In October 2019, I terminated a client engagement. I don’t usually do that – I wait until the client ends it with me.

I had worked with this client for just about 3 years – my role was more “inside sales” than sales development where I would get leads to follow up on and qualify then close the business. Pretty much every lead I received, I closed – in fact, I did about 20K from January 2019 to September 2019. I generated one or two qualified leads as well. I had worked with this client long ago, very successfully, got commission checks almost every single month on the first go around.

20K may not seem like a lot, but you have to remember, in all cases, I only work 25 – 32 hours per month as a supplemental resource. So – that actually is a lot – relatively speaking.

I had direct deposit with the client. In June, I noticed that they had not paid my invoice (I bill every month for hours worked). I alerted them and was given an apology and was told that “they forgot to include me in payroll”. This was not the first time that happened….in late 2018, I realized they neglected to pay me for two months – but when I brought it to their attention – it was quickly rectified.

In September 2019, I realized that it happened again. I had not been paid for two months. With jury duty coming I wanted to be caught up in case I was out for a month or two on a trial. I reached out to my client and informed them I had not been paid and “to stop forgetting to put me in payroll” as it was becoming a problem.

I received a call on a Friday (when I was not home) telling me that “the company hit a cash crunch and that I would be paid, but not now. I could suspend the work until the payment would come”. It was a somewhat garbled voicemail. My client had thought I was paid for one invoice (which I wasn’t).

I tried to call my client about the situation. Upset, panicked, I reached out – six calls on Monday with two voicemails. No return call. I spoke to my client’s colleague who told me to talk to the other guy and assured me “I wasn’t terminated” and “that he hadn’t been paid either”. I tried calling – the other guy – twice on Wednesday and a few times during the week. No return call. I wanted to have some type of guidance as to when I would get paid and could resume the work….is it a month? Two months? Next year? Nothing. No email. No phone call.

I stopped the work. Wrapped up what I needed to the first week of October. Told them I suspended the effort and waited. Two weeks went by. Jury duty loomed. No payment, no communication. I left a voicemail for my client claiming I talked to my lawyer and I would sue them for non-payment. That is when I got a nasty voicemail back – saying “so. I called you”.

I ended the relationship right then. I emailed them essentially saying how shocked I was that I did not receive a simple phone call to discuss a very serious situation. I was given an apology. I was told that “they (the management) do not handle payroll” – in essence saying that they had no control over the situation and could not advise me. I had indicated that we not only were done, but were done forever. In the first run with my client, he sold out to another company that screwed me royally and did not pay me for three months. I was lucky to get paid – the company he sold out to went bankrupt and a lot of vendors weren’t paid at all. Seems like a deja vu here again.

You run a company and have no handle on your financials? You take no responsibility for the situation? It is payroll’s fault that I wasn’t paid on time? There was more to this: my client was snippy toward me before this happened, they were shifting all the marketing to another company “they partnered” with, and cut my email off – after I suspended the work. Although they said “I wasn’t terminated”, it sure seemed as though I was – right? And….I know there was almost zero demand for what my client was offering – the future did not look good. Yeah – and they don’t pay people for the work they do…there is that also.

I trusted this person. I had worked with him before. My performance was good, I closed enough business to pay my cost for the year and then some.

And, his colleague couldn’t even give me a call.