Rejection fee?

[ambigram]

Hi, a student set up a business and asked me to do a Logo, Fliers, Posters, Banners etc. Since it's for charity I gave her a 60% discount.
I haven't got paid anything yet, and I did a huge amount of work and she was very happy.
Since then, she told me the Big Event might not go ahead.
She's only a part time student, she also works as a Model and a Dj and asked me to do business cards for her, and she still hasn't paid me anything!
Then she asked for a website for the Big Event, in case it goes ahead.
I'm thinking of sending her a Rejection Fee - just a percentage - of the work I have done.
I could tell her if the Big Event goes ahead I'll deduct the Rejection Fee from the balance.
Is this fair? I know she's a part time student, but she ordered a colossal amount, I've given her a discount and I've loans to pay back on my equipment. I have also rang the Charity she's supposed to be collecting money for - they never heard of her - and she has sponsors giving her money for this Big Event. Will I charge her the R fee? Tx

[morea]

What did your contract say? You might be out of luck if you didn't use one.

You did the work, so you should be paid for your time and ideas whether her event goes forward or not.

I include a kill fee in my contract, but I don't know how much success you will have in negotiating one AFTER the work has been done.

[Drazan]

famous last words.

Contract?
Deposit?

My guess is that neither happened. Hard lesson to learn is to not grab and do work without a contract - no matter how shiny the silver lining may seem on the project.

[Cahenz]

...a student set up a business and asked me to do a Logo, Fliers, Posters, Banners etc. Since it's for charity I gave her a 60% discount. I haven't got paid anything yet, and I did a huge amount of work and she was very happy....

Whoa. I didn't get further than this before I saw a couple of huge red flags. First of all, the word "student" is a bad deal. Nothing against being a student. Heck I was one once and I continue to be a student of life. However, students have no money, are impossible as clients and have zero experience in the realm of professional courtesy.

Secondly, you never ever EVER take on a job that's discounted at all. Your price needs to be firm. Don't sway at all. Don't do free work because it degrades the quality of the entire design industry and makes it hard for seasoned professionals (like me) to make a living.

Lastly, and most importantly, never get started on any job unless you've been given a deposit. No matter what the potential client says, what the promise or how sure you are you've got the assignment, don't even turn your computer on until you've received money, and let them know it's a NONrefundable deposite/kill fee. No matter what, they don't get that money back, and they don't get the native files until you get the remainder.

[Broacher]

^ Great advice.



Now I'm just sitting here wondering how wealthy I would be now if I had received a rejection fee from all concerned during my high school 'dating' days.

[doubting_thomas]

Now I'm just sitting here wondering how wealthy I would be now if I had received a rejection fee from all concerned during my high school 'dating' days. I should have thought of that before picking a university. Women did that for free there, too.

[budafist]

Even if she is a student, she should understand that when you get someone to give up hours for you and create something for you, that they need to be paid regardless if it goes ahead or not.

[captain spanky]

I have also rang the Charity she's supposed to be collecting money for - they never heard of her - and she has sponsors giving her money for this Big Event.

am i the only one worried by this bit? ^^ it makes me think of what happened nearby...
there was a woman who said she had terminal cancer... she got in the newspaper as she went from pub to pub collecting for a cancer charity... companies gave her large chunks of money and one mystery person even paid for her and her family to have a 2 week holiday in florida...
6 months later it turned out she had made the whole thing up.
she went to court for it and got guess what? a fine. to be taken out of her unemployment benefits. what a joke.