Screwed over in a business deal gone south. What would you have done differently against in a situation like this?

[MCheetah]

I paid a producer I know to make a set of songs for me a few months ago; late March. He lives in another country, Turkey. We had an agreement and everything. I wanted to make a contract because people can be sketchy. He insisted that was not necessary. Because he's in another country, I don't know how I could've enforced it, anyway. I wanted to pay him per song, but with international processing fees and extra charges, it would've been more expensive for both of us that way.

He claimed to be in some kind of financial crisis, but didn't beg me to pay him now; he merely hinted at it. So I agreed to pay him all at once, through PayPal, for the entire set of songs. He gave his word he'd complete the order. Can you guess what happens next?

The first two went along fine. But then after that, he started "taking more gigs" and demos got delayed. He took a vacation for two weeks. Then came back and took another week off. Then his demos got sloppy and half-assed.

Now, just tonight, he's claiming he doesn't have the energy to make demos anymore and regrets the price we agreed on several months ago and tried to tell me I should pay him more because "he's tired" and all this other BS. He gave his word he'd complete the order, since I was helping him out in a bad situation and he needed the money. Now he's demanding $40 extra a song, and refuses to do any correction work on them. Basically "pay me and be happy with whatever half-assed sh*t I give you."

He's not going to finish the work and I've been screwed over. He "claims" he will give me the money back, but we know he's not going to do sh*t. I'm annoyed as hell, because I bypassed by better judgment to help this asshole out. Only to regret it, even if I do have some of the song out of the eight-set order.

TL;DR: I paid a guy in advance to complete 8 songs for me, and now he's quitting 5 songs in and demanding more money if I want him to finish.

What would you have done differently in this bad situation?

[Sour-rose]

O Helllll no. Okay, last one for a few hours, I gotta work myself. But mofo, I-... So this is something I dealt with. On... Fiverr I think? Guy was supposed to give me a sh- No, not the same... because I didn't pay him anything. Nothing lost but time. However, I feel like if you made a contract on this bish, this n*gga wouldn't be trying to half ass you. Have something to say "You complete the work, i pay you, and we'll be done. You stop in the middle and I bring a lawsuit and make sure you pay ME more than what I was payin you."
I'm in a rose and I'm 2D paper, but I do have a hand in business. Soo it's better to have a solid deal and you both know whoever wants to back out before work is done, there will be an effect.

[MORPHEUS_12]

You what you are saying is that he took several vacations on your money. I would ask him if he is Muslim. If he replies yes, then say Muslims treat people with respect and don't take advantage of them. The best you can do is place negative reviews if wherever he advertises warning others of his game.

[Anpu23]

Half up front... Anything else is asking for trouble. Now what do you do? I would remind him that PayPal has a non performance clause and you can pursue the entire thing through them so if he wants any money he has to perform. Your correspondence stands as an ipso facto contract that Paypal will accept. Or at least the it might be enough to push him into compliance.

[Anpu23]

Thanks for MHO. Hope it worked out.

[exitseven]

I never would have done business with anyone in a foreign country under those circumstances. I would have insisted on pay as you go. I would pay per song after each song was completed to my satisfaction. If he didn;t like it, he could go back to washing dishes.

[MCheetah]

It would've cost me like 50% more to do transfer the money to him that way, but I see your point.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO😎

[Fuentes]

I don't ever pay anyone out of country for anything i would only work with domestic people because if they scam i can get them. Him being from turkey makes him hard to find i mean you could dox him if you can find his social media but as far as getting addresses in turkey and trying tonreport him legally may be super hard. You could say lesson learned and don't pay out to foreigners who don't have a stream of reccomendations or people reccomending their work. And you could try with paypal to charge back but if its been 7 months thats way to long

[Sun_Kim-Ai]

Exactly what @exitseven said.
Sadly, you have no way to legally reach to him, and I'm afraid you'll have to write up the last three songs as a loss.
Find someone else from your country to make the last three songs and make them sign a legally binding contract.

[Phoenix98]

I would have dealt with someone in another country because of problems exactly like this.

its always better to do things in house or in country in this case because if things don’t get done right lawyers are involved or they are contract bound to do things a certain ways so you can’t get screwed. Least not like how you were.

[Phoenix98]

Meant wouldn’t have.

[KrakenAttackin]

I'm sorry to say but you took a risk and got screwed. The only thing you can do is research the reputation of people before doing business with them. If there is a forum for guys like this I would be sure to post your experiences.

[MCheetah]

Yeah I did. He was pretty reliable in the beginning. The first two songs are fire. But then he got lazier and lazier. I don't even think he's a scammer just so much as young and lazy. Once I sent him the money, he had no incentive to keep on working. But here I was, trying to help a guy out.

[KrakenAttackin]

@mcheetah. Lesson learned.

[FriendlyDrugDealer]

I’m into music production as a hobby/ side hustle and I don’t make a client pay unless they’re satisfied with the final product. I don’t know what he’s thinking but nah I wouldn’t pay him a dime until it’s done

[TheSpaceGnome]

I've seen this very often, musicians get screwed over all the time from producers.
I would say never bother working with people outside your country, as you are correct, it's not enforcable. And you are better off being your own producer (outside of movie, tv, or video game contracts inside your country that pay good royalty fees/sales percentages in your contract).

[Guy13]

Plenty of talent in USA…that area of the world never ends Negotiations even when contracts are signed. What I would do is know more about the Product you are interfacing with…the Culture and Ways of Service Provider.

[BCRanger10]

I'd have made him sign a contract anyway. That way we'd each have something to hold each other to.

[jamesgoldman]

Rule one of business and I learnt it first hand

Don't pay for/deliver goods without either full payment or the product in hand

[douride2]

Live and learn. I think he saw you coming a long ways off.

[Massageman]

1. Avoided ANYthing without a contract.
2. Shopped locally with someone you could actually MEET!

[888theGreat]

Turkey is collapsing. Don't you read my posts here?

[boobliker]

move on quick before it starts to hold you back!!!

[Karlsson7]

Yesss