unFiring a Client

On 19[Sep]2011 i had sent out a letter firing a client (see previous post). This letter was based on the premise that they had received a letter from a little over a month earlier detailing the terms of my continuing to provide professional services. I had sent the latter letter via certified mail so i could rest assured that they had received it. I received a voice message the following Saturday from said client stating they wanted me to contact them about finishing the work. As i had just sent them a letter terminating my services and had clearly spelled out the terms of my continuing to provide services in the previous letter, i opted to ignore the phone call until i received confirmation of receipt of the certified letter. However, i received that letter back on Monday of this week as unclaimed. I then received a letter on Tuesday with a check for partial payment of my invoice. It seems from the content of the letter that they may not have received my first letter either.

This puts me in somewhat of a tight spot as now i feel obligated to finish out the work, even though i have only been partially paid. I had said i would finish out the work so long as i received half of my invoiced amount before proceeding. They sent my just under half. The client has been nothing but trouble from the get go. Disseminating incomplete, bad, and misrepresented information to each other as well as to the contractors. They have raked the contractor over the coals and are trying to hold him accountable for items he never agreed to. They have done the same to me.

I am inclined to walk away from the situation as i do not want to get caught up in their manipulation and usury any longer. They are holding the rest of the money as hostage for items they want me to pay for as well as to get me to finish drawings for the second phase that they want me to do for free even though they had initially agreed to pay me for them.

On the other hand it would likely only take me a couple of hours to finish off the drawings for them. Then i could be done with them for good and not have to worry about the repercussions of just walking away.