An Unauthorized Payment for Sign Services

Ransom Payment

I had a client who caused all manner of cost overruns. I alerted him to each one and how they would change the ultimate bottom line from the estimate we’d agreed upon. Nevertheless, after waving away each of my cautions, he resisted making payment for months after the work was completed. Finally, he drew a line through the most extensive/expensive set of revisions (a cost he had previously approved) and said he’d pay me for the rest of the project… so long as I surrendered my working files. So it was to be a hostage swap?! Of course, a client — especially one in poor standing — is not entitled to the freelancer’s tools. But I showed up at his office with a file anyway: a locked, password-protected PDF. I raced to his bank and cashed his check — and never looked back.

Source: Mark Aller