[thelist] Mediating Client Disputes

[jt]

Good day all,

Perhaps this has been addressed on the list before, but I need some advice
on mediating and settling client disputes.

My case is as such: a couple of months ago we did work for a recurring
client who claims the work was not to par and "screwed up", although he has
offered no specific examples of our failings, just that it took him "a long
time to fix". Because of this, he refuses to pay our bill. I think a lot of
this situations stems from "personal issues" and a desire to save face or
shift blame...but this is only speculation.

I honestly cannot say whether or not our firm is guilty or innocent at this
point since the client has not made any specific allegations, thus I have
nothing to respond to/refute.  I have no problem accepting responsibility
for any mistakes I have made, God knows I have done it plenty of times in
the past(apologizing is one of my pasttimes).

What I am looking for is some sort of method of having an independent
evaluator look at the facts of the case and determine fault, the caveat
being that this person must be technically literate enough to make informed
conclusions concerning code issues. I have documentation of all the work
that I have done, including the code I wrote for the client.

The value of this monetarily is not really that much, what is more important
is that we determine where the fault lies so that we can fix it.

Our relationship with this client is valuable, so we want to be delicate,
but at the same time we can't have people default on bills or tarnish our
reputation without justification.

Right now, the only two options I see available are either small claims
court or the Mafia(joke!). Are there alternatives?

Thanks for your time and responses.

jonathan c. tobin   (   jt at badzen.com   )
badzen, la          (   www.badzen.com  )
phone               (   310.841.6002    )