From Texas To Singapore

I was hired to write a promotional article for an engineer who was in a competition along with other members of his volunteer group. They were competing for a prestigious award given yearly within the company. We contracted for a nickel a word and he sent the specific details of what the article should contain. Since he was a new client (although referred to me by a long time client) I emailed him daily with the article, offering to make any changes he requested. He returned the emails with compliments and no request for changes of any kind.

He accepted the article and asked if he could call on me again. He was pleased. I was pleased. The final cost of the article was $50.00. A week later, in response to my request for payment he said he was sorry but the "committee" had only authorized a $20.00 payment because they had changed their minds and used a slide presentation instead of an article.

"Would that be acceptable Jeana?"

I politely responded that no it wouldn't and perhaps he would pay the additional $30.00 with his own funds.

I never heard from him again. Until...

After advising him of my intentions without response, I contacted the Texas Headquarters of which his Singapore Offices were a branch. To make a two-month long story short they must have liaised with his boss in the Singapore office. I received payment of $50.00 along with an apology for it having taken so long.

The Texas office had originally said they didn't have an employee listed with that email address. I guess he used his personal email. At their request I had sent sufficient details and a copy of the article. This whole debacle took over two months. I sent him a brief thank you for payment and we parted company - never to interact again I'm sure.

He requested the article which I had temporarily published on google to protect my rights. I then deleted it from google docs. End of story.

This is not a situation I enjoy reliving. I am only a humble copywriter - however - I won't be conveniently ripped off - at least not without a fight.