Re: James is a dick...
No he isn't. I was made redundant from a firm when they were downsizing and agreed to stay on an extra day (you were actually supposed to leave immediately, bin liner and security etc.) to do training for the wet behind the ears kid who would be taking on part of my role. So I made it absolutely clear to the head of my department that the extra day was free but as I was going freelance anything else would be charged for at fairly high rates. So 3 months later on this kid calls me in a blind panic because he can't remember how to do something vital. I pointed out that this was going to cost them and did he have management approval to do this. "Yes yes" he says so I sorted out his problem in about an hour. It would have been quicker but he had not only forgotten everything, he was either acting thick or genuinely was.
I sent in an invoice for my time which was ignored, so I sent another which had the same reception. Talking to my accountant they said send it via registered post and if it's ignored again we have grounds to write it off against your tax as a bad debt. I asked if it was worth pursuing this through the small claims court and they said no just send the invoice again. This is a company that uses a perfectly legal method of exporting a large part of their revenue off-shore so I now regret not having pursued them in the courts.