Thanks captjns....A brutally frank example of what can happen and how to escape from that scenario.
Whilst Jetopa's suggestion seems eminently sensible..........in theory, it is extremely unlikely that one would get any contract work on a "cash-up-front" basis. The armholes who even think about asking the crew to pay with their own c/c's, would just find some other mug to do the job.
There was a thread on Biz Jets, Ag Pilots etc. that discussed this whole issue of non payment to both contract pilots and employed pilots. It didn't really resolve the issue, but generally the concensus was that removal of either A/C documents and/or equipments, seemed to be the most efficacious way of ensuring prompt payment! Of course the drawback being, that you need to know that you are NOT going to be paid before you leave the aircraft....!