A company we have been working with has a big debt (take into account that I am from South America) with us and with other freelancers from all around the globe. They have not answered for months and I have helped them hire other devs that won’t probably be paid. My biggest issue is that they don’t answer and I think that is a really bad attitude to have during this type of situations. They know we are a small company and we are far away from the US. They have only answered after our lawyer sent a demand letter. To start the legal process with NYC attorneys costs 15k. I will decide this week how to advance, my lawyer is waiting for my decision.
Schwartz, a trader, said in an interview: "It didn't matter that I had been totally ethical and exonerated. People don't want to get involved with any controversy, even if it wasn't of your own making".
I am asking what would you do in my situation since in general controversy in business is always a bad idea even if you are the injured party. At the same time I would not want to shut up only for my own interest. It would be really sad that other devs give up their jobs to work for a company that is not paying.
Questions:
- Would you tell the community so that other devs don't have to go through the same problem?
- Have you filled a legal complaint against a company before?
- Have you used a debt collection agency?
Please share your experience. I am sure it will be useful to me and to others.
EDIT: I forgot to write that we do have a contract, they accepted that the debt exists. They never had an issue with the work we performed. I have no problem at all to be completely transparent, the situation is pretty simple and straightfoward from my side. My company is not the only one with this problem. The client is a startup that is about to do an IPO. Apparently they got money from a new investor but they did not pay us yet. However they are trying to hire more devs. Some of their investors have a relationship with a very well known and established business magazine. I am not sure they aware of this. Since they stopped paying everything has been really unprofessional. I completely understand that a startup can have financial problems. What I can’t stand is how they managed the issue.