What do you do with a Deadbeat like Mohit Gupta?

We all have collections problems with customers from time to time. However, I have an issue with a customer that's driving me crazy. Its  bad enough that he stiffed me for my bill, but what really irks me is that he lied to my face about paying it. Here's the story.

In the summer of 2008 I was retained by Mohit Gupta of Geo Drilling, an Indian company that was interested in finding a Canadian partner with expertise in the natural gas business. I asked Mohit for a retainer and the funds were wire transferred to my account. I then arranged a series of meetings in Calgary with potential partners and we went to Calgary together for a whirlwind couple of days.

On the morning of the last day, Mohit advised me that his grandmother was seriously ill back in India and that he had to go home right away. He asked me to represent him at the meetings on the last day of our trip and off he went back to Delhi. I finished up the meetings and sent him my report and my final invoice. I never heard from him again.

I sent emails, made telephone calls, all to no avail. My final invoice remains outstanding to this day.

That would have been the end of it, however, in the Fall of 2009, my wife and I were on vacation in India. It was Diwali and we were the guests of a friend and his wife who took us to a series of Diwali parties one evening. We were at the first of 3 events that we attended that evening and I couldn't believe my eyes - in a country of over 1 billion people, the first person I bump at this party was my old "friend" Mohit Gupta.

Rather that avoid me, he came right up to me, apologized and asked to meet with me to discuss the project and my invoice. My wife and I were leaving for Bhutan the next day, but Mohit and I agreed to have dinner in Delhi upon our return from Bhutan 10 days later.

So, off we go to Bhutan. I am busy telling my travelling companions about the Karma of running into Mohit and how he is going to pay my invoice. We meet for dinner my first night back in Delhi and he apologizes profusely, provides me with a long story about business challenges and promises to wire transfer my funds so that they will be waiting for me upon my return to Canada.

That was the last I heard from Mohit Gupta. I re-sent my invoice monthly. I sent emails, made phone calls, left voicemail messages, and yet I never heard from him again. My invoice is still outstanding almost 4 years later.

I did get some modest revenge as I was contacted by someone on Linkedin who was asking for a reference on good old Mohit. Suffice it to say that I gave the guy a strong warning.

So, what's the lesson? I got 50% of my fee prepaid as a retainer, so while I didn't lose money on the project as I was able to cover my out of pocket expenses, I got stiffed for the balance of my invoice. I suppose I could have gotten 100% of the fee up front, but that seemed a bit excessive at the time.

I guess the bottom line is to be careful who you are dealing with. Get references. Get as much of your invoice paid up front as possible if you are dealing with foreigners. And finally - don't do business with Mohit Gupta of Geo Drilling and MG Industries of Delhi, India.