Writer's best options if a client scams you

What is a writer's best course of action if his or her client doesn't pay for a portion of the essay? Assuming the writer has the client's personal information, such as name and school, what are the pros and cons of threatening to "out" the client for plagiarism? Does anyone have experience with this?

There's really only one way to protect yourself from being ripped off as a writer: never even schedule a project (let alone actually write it) until it's paid in full. No exceptions.

Tell your prospective clients that they can try you out for a very short project or just pay you for the first few pages (or one small section) of a larger project before they trust you with a larger payment in advance. If they wait until the very last minute to order a much bigger project, they don't have those options but don't let anybody try to make that your problem because it isn't.

I always tell them there's no pressure whatsoever to use me and that if prepayment in full is a problem, maybe they should just try me another time when they have a shorter project and/or a longer deadline. I'd rather just pass on a project than ever write anything that I can't be sure will be paid.

Clients can always mitigate their risk of getting ripped off by trying out any new writer or essay company with just a few pages, but if they insist on receiving the work before it's paid in full, they're pretty much excluding the most experienced writers who already have way too much regular work to bother taking any risk whatsoever about being paid for their work.

It's the client's prerogative (and their problem) if they're just not comfortable risking prepayment for a couple of pages.

Once you've furnished the work, there's really nothing much you can do to force someone to pay you other than letting them know that whatever they didn't pay for still belongs to you and that you have the right to post it on-line so that it can't really be used without getting flagged by anti-plagiarism scans.

I wonder if the client hasn't paid for the paper at all (ie. you sent the paper before it was paid) or he/she paid but later lied about the transaction?

The tempter is worse than the thief . . . .

Outing a client to his university or on this forum will not get you paid. It will be nothing more than a senseless vendetta that will hurt you more than it will hurt the client. Sure you have all that personal information and you can use it.

The question is, do you really think that it will get you anywhere? Calling the university and claiming the student is a plagiarist won't work because then you will have to submit evidence of your claims, assuming they take you seriously, in which case, you will also be brought up on charges (perhaps aiding and abetting? or maybe not. I've never heard of a writer successfully outing a client at his university to the writer's benefit.).

If you publish the clients information anywhere in order to scream "I wasn't paid by this person!" then you will have blown your cover as a writer, shown the kind of temperament you have, and, embarrassed yourself in public. Thus leading potential clients to shy away from hiring your services. In my opinion, it would be best to just let it go.

If you submitted the complete paper to the client before getting the full payment, then consider it a nightmare and get on with your life. It isn't worth risking your career over.

My question is, why would a writer submit the completed paper to the client without receiving the full payment first? If you released the paper without full payment then you asked to be scammed. No writer should be so trusting of a client that you would give up your ace just like that. Even if you have the complete contact details of the client, I doubt you could do anything with it. You can't convince the university to give you the time of day and contacting the professor won't do you any good either.

Just consider what happened a learning experience. You should know better next time. Don't give up the very reason why you were hired in the first place. Not without a completed payment deal. It's easy, hold on to the paper and the client will pay you a day before the paper is due. That is how I successfully collected from most of my problem clients. After that deal, I never worked with that person again. Yes, writers should have a blacklist of problem clients. It's the best way to protect ourselves from abuse.

I believe that exposing such a student will not benefit you, because then you can lose confidence in yourself as a professional. And accordingly, and their clients. Therefore, it is better to re-insure and simply ask for prepayment. Perhaps not 50 percent of the amount, but less, but this is also some kind of insurance.

Double ditto! We've been down this road a million times and the answers are always the same. No full project until payment is received in full. You want to pay half, you get half. Period. ;)

Desperation. For many freelance writers used to dealing with cautious and skeptical students who are tired of getting ripped off, it is the only way they can demonstrate their sincerity and earn a buck. It's been getting harder for students to trust independent writers. So the freelancers figure an honest student who already receives the paper is more likely to pay than the one who hasn't seen anything yet.

That would explain why a new writer desperately trying to break into this business might provide a single page or two up front, but not why anybody in his right mind would ever bust his butt writing 5, 10, or even 20 pages before payment, as some of these people have complained about having done.

This is perhaps precisely the reason why I am afraid of going 100% freelance or independent. The carefree freedom that I acquire by working with sites or platforms is that they often are able to secure payments for myself. If you are able to find the right platform with empathetic people, they recognize your efforts as a writer, especially if you're working long-term with them. Because of this, I find that (in a few years of experience) I've never had negative experiences when it comes to delayed payments. Should a writer seek a client independently (or vice versa), upfront payments are reasonable at all costs.

If you were able to collect a portion of the payment, then just consider yourself lucky. Don't try to get even with the client. Consider this, you could have not gotten paid at all. FLW is right about that, don't ever start work on a project unless it is fully paid. Or, you should have asked that the payment be completed in tranches, with the paper being submitted in tranches as well. Consider the paper kidnapped in a way. Submit the first 2 pages, then the last 2 pages, holding the rest of the paper hostage until the ransom is paid. That way no client can scam you. If he tries to, he is left with 4 pages that he cannot use and he would have to find another writer to complete the paper and hope it doesn't happen again. Vendetta completed.