Glenda,

Sorry to hear about your troubles.  Hopefully you will eventually get all that is owed to you.  Thank you for posting your story here so we all have the information about how this company treated you.  Late payments are one thing-- there may be reasonable excuses for that.  Lying about payments are another-- that goes to the core of how that company does business.  Then for them to send a check that bounces-- that is a crime!!  I can understand how you must feel.  You finally recieve a check and feel you have resolution to the issue, only to have the check bounce!  I have only had a check bounce on me once and thankfully it was a very small amount.  That company did send me a letter from the bank, in which the bank did admit that it was their fault and not the company's, so I let it slide.

I have been out on my own for four years now, and this has been BY FAR the worst year I have had in terms of payment issues.  I would like to know from others if they feel the same.  No one has to name names or anything like that-- I would just like to hear from you all as to whether you have had more troubles this year.  With things slowing down somewhat in our industry, this would be very troubling if it is a trend.

I have always kept my business pretty small and never had any designs on growing very big.  I just like the work that I do and have been happy making a living being my own boss.  This year it seems more and more that "my job" is bill collector.  My expenses keep going up, yet I havent  been able to raise my prices in four years.  In fact, clients call to try to see if I can lower prices.  The client has no loyalty to us-- if someone comes along and undercuts us, we simply stop receiving work from them.  They dont even call and ask if we will match prices.  At least that has been my experience.  You put these and a few other factors together and I wonder, just what is the future for the small businessman in this industry?  The trends seem to be going against us. 

I'm not saying people cant make a living or arent making money, I still make a living-- but I am just curious if others out there have been experiencing any of these troubling trends.  It makes me wonder if my new years resolution should be to find another line of work.  I think there are a few collection agencies in my area hiring-- Lord knows I am getting quite a bit of experience at that!! haha

Patrick Tarr