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Moral Dilemma.
17 years ago
So: Talented people. There are many of them. They usually operate, when selling their services, in one of two ways: Pay before delivery of goods or pay after delivery of goods.
For those who only take payment on delivery? Good on you. You can walk away and I get no harm. I wouldn't, and haven't ever walked away from such a deal myself, and it's gone really well.
Then there're the ones who take payment in advance... I eagerly pay in advance people who have a reputation and a proven track record for delivering amazing, eyebleedingly good results, on time. I've never been unhappy doing this. I could plug the delivered results of a good half-dozen here and as many offline.
But then there are the other kind of folk who take payment in advance...
What do you do with one who's not properly businesslike? More than five years ago I dropped just shy of 150 dollars on a commission that was supposed to be a christmas present... for 2002... for the Beachfox. He was a personal friend, a close personal friend of his, and I figured: Hey, this guy likes the fox, no way no how will he flake.
HA!
Christmas came and went. A deadline for FC after that came and went. All the promises came and went, and nothing.
I let the matter slide, because the talented individual in question had a bit of a bad run, and bad things happen sometimes.. but time has ticked on, and aforementioned individual has churned out piles of things for nonpaying folk, has pulled quad-figures easily in every art show I've seen his work posted in.. and has a reputation among his other would-be commissioners for being a scofflaw and not delivering work on time, if ever at all...
***
So here I am:
2002 dollars are worth substantially more than 2008 dollars. My time is valuable also. If I hadn't paid in advance.. I'd have no quibble, and I'd just walk away... but, well, I did pay in advance, to someone who's proven to be an extreme flake.. Stupid me, so now what do I do?
What do I want? I want to get my work completed, still. I don't want to make trouble for anyone.
But that being said, if there's zero chance of the work ever getting done, I want to inflict maximum financial pain and public humiliation on the individual involved. I figure given the inflation rate my cash in 2002 is probably worth a good 200 by now. It was also paid with PayPal, and we all know how they feel about fraud.
Any ideas? What do you do with someone who's swindled you?
Small claims? More patience?
I'm stumped.
For those who only take payment on delivery? Good on you. You can walk away and I get no harm. I wouldn't, and haven't ever walked away from such a deal myself, and it's gone really well.
Then there're the ones who take payment in advance... I eagerly pay in advance people who have a reputation and a proven track record for delivering amazing, eyebleedingly good results, on time. I've never been unhappy doing this. I could plug the delivered results of a good half-dozen here and as many offline.
But then there are the other kind of folk who take payment in advance...
What do you do with one who's not properly businesslike? More than five years ago I dropped just shy of 150 dollars on a commission that was supposed to be a christmas present... for 2002... for the Beachfox. He was a personal friend, a close personal friend of his, and I figured: Hey, this guy likes the fox, no way no how will he flake.
HA!
Christmas came and went. A deadline for FC after that came and went. All the promises came and went, and nothing.
I let the matter slide, because the talented individual in question had a bit of a bad run, and bad things happen sometimes.. but time has ticked on, and aforementioned individual has churned out piles of things for nonpaying folk, has pulled quad-figures easily in every art show I've seen his work posted in.. and has a reputation among his other would-be commissioners for being a scofflaw and not delivering work on time, if ever at all...
***
So here I am:
2002 dollars are worth substantially more than 2008 dollars. My time is valuable also. If I hadn't paid in advance.. I'd have no quibble, and I'd just walk away... but, well, I did pay in advance, to someone who's proven to be an extreme flake.. Stupid me, so now what do I do?
What do I want? I want to get my work completed, still. I don't want to make trouble for anyone.
But that being said, if there's zero chance of the work ever getting done, I want to inflict maximum financial pain and public humiliation on the individual involved. I figure given the inflation rate my cash in 2002 is probably worth a good 200 by now. It was also paid with PayPal, and we all know how they feel about fraud.
Any ideas? What do you do with someone who's swindled you?
Small claims? More patience?
I'm stumped.
I didn't do anything. Yes, that's my money. But what am I going to do? They were in Europe, I'm in Michigan.
Wouldn't even have to cross jurisdictions to file small claims.