Client owes me money. They moved from Canada to Mexico. Any hope of retrieving funds?

Rylan Zolinski

Rylan Zolinski

Well-known member
I did a shoot for someone about a month ago. They received the final product and when they were due to pay, they conveniently moved to Mexico from Canada. Is there any way to actually retrieve the funds they owe me? And yes, they really are in Mexico.
 
So very sorry.

I had a non-payment, just in California... really no viable way to get your money even cross-state, let alone internationally.

Depending upon the amount, there are likely some individuals and/or organizations in Mexico willing to help collect the funds by whatever means necessary......




(joking, of course)
 
mcbob said:
So very sorry.

I had a non-payment, just in California... really no viable way to get your money even cross-state, let alone internationally.

Depending upon the amount, there are likely some individuals and/or organizations in Mexico willing to help collect the funds by whatever means necessary......




(joking, of course)
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Can you recommend a few cartels?

Yeah, it appears I am screwed. From my understanding, this person may only be there for 3 months. I can't confirm this but it sounds like my only hope is that they come back and I file a small claims suit.
 
In my case, I took ownership of the source media and sold it as stock footage. Actually wound up making 3x the original invoice over the past few years, but that's kind of a happy best case scenario.
 
mcbob said:
In my case, I took ownership of the source media and sold it as stock footage. Actually wound up making 3x the original invoice over the past few years, but that's kind of a happy best case scenario.
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It was a speech from an author, lol. Can't imagine anyone wanting that besides the speaker.
 
Liam Hall said:
Have you spoken to the person? It's only a month, I don't think there's any need to panic.
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Yep. This person told me that she didn't like her own speech (nothing I have control over; I was hired just to shoot it). Because of this, she told me her husband refuses to pay for it. She told me not to worry and that she will definitely pay for it in two weeks time. Fast forward to two weeks later... I remind her of the payment and this is when communication stopped. The only way to contact her was through email or Facebook (they cut off their cellphone service since they moved to Mexico). Facebook shows the "seen" text when someone reads your message. She's definitely ignoring me. I didn't want to threaten her but I calmly told her that if payment isn't sent then I would unfortunately have to file for a claim but would rather settle on just her sending me the funds that I rightfully earned.
 
Morox said:
Yep. This person told me that she didn't like her own speech (nothing I have control over; I was hired just to shoot it). Because of this, she told me her husband refuses to pay for it. She told me not to worry and that she will definitely pay for it in two weeks time. Fast forward to two weeks later... I remind her of the payment and this is when communication stopped. The only way to contact her was through email or Facebook (they cut off their cellphone service since they moved to Mexico). Facebook shows the "seen" text when someone reads your message. She's definitely ignoring me. I didn't want to threaten her but I calmly told her that if payment isn't sent then I would unfortunately have to file for a claim but would rather settle on just her sending me the funds that I rightfully earned.
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It probably is not worth it.

Since you indicate you are in Canada... not knowing anything about such things as 'small claims court', which in the US is designed to handle 'small' like under $2500 or so worth of 'damage', don't know if Canada has anything similar.

If the person is a citizen/resident of Canada, and has assets funds in Canada, then you could go through such a court to make a claim.

In the US the laws that allowed a 'husband' to repudiate a debt made by the wife, have been gone for some time...

But the Wife has had wedding customers try to do just that...

These days it doesn't matter who concludes a contract, a husband and wife are usually 'on the hook' as in community debt. But Canadian law may be different on such points.

Oh, yeah, on the point of Mexican Law... nothing happens without money... even for legitimate claims, legitimate legal processes, and legitimate 'collection' activities...
 
It's definitely not a lot of money. Even if I came out with $0, it's worth it to me just to make a point.
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No it is not. Your time is valuable and you need to move on.

