Clients who ghost after you finish the work and don't pay

“As the title says, I took over the billing for my in-laws family company, that does state-wide pallet recycling. I took the job June 2025, and helped my MIL with billing, mainly sending out invoices and input of payments through QBO. Immediately, I noticed there was an account that had a $198K balance, starting from 2022.”source ↗

“The kicker is, is that the owner (my FIL), does not know about the balance (don't even get me started) and my MIL refuses to tell him, which is why we can't hack an accoutant. She wanted to just void out all of the invoices, take a massive loss, and start from scratch, which is just crazy to me. I have no idea what to do.”source ↗

“I'm at such a loss, this is above my pay grade, tbh, but it is my current hurdle.”source ↗

“Final invoice $14,200. Then nothing. Two months of nothing. Polite emails, then less polite emails, then calls, then a text that got read and not answered.”source ↗

“Everyone says take them to court. And I keep nodding and going home and not doing it, and I want to be honest about why. It's a week of my life I don't have. It's lawyer money spent to chase money I'm already owed, which feels insane. And there's a version where I win and they still don't pay, and I've spent $3k to get a piece of paper that says I'm right.”source ↗

“Meanwhile the $14k is the difference between me being fine this quarter and not being fine.”source ↗

“Never been stiffed this badly and I don't want to handle it stupidly.”source ↗

“One client with a 6 months relationship went completely silent weeks after I sent the last invoice; nothing, not even an excuse.”source ↗

“Another wanted to start right away, urgent, the moment we first talked; paid the retainer, and now that it's time to pay for the next round, I keep getting delay after delay.”source ↗

“As of today, u/Experian is 60 days delinquent in paying me for services I provided on July 22.”source ↗

“I‘m genuinely worried I won’t get payment.”source ↗

“What should I do if I get ignored?”source ↗

“I texted and called over the span of 3 weeks and no response at all.”source ↗

“I haven’t been paid a single penny in six months.”source ↗

“The time I should be spending finding new clients is being consumed by work that isn’t generating any income.”source ↗

“how did you handle the period when you had responsibilities and commitments but not enough revenue to sustain them?”source ↗

“Where do I stand, can anyone help? It’s around £2400 they are due.”source ↗

“what can I do? Does it have to be a small claims court route? HELP”source ↗

“Now as soon as I deployed the bot he absoulely stopped responding and when I kept asking my dear GRANDPA straight up BLOCKED ME.”source ↗

“As a small business owner, I wish I could do this.”source ↗

“The invoice is now 53 days outstanding.”source ↗

“Between August 28 and September 5, I made six follow-up attempts to five Experian contacts, including my point person, members of the ERG team, and the person who signed the agreement. I received no response until I raised the issue publicly.”source ↗

“I have also requested direct contact with Accounts Payable, but Experian has refused to connect me with them.”source ↗

“Why am I still waiting for a check 55 days after payment was due?”source ↗

“Big businesses routinely delay payments beyond agreed upon timelines, this is normal. That doesn’t make it right, but it’s normal.”source ↗

“I've eaten a few of these, and that instinct is the expensive bit.”source ↗

“I own a small business and sell B2B. If you owe me money and are past terms I have absolutely no problem showing up at your place of business and asking for payment.”source ↗

“Why do clients demand work immediately like they will die if not delivered urgently, but make the payments 2 months later ? Like our lives don’t depend on it ? So tired of this bullshit”source ↗

“All this when they call you at the 11th hour btw”source ↗

“She said that she'd pay me the remaining $500 on Monday, which would have been August 25th. Well, Monday came and went and I didn't hear from her.”source ↗

“She did not even respond to me but continued to actively promote her business on social media.”source ↗

“She messaged me back immediately this time except she didn't acknowledge her lack of communication or my request for payment and instead asked a technical question.”source ↗

“Fast-forward almost a month, and I’ve received neither the images nor the remaining payment. I’ve followed up multiple times, and they’ve completely stopped responding.”source ↗

“Is $250 worth pursuing on principle, or would you consider it a business lesson and move on?”source ↗

“I have a former client who owes me less than $500 and is now ghosting my requests for payment.”source ↗

“Yeah have been facing the same issue with this one dude who owes me around 500 ish dollars.”source ↗

“Yes, I have all that but the business owner is not responding to my emails. He knows I'm unlikely to take him to court for such a small amount. It just pisses me off to be taken advantage of that way, especially since I know he is wealthy and he knows I'm struggling to get by.”source ↗

“Client that hasn't paid me for around 5 weeks of bookkeeping. I made a stripe for him and have sent it multiple times but he just ignores the link.”source ↗

“The reason I’m worried is because per our contract, the final payment is due tomorrow/week before wedding. But I’m a little sketched out sending a big lump of money to somebody I haven’t heard back from.”source ↗

“At the same time, I don’t want her to randomly cancel everything if I don’t make a final payment on the agreed upon week”source ↗

“I’ve noticed all wedding vendors are very slow to respond, but now that the wedding is a week away it feels a lot more pressing and concerning than it did before :’)”source ↗