The Worst Freelance Project Ever
Posted July 15, 2010 in Freelance Stories, Managing Clients
A lot of us complain about our clients. They’re too demanding, too nitpicky, late with materials or late with payments. Thankfully, the majority of our clients and projects tend to go pretty smoothly, otherwise none of us would want to be in business anymore!
Every once in awhile we come across one of those nightmare clients you read about online and wonder if someone could really be like that. The sad, sad answer is yes–there are plenty of crazies in the world. And they like hiring freelancers for some reason.
I had my first (and only I hope) nightmare project with an even worse client several months ago. While he and his company will remain nameless, I think we can all learn from my experience–and my mistakes.
In The Beginning
This client approached me with a seemingly simple project. Basically, it was just a simple one-page site with a form that users would need to fill out, submit and see the results below. He explained that his budget was pretty low (red flag #1!) but that he thought the project was really easy (red flag #2). In hindsight, I don’t know why I accepted the project. The two red flags already meant going against many of the principles I talk about on here. I think I was pretty slammed with work during that time and not monitoring my clients well enough.
Anyway, I sent the project to the designer. The designer sent something back to me and without looking at it; I sent it to the client. The client had a few changes and went back and forth a couple of times. Then hell started.
Red, Red Everywhere!
The third red flag came at the end of the design process when the client asked for custom illustrations of a city in a foreign country. Mind you, he was only paying $400 for the design. After explaining to him that he couldn’t get custom illustrations for the price we quoted him, he complained that he was disappointed, but approved the design anyway.
The fourth red flag was when he sent the programming spec. It was nowhere near what we had talked about. All of a sudden, he required that the user be able to upload images, choose from several different options and dropdowns. I told him this wasn’t possible with the original quote and he said OK.
My Biggest Mistake
My biggest mistake in the middle of all of this was that I was slammed with my own projects and I stink at project management. I was so slammed, that I was forwarding emails left and right and not paying attention to what was in them. Little did I know he had asked the designer to place a ton of stuff in the design that would have to be programmed and wasn’t in the spec! He assumed because I didn’t say anything that it was OK.
An Angry Client
After explaining to the client that basically everything he asked for wasn’t what was in the quote, he was furious. He demanded that we do all of it and he wouldn’t pay a penny more. He refused to acknowledge that we told him earlier it couldn’t be done. Normally, I would tell a client to walk, but this was the first project where I was handling two other freelancers, and both of them had done more work than what they were paid for and all three of us deserved to be paid.
After several back and forth emails, we finally did most of what was out of spec for free and sent him a preview of the final project. Expecting to be thanked, I found this email in my inbox instead:
There are a lot of issues. Please send the illustrator/photoshop design mock-up quoted for $400 and consider the project closed.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with the project. I even politely tried to ask the client what the “issues” were and he refused to explain it to me. He demanded the “files he paid for,” but wouldn’t pay the final invoice. I finally had to (for the first time ever) threaten him with the contract he agreed to. He finally paid the final invoice and disappeared.
What Did I Learn?
While this was certainly an outragous client, I did manage to learn several things from the project:
- I stink at project management, so future projects will be broken up and other freelancers will deal with the client separately, with separate contracts.
- I should really stop writing vague programming specs. It’s the programming that always trips me up.
- Don’t take on a client with so many red flags
- Never, never, never take on a client who asks for a discount.
- Properly read your emails!
- If you don’t catch the out of spec work early on, it’s almost on you to provide the work for free, since you let it go.
Since then, I’ve gotten better at managing clients and spending the time to make sure I read each of the client’s emails thoroughly. I also try to examine all PSDs and put everything in the contract, so if need be, I can go back later and say, “this isn’t in there.” While I still mess up the programmer’s specs, both of us have gotten a lot better at figuring out how to manage the client’s expectations. Neither of us want to do free work ever again!
Nightmare Projects
What was your worst project? How did you handle it?
Image by ark
Related posts:
- Why Your Worst Clients Should Still Get Your Best Service
- Ten Signs You Need To Refuse That Project
- Why You Should Let Your Project Cool Off Before You Turn It in
- Living Project-To-Project?
