calls and only finally called me 5 days prior to due date.

Love and anticipation
Lia
xxx

douladot · 04-28-2007, 05:55 AM

I haven't run into this yet. Get your deposit BEFORE you do any prenatals!! They should be giving you your deposit with the signed contract FIRST and then you schedule the prenatals. This is just the way I do it, though. Anyone else???...

lia · 04-28-2007, 06:02 AM

That's what I have always done so this is really a new thing I've run into.
She was also a friend of a previous client who was so great that I kinda went on the trust thing a little.

I know. I shouldn't have.
She was also recommended to me from another doula and hypnobirthing practitioner to help this women with her hypno birthing at birth so there was a lot involved I seriously didn't think she would back out since she had little support from the dad.
The thing that gets me is how she led me on.

MothertheMother · 04-28-2007, 07:52 AM

short of taking her to small claims court there isn't much you can do, as far as I know. This may have to be written off as "lesson learned" for the future. I'm so sorry this happend

dorothyh · 04-28-2007, 08:26 AM

Ugh, that stinks.

I have learned that lesson the hard way in the past and now do not do any prenatals and do not hold a spot for them until I have a deposit.

If I were you, I would try one more time to mail her an invoice for the two classes, but if she doesn't pay, short of small-claims court, I don't know what else you could do.

Acacia · 04-28-2007, 09:34 AM

I do believe I would send her a copy of the contract she signed and also an invoice for services that you provided...charge her for the time you spent with her and also your time for being on call. Let her know you expect payment within a certain amount of time. Send it registered mail and make sure she signs for it. Wait that time frame and then send the same thing again, but this time include some sort of note letting her know that the payment is indeed due as your contract states and if payment is not made within X amount of days your lawyer will contact her. I seriously don't mess with stuff like this especially with someone being shady. It would be purely about principle for me and even if I lost money on the lawyer fees I wouldn't care lol. She KNEW she owed you the money if she told you other times she was transferring it and if she signed the contract she UNDERSTOOD it just fine. She is just backing out. I see others have different views, but I wouldn't let her get off that easy. And of course this is a lesson learned! Collect payment ahead of time!

tlcdoula · 04-28-2007, 09:48 AM

I think it depends on what your contract says. If it says she needs to return the deposit with the contract and you accepted the contract without then you might not have recourse as the deal wasn't finalized.

I had something like this happen once where the mom gave me the contract, said she would pay 1/2 at the first prenatal and although she did the check bounced. She apologized and said she would pay cash at the second prenatal, but instead I got another check and guess what happened to that one too? It bounced and then she didn't need my services. In the end I never got a cent from her other than the bill I sent her for a binder she lost of mine, but I got that money 6 months later.

tlcdoula · 04-28-2007, 09:49 AM

I forgot to mention that I think you can take it off of your taxes as a bad debt. I would send her a bill giving her x number of days to pay and then send her a second and see what she does. I would also include a copy of her signed contract with the parts of your contract about fees highlighted.

lia · 04-28-2007, 09:51 AM

Thanks Acacia,

I am feeling the same way but I confess to hating any kind of confrontation and this seems to be gathering all the elements of a big one.

In the meantime I have amended my contract to leave no doubt about payment etc. I mean it is seldom here in South Africa that a doula has a contract in the first place so I'm pretty advanced in this still it is a lesson learnt.

I will sleep on this and do something in the new week about it.
Thanks all,

Love and gratitude
Lia
xxx

empowering birth · 04-28-2007, 11:02 AM

Can you state in your contract that you accept cash only? I was thinking of doing that when I begin to charge. I know that doesn't leave the client with a whole lot of payment options, but then that way you are sure to get your money before you do any prenatals.

MothertheMother · 04-28-2007, 12:35 PM

Instead of depositing a check in your account you could take it to the bank it is drawn off of and just cash it. You should know on the spot if there are funds to cover it and you won't have to pay any fees to your bank if it bounces. I assume, other than military towns most poeple use local banks...

DL · 04-28-2007, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by douladot

I haven't run into this yet. Get your deposit BEFORE you do any prenatals!! They should be giving you your deposit with the signed contract FIRST and then you schedule the prenatals. This is just the way I do it, though. Anyone else???...

Absolutely; this is how I do it, also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothertheMother

short of taking her to small claims court there isn't much you can do, as far as I know. This may have to be written off as "lesson learned" for the future. I'm so sorry this happend

Sad, but true.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acacia

I do believe I would send her a copy of the contract she signed and also an invoice for services that you provided...charge her for the time you spent with her and also your time for being on call. Let her know you expect payment within a certain amount of time. Send it registered mail and make sure she signs for it. Wait that time frame and then send the same thing again, but this time include some sort of note letting her know that the payment is indeed due as your contract states and if payment is not made within X amount of days your lawyer will contact her. I seriously don't mess with stuff like this especially with someone being shady. It would be purely about principle for me and even if I lost money on the lawyer fees I wouldn't care lol. She KNEW she owed you the money if she told you other times she was transferring it and if she signed the contract she UNDERSTOOD it just fine. She is just backing out. I see others have different views, but I wouldn't let her get off that easy. And of course this is a lesson learned! Collect payment ahead of time!

I totally agree with your view. The problem is that many of us can't afford the extra money for attorney fees at the drop of a hat. Sometimes the mere threat that you're thinking of getting one is enough, though, so I would at least go that far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MothertheMother

Instead of depositing a check in your account you could take it to the bank it is drawn off of and just cash it. You should know on the spot if there are funds to cover it and you won't have to pay any fees to your bank if it bounces. I assume, other than military towns most poeple use local banks...

Sure; you could do this. Keep in mind, however, that most banks (here in the U.S. anyway) will charge you to cash a check if you do not have an account with them yourself. I know; I just tried to cash a check last week at the check writer's bank, and they wanted to charge me $10 to do so. That's just bull crap!!! I then proceeded to drive 20 min to my own credit union to cash it for free and was told that that's pretty much how all banks do it now. Banks are so greedy!

1stimestar · 04-28-2007, 04:14 PM

What about going through a credit service. I know that one of my babysitters used one for people that wouldn't pay their fees.

Jilian · 04-28-2007, 09:38 PM

I'm sorry this happened, you can't do much about it now, but you can count it as a lesson learned and take precautions in the future. I read my contract out loud to clients, and elaborate on anything they may not understand. I make sure they ask me any questions they may have before signing. I don't consider a person my client until they've signed my contract (and initialed each page saying they understand) and then give me a deposit. I will only schedule a prenatal after I have a deposit.

My contract also states that unless by 36 weeks pregnant a client cancels my services and we both sign a cancellation - then full payment is still due. Maybe you could put some kind of cancellation clause in your contract if you don't have one already. But even with the best contract in the world, you'd still have to take a non-paying client to court to recover the money, and sometimes it's not worth the time or money to do that.

Unfortunately there are people out there looking to take advantage of others and get something for nothing, so you have to CYA and not really do any special favors when it comes to money and business.

brilliant · 04-28-2007, 10:43 PM

i am lucky that my best friend is a lawyer so what i've done in the past is have her write an "official sounding" letter requesting payment. it doesn't mean much in reality but sometimes just seeing a lawyer's name on a letter is enough to get payment. do you have any friends who are lawyers?