TLDR: client owes me over £2000 and has gone completely silent. they're a successful restaurant chain, so the money's there. how likely am I to get paid and is there anything else i should be doing?

i was doing social media marketing for a local restaurant on a monthly retainer. The owner was always a bit odd, but one day after a particularly unprofessional and uncomfortable exchange, I took him up on his request to hand in my notice. He'd done that before when annoyed, then changed his mind, but this time i followed through within the hour. toxic situation, honestly.

That pissed him off because despite his threats, i was doing a good job. he even offered me to manage the other restaurants in the chain, so it was never about the work. He's just a weirdo.

i already had one invoice outstanding when that happened, plus my pro rata invoice. Now I've got two invoices from April and May. sent seven follow-ups via email and WhatsApp. He's ignored every single one. Not even read the messages. The invoices aren't severely overdue-barely 10 days each. but the total silence, plus the fact that it's a significant chunk of cash i need month-to-month to keep my startup afloat as a new freelancer, meant i wanted to nip this in the bud.

i sent a final notice saying the amount owed and that I'd add interest if not paid by end of yesterday. that deadline's passed, so today i need to follow through on my threat to file a county court claim.

Did i act too early? A colleague pointed out that 9 and 11 days overdue isn't alarming on its own, but the silence after seven follow-ups is a massive red flag. That's not someone who forgot-that's someone deciding how long I'll wait. The county court claim is the right move. Filing puts it on record and shows I'm not just letting it go.

I'm also sending a formal letter to their registered business address by post. Not email, not WhatsApp. a physical letter to the company changes the tone completely. sometimes that alone triggers a response. And keeping every message, delivery receipt, invoice with timestamps. If it goes to a claim, I'll need it all clean and documented.

£2000 from a restaurant chain isn't small claims territory where they'll fight hard. more likely they'll pay once it becomes a legal headache. Staying calm, being methodical, not letting anxiety rush me but keeping moving.

pulling out was the right call. Small claims is genuinely worth it at this amount for a solvent business-judges take unpaid professional invoices seriously. Beyond chasing this payment, the longer lesson is building systems that reduce exposure to chaotic clients: clear contracts, upfront deposits, platforms that auto-generate documented deliverables. tighter processes make you harder to ghost