- The Creative Brief: Improve Your Project Workflow
About the author: Amber is a freelancer with over 10 years of experience and specializes in clean, semantic and valid HTML5, CSS3 and Wordpress development. She also writes a web development blog at www.amberweinberg.com and just launched a web app for developers at www.codesnipp.it.
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58 Comments
WotV
July 15th, 2010 at 8:33 amOnce took a job that was supposed to be an eBook on relationships. Turned out the client wanted explicit sexual content. Very explicit. I refunded his money when it became apparent that the job was pretty much writing porn.
Jason Gross
July 15th, 2010 at 8:47 amI can feel your pain Amber. It’s because of projects like these that I no longer even consider someone who talks about not having much of a budget. I know there was a point early in my freelancing experience where I told myself I wasn’t going to be that person who just ignores potential clients or turns down projects on a hunch. However, experiences like these go to show that the red flags you pointed out lead to predictable results 90% of the time.
Freelance FactFile
July 15th, 2010 at 8:51 amMy worst project was writing a brochure for a well-known investment management company. I was hired by their design agency as the copywriter. Briefing meeting went well, all very friendly, and I submitted an outline draft of the key messages that needed to be communicated on each spread, as agreed in the meeting. This was approved without any changes, so I wrote the copy.
Then the design agency told me the client had rewritten the entire text. When I read this new copy, it paid no heed whatsoever to the outline draft that had previously been agreed. The client said that, as they were going with their version, they weren’t going to pay for the copywriting. Luckily it was the design agency that had hired me, not the end client, so I did get paid. But the design agency had to swallow the costs.
If that client had hired me directly, I guess the lesson learned here would be to get all approvals in writing. I just got verbal approvals. And it’s also important to have terms and conditions that are as water tight as possible. Whenever I quote a job (say it’s for writing a website), I state how many meetings this will include, how many pages, how many sets of amends. And there’s a sentence that says if there are any changes to the agreed brief/website sitemap, this will incur additional fees. I also state that I won’t start work until I have written confirmation that they approve my quote.
Sponsi
July 15th, 2010 at 8:56 amOoh man, that seems like really just the beginning of a freelancing career – more like a student job : ) You have to be careful, think more, value yourself… but I guess you can see your own mistakes now, so let’s say you are over it and you don’t need any advice. Now to share my experience…
In my country, Poland, there are a lot of such people (but the situation is getting better, fortunately, with more and more professional, especially western-based or “new capitalism”, design companies, who just say “pay or goodbye”). You have to see the red flags (I really like your choice of vocab here : ) so that you don’t walk into some swamp.
I don’t want to bring back my bad memories, but I will again tell you about some flower company in which there was this lady who would call me 5-8 times a day, especially in the evening for fast changes (“because we are going to this trade event and we need it online tomorrow morning”) and then I had to wait 5-7-10 days for payment (and I was cheap!). She then switched the company, I made one more website for her new company, the cooperation was a bit better but generally now I don’t answer calls from her : )
Anyway… recently another company, a building developer (the guy has got a 3-storey cottage house with a Japanese garden) lost their main .pl domain. The guy was always mean as hell. 5 years ago, when I was a student, I made a website for him for really bad money and his attitude was like “why so much?” plus “and another thng on my website.. and another … and another.. btw. why do you charge so much?”. So a week ago he was calling me all the time (I didn’t answer) about this domain he had lost. A guy took over the lost domain and sold him for 5-6 times more than the prolonging price (it was still too cheap – I even contacted the guy and told him it was TOO cheap for such (_&!*%)_#%). They will not get any advice from me, no help whatsoever with the domain transfer. And this is my final thought – you should have really good memory for such clients. Repeat business with such hienas is NOT welcome in freelancing.
Cheers!
Jordan Walker
July 15th, 2010 at 9:11 amFortunately I have not had problems with any clients…knock on wood
Sergio Ordonez
July 15th, 2010 at 9:13 amLot of mistakes my friend, take care in future projects.
Kim
July 15th, 2010 at 9:35 amThank goodness for contracts!! Your scenario is all to familiar in my 20 years in advertising & design. Sometimes, in my excitement over a new design I get hasty & don’t get a contract. BIG MISTAKE! I have been burned almost everytime!
Shirley
July 15th, 2010 at 9:40 amSorry about what happened, Amber. One positive thing is you did have a signed contract with which you could make sure the client finally pay. One thing I don’t have, working as a freelance writer.
