A year ago I was asked to revamp a website called Affinity Law. However, after this was done, the owner of the site, Mr Steve Stapleton, asked me to also use the design on another of his websites, namely Schools Commercial Gallery.

As the job progressed there were additional features requested/added & I was also asked to buy other domain names, with a view to building other sites. The initial job(s) was completed in a matter of days, as I was told that the time was of the essence & I was told by Mr Stapleton that he was very happy with the work I’d done & I was paid in full by cheque……..however, shortly before I was due to go away on my first holiday for years, the cheque was returned by my bank, stating that it had been stopped!!

Assuming this was a simple mistake, I contacted Mr Stapleton, who told me that this WAS a mix up, caused by the company changing banks; he would find out what had happened and get me paid asap. This was in April 2010 & I have still never been paid for the work I did!

During the course of the last year, I’ve asked Mr Stapleton to pay a number of times, but have always been told to ask again in a couple of months, as the company has no money!

So now a year has passed & still nothing has been paid – promised yes, but paid, no. As a result I have decided to take this case to the small claims court & see if a CCJ will at least prove my outstanding claim, should the company go into liquidation (assuming that’s what happens when a company owes money but has none!).

I’ve used Money Claim Online to start proceedings; which is Her Majesty’s Courts Service Internet based service for claimants and defendants! Assuming you have a Government Gateway account, it’s very easy to use & a claim notice has now been sent by the court. The cost of issuing a notice varies depending on the amount due, but hopefully this will break the stalemate in some way!!!!

What concerns me is that the Schools Commercial Gallery are supposedly involved with fundraising for schools! “We work with the Extended Schools Coordinators to maximise income generation and fundraising to support the development and sustainability of new events by identifying opportunities and working closely with the schools and the local business community”.

As an advocate of plain english, I have no idea what the above statement really means – it’s that business speak that sounds great, but is pretty vague in its meaning! All I know is that I have been promised payment for MY services a dozen times, but have yet to see a penny & it’s that sort of statement that I DO understand!

The one thing that I changed about my business after this episode, was to charge people 50% up front before I even start a project! I hate doing it, as I feel it infers that I can’t trust the client, but I can’t take the risk of spending weeks working on another project, only to not get paid again!

Hopefully an update to this post will be a happy one!!