Yep. This person told me that she didn't like her own speech (nothing I have control over; I was hired just to shoot it). Because of this, she told me her husband refuses to pay for it. She told me not to worry and that she will definitely pay for it in two weeks time. Fast forward to two weeks later... I remind her of the payment and this is when communication stopped. The only way to contact her was through email or Facebook (they cut off their cellphone service since they moved to Mexico). Facebook shows the "seen" text when someone reads your message. She's definitely ignoring me. I didn't want to threaten her but I calmly told her that if payment isn't sent then I would unfortunately have to file for a claim but would rather settle on just her sending me the funds that I rightfully earned.
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Two weeks? From my experience receiving payment from my fastest-paying clients, that's lighting fast. Especially if it has to make it through a large company's system. Around a month is pretty standard.

I have been burnt and you can't do a single thing - a lawyer will add up quickly and only makes sense if you're after huge amounts. My advice is to not take any of this personally and forget about it.

It sounds like they don't care about burning bridges, which means they definitely will feel fine ignoring 100s of emails, facebook messages and phone calls - making it a waste of time on your end.

Get something out of this situation:
- look into having a basic contract written up - it might not even hold up but it can add weight to you being perceived as a serious professional.
- don't be scared to ask for half up front, half upon delivery - if they're serious they wont' even question this.
- think about adding distracting watermarks/timecode for sending previews to clients you're suspicious of - gets lifted after final payment.

Good luck out there!
 
That is weak. NOT OKAY. I'm sure you already know, but your subject not liking her speech has no bearing on whether you get paid or not, the only thing that MIGHT affect it is if you performed the work you were hired to do poorly/incorrectly, not the case here from what it sounds like. But echoing what others said, yeah, maybe start asking half up front, half before you deliver final product, check on the day of the shoot (although that can get hairy 'cause sometimes the client will be on site with you and say "aw, shux, forgot muh check book. DURN! Oh well, can I pay you in a week?" And what are you gonna do at that point? Pack up and leave (if it's before the shoot)? Probably not, cause of human nature and most people trying to be "nice." Start a fight, if it's after the shoot? Probably not, again, same reason. Half up front is a good faith thing. Though I understand on the client end why they would be hesitant to do it. But yeah, some kind of deal memo/contract, even for simple shoots edits, not a bad idea. No, I do not yet do this myself but have been thinking about it. Some kind of template where you could just change out the specifics each time. Another reason is 'cause I often find myself in a position where extra work is added last minute ("Oh we didn't originally plan to shoot these speakers, but now we want to, and can you also edit them? Thanks.") A contract would specify exactly what was covered and you can flash it at them and remind them each time this is attempted, if it creates extra work outside the scope of the time/effort originally agreed upon.
 
Josh Bass said:
That is weak. NOT OKAY. I'm sure you already know, but your subject not liking her speech has no bearing on whether you get paid or not, the only thing that MIGHT affect it is if you performed the work you were hired to do poorly/incorrectly, not the case here from what it sounds like. But echoing what others said, yeah, maybe start asking half up front, half before you deliver final product, check on the day of the shoot (although that can get hairy 'cause sometimes the client will be on site with you and say "aw, shux, forgot muh check book. DURN! Oh well, can I pay you in a week?" And what are you gonna do at that point? Pack up and leave (if it's before the shoot)? Probably not, cause of human nature and most people trying to be "nice." Start a fight, if it's after the shoot? Probably not, again, same reason. Half up front is a good faith thing. Though I understand on the client end why they would be hesitant to do it. But yeah, some kind of deal memo/contract, even for simple shoots edits, not a bad idea. No, I do not yet do this myself but have been thinking about it. Some kind of template where you could just change out the specifics each time. Another reason is 'cause I often find myself in a position where extra work is added last minute ("Oh we didn't originally plan to shoot these speakers, but now we want to, and can you also edit them? Thanks.") A contract would specify exactly what was covered and you can flash it at them and remind them each time this is attempted, if it creates extra work outside the scope of the time/effort originally agreed upon.
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Here's the part I'm absolutely kicking myself for. I've never had a client not pay for work. This person wanted to pay half up front but I told them it was not necessary. After completing the video and prior to her even seeing it, this person wanted to pay me. There were a few times that she wanted to pay me but I had a conflicting schedule and I also didn't feel comfortable taking money without her reviewing the work I completed. After a few days of her having the video and her probably reviewing it in its entirety, she came to the conclusion she didn't like her own speech.
 