Anyway, when I was still working 9 to 5, my bosses always extolling the virtue of emailing. Whenever we want to progress on a certain project, they would (seemingly) take a step back and said the dreaded phrase, “Alright, why don’t you write an email about it and send it to blah, blah, blah and cc it to me?”
Now I realize how much it can save one from much grief. Emails serve as excellent negotiation documents. Don’t know how efficient or practical it is in your field though. Just thought I’d mention it :)
Ricky
July 15th, 2010 at 9:45 amI think the biggest mistake was not reading client emails and quoting too low. In which case I’m not sure, it fair to blame the client.
David Zemens
July 15th, 2010 at 9:49 amYou describe the *exact* scenario that all of us have been faced with at one time or another.
To be honest, I have solved the problem (almost entirely) by simply refusing to work with low budget clients. Admittedly you can have the same issues with a client paying standard rates, but in my experience it happens far less frequently.
Valery Menelas
July 15th, 2010 at 10:05 amOh man,
I remember my first e-commerce job that I took.
This was my 2nd year of me freelancing and my 2nd year in learning web design & development.
The client wanted to create a furniture online store. He had 1700+ products that I had to manually enter in through Magento. Being 17 at the time, I quoted him $800.
The pro: I got paid $800.
The cons: He called at 1AM in the morning.
His domain name was about 30 characters, so you can only imagine what that is like trying to type it.
One day he misspell his own website name and I received a call. It went something like this:
Him: Hey Val, what have you done?? My website is not working.
Me: *checks on website* It’s working perfectly fine, try refreshing.
Him: *refreshes the page* Still not working.
Me: Hmm, are you sure you typed it in correctly?
Him: Yes. Let me see –ohh! no I didn’t.
Me: …
Him: Let’s change the domain name it’s too long.
Me: …
I told him I would finish this website in 2 weeks, he added more on the website and each time he would add an extra “feature” he would tell me why is it taking so long.
I spent two+ months working on this website alone, I was on summer and this was my only project. I got tired of the constant “feature” being added that I finally created my own hourly rate and charged him. Needless to say, I ended up making thousands on just my hourly rate alone from this client.
Guneet Narula
July 15th, 2010 at 10:07 amThat sure sounds like a big – bad pain in the neck. Such things generally affect my creative output the most.
I have to tell you, even though I am relatively new into the graphic design field – just 2 years into it – (freelance designers are a little rare in India anyways), I had a really horrible time with 3-4 clients in a row. At first I thought I was the problem, maybe my work flow and approach had issues.. so I tried changing things around.. but soon I started realizing the actual problem. Most clients here in India are not that tech savvy and don’t consider good design as an important aspect. Imagine dealing with a client who doesn’t want to understand that that awesome Jquery image gallery will not work in his internet explorer 6 unless he manually enable javascript…
Seriously, I have to take so many precautions with every new project. I have to make sure that they understand what is web design and graphic design, and how I can help them. And almost none of them accept the monetary value of this work. Thankfully, my personal pursuits regularly provide much need motivation to go on with this! To a certain extent I enjoy the show :)
Jillian Nichols
July 15th, 2010 at 10:38 amIt is incredible what a nightmare some clients can be. I have always been lucky until a few months ago, where I too faced working for a client who proved to just be absolutely awful. Also ignored initial contract agreements and was impossible to reason with, and kept threatening to sue. I agree, you need to watch for red flags, and overall, go with your gut feeling. If you get the “icks” from someone and you feel like it’s a little sketchy, wipe your hands clean of it immediately.
Minna
July 15th, 2010 at 10:54 amIt’s getting tougher in these hard economic times also to stick to your guns about rates and project scope. I just had a client try to make me lower my hourly rate on a project that I actually quoted quite low for what they want. Kept giving me the sob story “we’re a small startup, we don’t have a big budget” — yet they want big budget results. I stuck to my guns and said no, actually I am not going to lower my rate, and that I felt that I was actually cutting them a good deal. Because this was a referral from another good client, they decided that they were ok with it. Not to say I am out of the woods yet – we will have to see what they think of the final product!
