Client is refusing to pay full amount for work!

[rocket90]

Hi guys

Could we get some help with this?

We've been working with a client on a retainer contract where we invoiced monthly for work carried out. However, as we were coming to the end of the contract they were late in paying one of our invoices by 63 days on agreed 30-day payment terms. So we took action in the form of ceasing work at 55 days until they made the payment for the missed monthly invoice. The payment is now resolved however they are now disputing that as we ceased work they won't pay us the full amount for the final month of the contract! Can they do that or are we in the right to demand full payment as they failed to pay us in the first place which led us to cease work?

Any help would be great!

[ULA]

I presume that this is related to your previous thread.

How was your billing set up with the client was it on the basis of a total fixed cost for the project divided over a monthly basis for the project or did you bill on a monthly basis for work done based on a reporting of the hours worked?

If the former then if you complete the project on time to the specification agreed then there is no reason for the client not to pay you. If the latter then you would obviously not be able to bill for the time you ceased work on the project, but you should be able to bill for the hours worked since the payment issue was resolved. In this instance though you may need to prove that in having less time to complete the work you have not overbilled versus if you have had not had to cease work for a while and had the full period of time to complete the work - if you get what I mean.