talkmagic.co.uk

Guys,

I want your opinion on something. I did a gig through my agent at the beginning of the month.

I arrived 45 minutes early, and started performing 30 minutes before the contract commenced. I was contracted to do 2 hours, finishing at 9.30.

At 9.15, my clients guests had all left, so the client said I could pack up and go, she offered me the payment, which I said "send it to my agent, as thats what my contract says". This was fine, the client was all happy etc. I had to wait for a lift, so I asked the client if the hired caricaturist could do me a drawing. This was also fine. Everyones happy, cheques ont he way to my agent blah dee blah.

I got a phonecall off my agent today. The cheque has arrived, but the client is refusing to pay the full amount. This is on the accusation that I knocked off the clock early and broke off mid performance to get my picture done, which is the complete opposite of what happened.

My agent is fine with it, hes heard my side of the story etc, but I wondered what your opinion would be, and what you would suggest as my next step?


Cheers

M

I would think it's your agents responsibility to sort this out.
That's what they're getting paid for.

But its the fact that its a false account of the night.


Its not the money, but its the damage to my reputation, when I havent done anything un-professional.

Go and politely talk to the person who hired you. Tell him about you coming early and you being allowed to leave early. If he still says you cheated him, do what I.D. would do:

Break his nose.

Assuming that you get paid the agreed amount, I would put it down to experience and think nothing more of it.

These things happen and often, you;re not given the benefit or courtesy of being able to give your account of what happened.

I wouldn't bother going back to the customer either and as said, it's your agents job, particularly as he now has the facts.

I'm sure that it will work out and won't dent your reputation.

this happens all to often with agency work were customers pay after the show, most will try to get a discount or make up an escuse.
your agent should either be geting payment in advance or arranging for you to be paid your part of the fee when you arrive, atleast thats what i stipulate to an agent.

your less likelly to be ripped off if your paid before you set up and if there unhappy and demand a refund you can get there complaint down in writing before handing back any part of your fee.
the agent has contracted you so its thier job to sort out any pay disputes.

Yes, even when working via an agent I always insist on getting paid my share on the night. As has been stated before, the problems only begin when you leave the building without the money in your hand. "I'll pop the cheque in the post first thing Monday" all too often means "See ya sucker!"

I agree with dat8962 and magicdiscoman. Try and sort it out argueing you arrived earlier and actually worked the contracted hours. If that doesn't work, just take it as a lesson. In fact, these things can and will happen in everyday business life. Get paid in advance if you are to deliver a service instead of a product. A product you can always claim back, a service you've already delivered and cannot take it back.

Personally, I would always issue a receipt on the night which is signed by the client. In this case, stating the hours worked.

That way, they have no room to wriggle, and you also have a written proof of work you've done.

Sounds tedious, but is a much better way of doing things, and a simple receipt book from WHSmith will cost you about £3

Just do it.

Cracking advice there from Seige! The simple ones are usually the best.

Mr Jones is right, and it's what you should do; it's also what I should do!
I had a similar experience once, but one that worked out in my favour; I did about half of the agreed upon time, due to the night ending early, and i still got paid the full amount, and got some free drinks on top of it since i had to stick around waiting for the place to actually close. although thinking about it, i kicked about the bar doing the odd trick for random folk there, but just casually, so they got a good deal out of it too i guess.
I've also had similar experiences doing juggling gigs. I will usually write an an invoice for a time scale of "Situation permitting" (usually for club gigs) and i've had nights where i've been juggling nearly the entire night and some where i've only done half an hour or so, and got the same pay in both cases. in those situations though i can't say i will definatly do (say) 2 hours, if it gets too busy i have to stop befor someone gets hurt.
(i'll point out here that at these gigs i usually do poi and staff things, befor people start thinking my juggling is so bad it's life threatening)