It’s also hard with the economy to feel like you have to pass up work, even if you are slammed, and even if there are some red flags. I know I am certainly guilty of this, because I’m always worried that while I may be slammed now, maybe I will not have work in a couple months, so I better load up now. It’s the risk we take as freelancers ;)
Lee Harding
July 15th, 2010 at 10:56 amMy worst ever project is one that I am currenty working on – and I’d love if the client read this!
It’s an e-commerce site built using mageno – which is a nightmare in its own right!
Anyway the client had their own graphic designer who she wanted to do the design, which I thought was great as I’d only have to code.
I saw the design, it wasn’t the best but if that’s what the client wants then thats what they’ll get, although I knew as soon as I looked at the mockup that it would be a nightmare to build in magento.
I spent a good few weeks coding up the site, trying to get JQuery to play nice with Magento and a whole bucket full of messing around with php.
Anyway I got the site finished, only to be told that the site looked “too boxy” and “too much like a template”. Since I hadn’t yet been paid, I pretty much had to redesign and recode the entire site based on her suggestions for free – I’d gotten to the point where I just did as I was told in order to get the project finished asap.
I’m just coming to the end of the rebuild, have recieved some payment in small portions but not full payment.
I suppose it’s my own fault for not inisiting on a deposit and putting a contract together like I usually do – it was for a friend of a friend – I won’t be making this mistake again!
Frederick
July 15th, 2010 at 11:24 amI really like your Red Flags. This should always be followed and they never fail to tell the truth about a client. And those emails that are not thoroughly read. I made the mistake countless times, if this happens on Elance or a system where they can leave feedback you have to be carefull – These types of clients are itching to destroy your reputation if they had the chance to leave feedback.
Recently took a simple pre-built theme project – no design included. On one of the clients emails – He requested us to improve on the design. We did a bit. This turned to be a few days of editing and back and forth revisions. When i finally told him the original scope didnt include design as written on contract – His argument was that – I verbally agreed to improve on the design afterwards. So make sure to never include verbal agreements. Always follow what’s on the written contract. Whatever you make – You should always get paid for.
Stephanie
July 15th, 2010 at 11:30 amGosh that sounded really difficult for you Amber, especially with the fact that you’re responsible for the payments of two other freelancers. Thankfully that awful client coughed up the dough and left with a lot of good lessons all of us can learn and benefit from.
My worst project was taking on a client’s writing project the 2ND TIME after that really bad beginning with him. It’s the same as this scenario: he had a small budget because apparently he was unemployed and asked me to do so much for only that amount. Thankfully I kept my cool despite wanting to yell at this client through my monitor and the project ended with the amount due paid.
Amber Weinberg
July 15th, 2010 at 11:32 am@Ricky I clearly stated in my post that that part was my fault. However, asking for much more than what was clearly in the spec was the client’s fault, not my own.
@Minna I don’t think the economy is bad at all. I think potential clients try to use the economy as an excuse as to why they can’t pay your rates…but you should never lower your rates (unless you really are charging too much lol) Someone will pay :)
Yaira
July 15th, 2010 at 11:38 amAnd of course, there’s the classic scenario for this situation… fully illustrated!
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
I’ve had SEVERAL clients like this… eek!
Alpesh
July 15th, 2010 at 11:47 amWorst situation comes when, you have paid other freelancer for the same project and client doesnt pay saying that `We are running out of money` Or any `Blah blah blah`
I have lost several thousand dollars from such clients in last couple of months (ignoring those red flags, thinking to earn something in this bad time of mine)
Please make sure you will get paid on time from client, so that you can pay your freelancer. [You should not hold money of that innocent freelancer who has done work]
Appreciate your words. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Good day.
Ray Rivera
July 15th, 2010 at 11:51 amSadly, we all face clients like this in our career as freelancers. But sometimes clients are really deceiving in the begging and 360 on you in the end.
Recently, I was working on an adult tube website (design/art direction/branding). He really liked my portfolio and wanted to hand me over a few projects after i finished the first one (supposedly) so i gave him a really fair price to keep him coming back..My first red flag that i ignored was the fact that he said “my other guy does it for this much and gives me xyz” I just ignored him and said ok. The process went pretty smooth, he insisted at least 5 times that i should take my time, and he is in no rush because he want’s a quality design.
