[FastCoyote]

I am almost done with my move from IT consulting to real estate. Here's a story for y'all.

I worked for a billionaire (they still want me). He's Chinese, with $30 million in petty cash in various stock broker accounts. They couldn't keep track of the money, so I said I'd start a database/accounting packge to track the transactions. I explained that there could be very large savings and profits in automating the whole buy/sell/accounting process. Because I was flat broke, I said $2500 to get this started.

200 hours later (one man month), I had a near working program. Including monthly office rent of $700, some outside database consulting expense of $300, my potential profit is $1500. They refused to pay the last $600, even though originally I had told them I was doing this on the cheap to get over a cash flow hump.

It gets better. I put in another 300 hours developing most of the rest of the automated trading/accounting system. I tell the CFO they could save hundreds of thousands of dollars, and have a new business if they fund me. I tell them I know of SAP installations that have ballooned from $10 million to $20 million. The CFO tells me they bankrupted a company the same way, went from $20 million estimate to $30 million for software, but he can't give me the last $600 because it just wouldn't be right. He says if I finish the last little bit, we can put this on a proprietary mainframe that a subsidiary owns (I figure, poof, my code is off to China the minute I do that).

Questions for Freepers: Guess who still owns the software? By the way, I am not making any of this up, the CFO called me up just Thursday. I have been in other situations like this too. IT people get dumped on, I am sooo tired of it. Real Estate, here I come.

[PackerBoy]

Your situation happens over and over every day in every occupation. Doctors have to treat patients who do not pay, or their insurance companies only pay part. As an attorny, I can't tell you how many times people have bothered me at all hours of the day and night to handle their pressing legal matters only to stiff me latter.

I now require retainers up front and cut clients loose when they become slow or no pays. The est lessons in life are learned the hard way.

By the way, the wealthier the client (I have found), the bigger the pain and the more likely you will be left holding the bag (or an unpaid invoice) in the end. I supposes that is how they got rich; they never gave any of their money to anyone else.

[Khurkris]

FastC...install the program for "beta testing"...move the funds around in a demo...recoup yr losses. Set up a 'cents left after float' account. Do the sell and reap the bennies. Its the only way you will get a damn thing.


If asked, this is all pure hypothetical rambling. But I think you get my drift. And then again, maybe I watched Superman or Office Space one too many times.

[glorgau]

Fixed price bids are things to avoid. The buyer just want your time for free. Either that or get a detailed requiremetns spec up front. Better yet, have them pay for the requirements analysis.
If not, then they are not serious.

[pyx]

I have THIRTY YEARS in the industry. You give him that last bit of code without having a CERTIFIED CHECK in your hand, you can kiss your code and your @$$ goodbye.

[Justa]

IT people get dumped on, I am sooo tired of it....

Yeah, my favorite is the deaththreats I got for deleting someon's Comet Cursor.