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Subject:Billing Problems with Corporate Client From:"Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 7 Jan 1998 11:23:16 -0700
Would appreciate any comments and feedback on this one.
We (Deborah and I) recently started doing some new contract work for
a very large company. We were approached by the company and
have an excellent (and open and frank) relationship with
the project manager and engineers, and the projects have
been fun and interesting.
In the beginning, we completed the NDA and 10 page PO
contract (with a corporate to corporate relationship).
We invoiced, citing the PO number, and were
promptly paid, per our contracted terms. All was well.
Then, the corporate bureaucracy got into it when a new
PO was opened for an extension of the contract.
Various aspects of the story from the corporate
monolith are as follows:
We don't bill enough per year to be a corporate relationship.
We must work through a temp agency of their choice.
We should _reduce_ our billing rate by 3% to cover their
costs in using a temp agency.
We've now not been paid for two months--the check's
in the mail, so they say.
We just got a new contract from this "temp agency".
They want us to provide a ton of documentation, including
articles of incorporation, Fed Tax ID certification, their
questionnaire, and proof of a total of 4 million dollars of
liability insurance. (BTW, we work exclusively offsite and
currently have no employees.)
Project manager is being very supportive, but isn't
in a position to do much, or so it seems.
Our phone calls to the various parties at the different
companies are still unreturned.
Any comments or suggestions? Has anyone else
encountered this kind of thing?
Eric and Deborah
(Yes, if you have a lead on contract work with a normal
company, we'd appreciate it.)
*********************************************************
* Eric J. Ray, ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com, http://www.raycomm.com/
* TECHWR-L Listowner, co-author _Mastering HTML 4.0_
* _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick Reference_, and others.
* RayComm, Inc., currently accepting contract inquiries.
