Droners.io Caution / New Lesson

[TonyPHX]

Not sure how this is all going to play out, but wanted to make folks aware of a new learning I have had with Droners.io. I did a quick job for some property for sale. Customer had good reviews, clear directions etc. I did the work, produced the deliverable. The customer liked and approved of the deliverable and I received many favorable comments from them on it being what was asked for.

Now the payment part....

I started getting messages that the payment was delayed. The exact verbiage was: There was a problem paying your invoice. The details in the message said:

"There was an issue with payment on your invoice due to the client’s payment method. We have notified the client to update their payment method and will pay the invoice as soon as it’s updated."

I have been going back and forth with Droners.io and they keep telling me they are trying to work it out with the client, but in the meantime I am not paid. This has beeing going on for more than a week now. And I get the message from Droners several times a day. (annoying, but whatever.) I am not sure how it will end up so I am not saying Droners has left me hanging but I have pointed out to them that this is not how they have documented their platform.

 

[GFields]

This is NOT Droners.io fault. It is the client's fault. Depending on the amount owed to you, you can seek a civil lawsuit (or at least threaten the client with one). I'm sure hope you have all the contact information. You can also leave a poor review on the client's profile so others will know this happened to you. After this is resolved you can block the client or just refuse further jobs by them.

Good luck, I know it is frustrating.

I am experiencing the same thing but on a different platform.

 

[TonyPHX]

This is NOT Droners.io fault. It is the client's fault. Depending on the amount owed to you, you can seek a civil lawsuit (or at least threaten the client with one). I'm sure hope you have all the contact information. You can also leave a poor review on the client's profile so others will know this happened to you. After this is resolved you can block the client or just refuse further jobs by them.

Good luck, I know it is frustrating.

I am experiencing the same thing but on a different platform.

Totally agreed, however you would expect the platform to have a valid form of payment on file, and at least have put a hold on the funds. It just seems like a bad way of operating at this point.

Sorry to hear you have a similar situation. Not fun for any of us.

 

[GFields]

Totally agreed, however you would expect the platform to have a valid form of payment on file, and at least have put a hold on the funds. It just seems like a bad way of operating at this point.

Sorry to hear you have a similar situation. Not fun for any of us.

They do. The problem lies with the client's payment method. Perhaps they have entered their card number wrong or there are no funds on the card.

Yeah, you expect to be paid within a reasonable period of time and when that doesn't happen, like any business it Boggs the financial end down.

Let us know how it works out.

 

[Fred Garvin]

How you run your business is up to you of course, and slow payers suck. The majority of my clients pay immediately or within a few days. I have had a couple that pay within a few weeks. It's just how they do their business and some pay invoices only once or twice a month.

Until an outstanding invoice is 30 days (or more) Past Due, I don't take any action other than a gentle reminder that the invoice is due. My invoices are due upon receipt, so I send a reminder at 2 weeks and at 30 days. I'm not sure how I'd proceed after 30 days as I have yet to have a non-payer or slow payer beyond 30 days.

I've never done a Droners job though and the 2 day expectation is a pretty sweet promise if they can uphold it.

 

[TonyPHX]

How you run your business is up to you of course, and slow payers suck. The majority of my clients pay immediately or within a few days. I have had a couple that pay within a few weeks. It's just how they do their business and some pay invoices only once or twice a month.

Until an outstanding invoice is 30 days (or more) Past Due, I don't take any action other than a gentle reminder that the invoice is due. My invoices are due upon receipt, so I send a reminder at 2 weeks and at 30 days. I'm not sure how I'd proceed after 30 days as I have yet to have a non-payer or slow payer beyond 30 days.

I've never done a Droners job though and the 2 day expectation is a pretty sweet promise if they can uphold it.

Great point Fred. When I do my organic personally sourced jobs I do net 60. Not in a hurry. Droners though I have come to expect that it just gets paid. : )

This is actually the first time I have had an issue with them.

 

[TonyPHX]

Just wanted to come back full circle on this. The client ended up being very much on the up and up, and got the issue corrected with payment. Droners re-processed it, and it got paid. I concur with comments made that this was not fault of Droners.io and this blip caused me to read their TOS more carefully and fully understand their responsibilties.

 

[Netling]

My ten cents… if Droner does not secure payment before the job is performed, it is on them! They want to be the platform and collect 10% commissions and whatever they up charge our fees (I don’t fully know their business practices!) then they should pre authorization of payment before the job is done. People are making life decisions around money coming in and to not pay them is BS. YES they can 100% pre authorized payment. I owned a reservation system for many years and pre authorization is the practice, is you didn’t, it would screw a hotel/resort/etc out of renting that space… same with Droners, it’s screwing us flyers and it make me go to my entrepreneur mind and think, time to start some competition! How would droners handle a situation that’s complex and cost thousands of dollars or worse, imagine a filmmaker who’s just getting in the biz, think indie, and sends one of us for a complex snow shot with a skier on a morning flight on a remote mountain and the filmmakers does NOT secure the grant “he/she was so sure they had” and what, we’re just suppose to “sue the schmuck”!

Seriously, I’m glad I read this, I personally won’t be using them any time soon and neither should anyone here until they understand, you want commission than do your part and secure MY PAYMENT!

 

[TonyPHX]

My ten cents… if Droner does not secure payment before the job is performed, it is on them! They want to be the platform and collect 10% commissions and whatever they up charge our fees (I don’t fully know their business practices!) then they should pre authorization of payment before the job is done. People are making life decisions around money coming in and to not pay them is BS. YES they can 100% pre authorized payment. I owned a reservation system for many years and pre authorization is the practice, is you didn’t, it would screw a hotel/resort/etc out of renting that space… same with Droners, it’s screwing us flyers and it make me go to my entrepreneur mind and think, time to start some competition! How would droners handle a situation that’s complex and cost thousands of dollars or worse, imagine a filmmaker who’s just getting in the biz, think indie, and sends one of us for a complex snow shot with a skier on a morning flight on a remote mountain and the filmmakers does NOT secure the grant “he/she was so sure they had” and what, we’re just suppose to “sue the schmuck”!

Seriously, I’m glad I read this, I personally won’t be using them any time soon and neither should anyone here until they understand, you want commission than do your part and secure MY PAYMENT!

Well, I do agree. I took what I read in the FAQ and thought that they did exactly that, secure a payment. They do not. That having been said, it is still a valuable platform, but I do not see it as a place to continue doing business after you have been introduced to your client for future job because of this exact challenge.