There is a fair amount of trust in the Decorator/Client relationship. For most people you are advising the based on your professional expertise. They want you to keep them from making mistakes and guide them through options where they might not even know what questions to ask. And while I certainly have clients who tell me to order things where I don't have a shred of proof I suggest you think carefully about what might happen if you order something without the proper documentation. At the minimum you might have to return something and make an apology. At worst you could have to defend what is being labelled a fraudulent charge.
With that in mind for those occasions when you can't write a formal contract I suggest you do the following; Try to secure a written order with the date, total, the credit card number and expiration date, as well as the customer's name. If you can a formal statement included that the undersigned authorizes you to charge their card in the listed amount is even better. Since that isn't always an option the next best thing is to tell them that you will e-mail them the information and that all they need to do is send it back with an acknowledgement that you are authorized to charge them. Short of that they can leave you a voice mail with the permission to charge them.
If they are unwilling or unable to provide any of the above mentioned items I suggest you tell that that you will need them to mail you a check before you can order. I might also suggest that you wait for the check to clear, just in case. Your mileage may vary.
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