Client Lying about commission - Need a plan ?

I'm stuck in a bit of a rock and a hard place here.

My best friend put me onto a guy, who is one of his other best friends from another part of the country. That's how I got the work, when he recommended me which I was grateful for.

I get paid a monthly fee + commission.

Only thing is, I've found him lately to be quite sneaky and quiet.

I've caught him twice in the past 2 weeks now (latest one been a few hours ago), actually lying about contracts, which I should get commission on.

What he's doing, is deleting all the emails from the client and I suspect communicating via his personal phone.

He's a bit dumb because the latest contract that contacted my client today actually landed in his spam box, as I have access to my clients business email and I was on the business email building backlinks and verifying the verification emails, when I stumbled on an email from potential contract a couple of weeks ago about potential work.

Only thing is, this potential contract actually turned into work.

I'm starting to get a bit annoyed now, as first time I confronted him about a contract, he played dumb.. This new contract is second time he has done this now. Which is now making me feel I can't trust the guy.

When we initially started, because he's a good friend of my best friend, I trusted him. I now feel he can't be trusted.

I'm not sure what the best plan of action is going forward from here. As I feel he's trying to get away with paying the bare minimum and avoiding wanting to pay for new contracts, due to his own greed. I do know he has a gambling addiction but still does not excuse him cheating me out of commission.

Thoughts people ?

Fool me once shame on you.

Fool me twice shame on me.

I'd be looking elsewhere to replace that revenue stream.

You can get a customer relationship management (crm) software, hook it up to a mailbox, and use that for all communication with the lead within your organization, instead of private emails/calls. That's how a bigger organization would handle leads and communication and reduce shady behavior.
like @BassTrackerBoats suggests. its like a girl cheating on you, trust is eroded, time to start looking for new girl.

BassTrackerBoats said:

Fool me once shame on you.

Fool me twice shame on me.

I'd be looking elsewhere to replace that revenue stream.

Click to expand...

True.

He's out drinking whisky tonight at his friends house, so he does not know yet and has not seen the email in his spam box, with the contract thanking him for the work and more work he wants him to look at this Tuesday coming. No doubt he will see it at some point tomorrow

I had a couple of ideas, would you mind if I run them past you ?

First one, is mirror his behaviour. I go quiet and sneaky too... So I will stop working but still claim a wage off him and wait for other outstanding commission to be paid. Then just stop everything getting him the contracts.

Two, I do the above but start contacting his competitors and offering "access" to these contracts but I'm not sure how this one will go down with GDPR and other things giving his competitors the contact details to the people who are the decision makers when it comes to accepting/declining contracts. I don't wanna be liable for anything but at the same time, I would like to work with a company who is willing to pay the value and be direct and honest.

uncutu said:

You can get a customer relationship management (crm) software, hook it up to a mailbox, and use that for all communication with the lead within your organization, instead of private emails/calls. That's how a bigger organization would handle leads and communication and reduce shady behavior.
like @BassTrackerBoats suggests. its like a girl cheating on you, trust is eroded, time to start looking for new girl.

Click to expand...

Any recommendation on this mate ?

I did work with some clients in the past who used Hubspot.

He uses Google Workspace for his business emails (Mon-Fri he stays on top of his emails and only usually after work is finished on Friday for the weekend he isn't as active) The only thing now is because trust is definitely eroded, couldn't he just potentially delete the data from the CRM too ?

I need a solid plan going forward but trying to figure out the logistics of what to do.

Genuinely thinking of just still getting paid a monthly fee of him and not doing anything else. That way, I feel like I am getting some compensation for the contracts he's trying to stiff me out of commission.

I don't even want to be thinking like this but it's genuinely annoys me, when he's getting contracts that go into 5 figures from day 1 and the life time value of them be work an insane amount of cash flow to him and the growth off his business but wants to get greedy and trying to be cunning and stiff me over on the commission.

one thing that comes to mind since you are using google workspace, is have all inbound/outbound emails fwd to a separate email that he has no access to. consider this like a vault/archive/record which can be audited by you at any time. in workspace admin, you can also create admin alerts if emails are deleted.
see:
https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Workspace-Q-A/Restrict-users-from-email-deletion/m-p/479242
https://support.google.com/vault/answer/2584132?hl=en&ref_topic=2739742&sjid=5055139163652829918-NA

this is all assuming you have admin access to the workspace. he could just revoke the email rules assuming admin rights...and subsequently destroy the trust relationship.

uncutu said:

one thing that comes to mind since you are using google workspace, is have all inbound/outbound emails fwd to a separate email that he has no access to. consider this like a vault/archive/record which can be audited by you at any time. in workspace admin, you can also create admin alerts if emails are deleted.
see:
https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/Workspace-Q-A/Restrict-users-from-email-deletion/m-p/479242
https://support.google.com/vault/answer/2584132?hl=en&ref_topic=2739742&sjid=5055139163652829918-NA

this is all assuming you have admin access to the workspace. he could just revoke the email rules assuming admin rights...and subsequently destroy the trust relationship.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much, appreciate your response, some good ideas in there that got me thinking a bit more which I am very grateful for. If anything else comes to mind, don't hesitate to drop a message

wow this is strange move.

Why don't you operate Yourself alone? This is why stop me to venture with others. In BHW I saw a lot offer venture service. I mean ok , We work together as promise claim xxx percentage commission will be share. Problem is who knows the earnings are alot you never give more hide from me. Next worst run aways cannot get in touch after few jobs.

Fire the client. You can't work for a client you don't trust.

roydan said:

Fire the client. You can't work for a client you don't trust.

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True !!!

Damn, that sucks... If you're able to get some money off him still but stop working that's not a bad idea.

What the work is about?

If i were you, Just see him play and looking for new patnership, dont stop business until im secure with other clients

He will continue to lie to you. You can try to squeeze as much cash as you can for a little work from your side, if you can, until he wishes to stop working with you. You can also try to fuck him over in some way, because he is continuously fucking you over with your money.