Got a $300 bill from a client who ghosted me for 6 months then came back asking for more work

Was sitting at my desk in Portland last Tuesday when I get an email from someone I did a full bathroom reno for back in March. They never paid the final $300. I sent 4 invoices, called twice, nothing. Now they want me to come fix a leaky faucet they installed themselves. I just forwarded the old invoice again with "paid in full first" in the subject line. No reply yet. Anyone else had a client pop back up like nothing happened?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlieh743d ago

Respectfully, you might be better off just letting that $300 go and not taking the new job. Chasing people for money that old usually isn't worth the stress, and they'll probably ghost you again once you fix their faucet lol.

davidshah3d ago

Wait, didn't you see that article someone posted last week about small claims court? It was like a real life example where a plumber actually won a judgment against a guy who owed him 400 bucks from two years ago. If you have text messages or some kind of paper trail, it might be worth the filing fee just to send a message. I get what you're saying about the stress, but sometimes making them show up in court is the only way they'll learn. Plus, the new job might be steady work that pays better in the long run, so you could probably afford to lose that 300 if it comes down to it.

miaprice3d ago

That small claims article even mentioned the filing fee is only like 50 bucks...