photo by jhhwild
One of my clients pays me $100 per month for a service I provide. She has been paying that each quarter promptly for three years.
Her husband died about seven months ago. I billed her for the first quarter of 2010 but I did not immediately receive a payment. So I sent her a Pay Pal reminder twice in January. Nothing happened during the first quarter. I did not try to contact her because I knew she was fighting off the grief for her husband.
I sent her a new billing for the second quarter at the end of March. I did not receive a payment as of the beginning of May so I sent her a reminder on May 1st.
I did receive payment for the 2nd quarter today. Thus, I have this dilemma. Should I rebill her now for the first quarter?
I am inclined to ignore the first quarter for a couple of reasons. First, the service I offer is not labor intensive. In fact it requires about 30 minutes a month of my time. Second, I am not desperate for the money and I think it may do both of us more good right now if I don't bill her. I think it is a win/win because I will not alienate a good customer.
My 12 years of experience on the web is that nearly 100% of people I do business with on the Internet are honest as the day is long. I think most experienced marketers will verify that statement.
I think we need to give people a chance to be honest before we take action.
What do you think?
Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles
