A lot of people have used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to evaluate their working situation, and many have decided that now is the time to make a career change and go freelance. Surprisingly, a lot of freelancers have flourished during lockdown – it’s been an opportunity for people to take what they are passionate in and make a success of it.
There are few highs that can match the feeling of securing your first big client – you’ve worked so hard to build up your profile, showcase the work you can do, and now someone has asked for a major bit of work that could set you up for months.
You pour your heart into it and create the best work you’ve ever done, send it over and attach an invoice.
And then…silence.
It doesn’t always happen, but sometimes a client will ignore you. Worse, they can completely disappear. Emails can start bouncing back as undelivered. Phone calls go through to a dead phone line. Where do you turn?
Tracking down a debtor
The world of freelance is always risky because you can’t always guarantee you’ll be paid. There are options available to you through small claims and business mediation if you want to claim back money you’re owed for unpaid invoices, but that relies on you being able to prove that you’ve successfully made contact with a client.
And if they completely disappear, abandoning an email address or their other contact details and taking down their websites, then what do you do? You can’t make a claim against a client you can’t find.
However, there is an option – hiring a private detective. At EJM Investigations we’re specialists in tracing debtors and helping you get the information you need so that you can pursue a legal claim against them.
Not only can we make sure to find a debtor who is changing their phone number or email address to avoid having to pay you, but we can do it quickly – a lot of legal action will have time limits, and not only that, but you might be relying on that money to pay the bills!
Don’t assume too that a private investigator it outside of your budget. If your debt is tiny then it might not be worth the time and cost involved but for many invoices it is definitely worth the very reasonable fee – getting some money is better than none, and you can help to stop the client from ever pulling that trick on other freelancers again.
It’s at least worth a conversation – get in touch with us today on 01772 334700 if you want to find out more about our debtor tracing options and see how much our service would cost – then you’ll know whether it’s suitable for your own situation.
And if you’re a larger company that needs help tracking multiple debtors then we can definitely help – give us a call to find out more.