Morox said:
Here's the part I'm absolutely kicking myself for. I've never had a client not pay for work. This person wanted to pay half up front but I told them it was not necessary. After completing the video and prior to her even seeing it, this person wanted to pay me. There were a few times that she wanted to pay me but I had a conflicting schedule and I also didn't feel comfortable taking money without her reviewing the work I completed. After a few days of her having the video and her probably reviewing it in its entirety, she came to the conclusion she didn't like her own speech.
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I'd recommend this to be a XXX dollar 'learning experience', and 1) always require 1/2 payment, 2) always require payment in full before delivery... let the customer sue if you don't deliver or has objections to the deliverable, 3) be ready to go to court if you feel that you truly delivered to the requirements of the contract.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
I'd recommend this to be a XXX dollar 'learning experience', and 1) always require 1/2 payment, 2) always require payment in full before delivery... let the customer sue if you don't deliver or has objections to the deliverable, 3) be ready to go to court if you feel that you truly delivered to the requirements of the contract.
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This is how I work for all freelance jobs. If those terms dont work I dont either. Never lost a job because of it. I did get shafted once but since I got 50% It took the sting out.
 
Makes sense to me to always have contract with 1/2 up front, then something like 1/4 on delivery of a proof that includes a watermark, then 1/4 on final delivery (unless it's a repeat client). You have sound/lighting to pay for, right?
 
There are all kinds of clients and dozens of ways that they can find not to pay. Getting paid is not automatic guaranteed thing its an acquired skill. Drafting a precise deal memo or contract with step by step payments at certain milestones is one of your best tools.

You might be tempted to skip this step when its a really close friend or a company that you already have a track record with, or even a famous person or huge company that you are so pumped to work with . All of them can find reasons not to pay and its definitely not fair.

I've had clients who owe me money actually come back to me and ask for more work to be done, this of course is your chance to recover that cash before you start your next job... I didn't end up working for them... but of course didn't tell them that until I had my money back... Be patient... I keep sending reminder invoices, not threatening but just professional, I've done deals with people to chase down the money by phone in return for a percentage of the payment.

After thats gone on for six months or more I might reach out again... and simply say if they come up with a payment within 24hours I'll cut the balance owed by 40%. That has worked a couple times because in the clients mind they see it as they are saving that much money and everyone likes to save money... and for me it a win beI've basically already written the money off and keep harassing them out of principle

hope some of these tips help.



A lot of times they don't view that money owed to you in a very personal way , to them you're just another bill like cell phone or an electricity bill. The reason they will pay their cell phone bill before you is that there cell phone will get cut off, We don't really have a lot of leverage once we've shot something and its in the clients hands...

Even if they don't have the footage, people change their minds about what they want to do or spend their money on all the time.
 
I should be more hard assed about getting some up front, but sometimes it's so awkward to ask, or the job comes up a few days away from it's actual shoot date, and it's very tough. I HAVE lost work 'cause folks didn't want to do that (fully paid before delivery). Does that mean they're dishonest? Not necessarily. They may have been thinking the same of me. But yeah, if someone OFFERS to pay up front or at any point, I would say "sure." That doesn't mean you can't make corrections/revisions (at no extra cost depending on circumstances if you wish) if they're dissatisfied, but at least you're taken care of.
 
Welp, the person actually responded to my messages. Apparently both her and her husband aren't working and have no income. I have no idea if they dropped their life here and went to go live the Mexican Dream or whatever the hell happened, but she offered to have her own mother pay $100 a month for the next four months. This whole thing is hilariously weird.
 
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