Towards the finalization of his website, he just kept getting really nit picky and changing his mind on things. Let’s jump back to the “fair quote” that i gave him for a second. I quoted him $600 for 3 pages and a logo. I did not add in quotes for extra revisions even for the design/logo though it took me a week to do his logo because he did not like the previous 6 that i did for him. Basically, he was trying to take advantage of the quote i gave him so i told him at this point in time he would have to pay me by the hour for all these out of the sky changes (had to change specs of the website because he changed his mind at the end). His response was “ok, Do it up and i will pay you a few more HUNDRED” so i said ok, throw as many changes as you need in that case.
After i finished doing what he asked, and was ready to bill him..he decided to tell me that he meant he will pay me to do other pages for the site, that is out of the spec and a whole new project. That turned nasty, so i insisted he pay me for 2 hours of revisions and just walk after that. He started to curse at me for about 15 minutes,and according to him all of a sudden the design was not up to par for him and he was unhappy with it, I took 3 months and no one ever took that long (his project took roughly 4 weeks going back and forth with him), how he only came to me because this other design company was too busy and he can get what i quoted him for less + development & scripting..which i found out the company charges way more than i did.
Sorry for the long story, but basically this guy 360′d on me, bashed me in every way he could, and tried to tell me i ripped him off…all because of his misguided words “do it up and ill pay you a few more hundred” and then tried to bill him accordingly to his statement.
This is one of my many horror storys, Being in a rough spot financially i think i tend to undervalue my self and take on anything i can – MY MISTAKE
Yari
July 15th, 2010 at 1:18 pm@Yaira, That’s one of my fave illustrations from The Oatmeal!
Kerem
July 15th, 2010 at 1:59 pmI can easily say the most important thing in this article that every (young, old, experienced, new) freelancer should pay attention to: Don’t take on a client with so many red flags!
Nice article Amber.
Ashley Hill
July 15th, 2010 at 6:38 pmWorst client experience: I took on a client that wanted complete branding, website and social media management. As it was my first bigger job (besides contract work) I quoted her a very fair price, she agreed, signed the contract, and started the job.
The first mission was to do a logo, with a certain look and feel she wanted. I sent her mockup after mockup to no avail, always wanting changes, etc until it got way past the scope, and this was only part 1!
Red flag #1 was she paid me for the logo upfront, which normally I don’t like to do, preferring a 2 or 3 payment split. After a couple weeks of apparently not getting what she wanted, she told me to stop, and that she’d do it herself, but I would still do the website and everything else.
Fast forward several months with no contact, (I was thinking she blew me off) and she sends me the new logo and link to the website her friend did, and practically demanded I get started on the social networking immediately. Well this was the day before my scheduled vacation, and I let her know this.
Two days later she calls (and leaves a message, since I told all my clients I will be unavailable via phone for a couple of days) then texts and emails me, demanding I start right away and that she should get a refund.
Did I mention her logo was COMPLETELY different than what she told me she wanted? And that the website was nothing more than images from photoshop placed as backgrounds, with some unstyled links on top?
I sent her back half of the money, which we agreed upon, and sent her on her merry way. Lesson learned.
eBay Powerseller Tips
July 15th, 2010 at 6:55 pmThat first red flag is one which hit me quite a few months back with one of my clients. When they tell me that there is a very tight small budget and a lot of work to be done, I ask them to re-evaluate their goals. I really love this blog, keep up the great work here!
Leisa
July 15th, 2010 at 7:22 pmExcellent article as always. Can you tell I love this site?
A couple of projects come to mind. I think the key in working as a team or even solo is to recognize what you do NOT do well. I mean both your business or personal skills.
Personally, I am good with project management, but not good with estimating jobs. I now run the pricing by someone on my team. You could just as easily run it by a trusted colleague. She also breaks it down and we play “what if” and try to anticipate with the other team members all that could go wrong and work that into the price.
Now this particular person is not good with writing the proposal, so I do that for her. Not only do we focus on the “career” skills that we do well, but also on the business skills we do well.
Just try to learn and move on. Ask yourself what would you have done differently, and then next time either do it differently or turn down the work. Too many red flags isn’t worth the job. It will zap your energy and eat up valuable time that you could use for doing something else in your business.
Again, great article.
Allie
July 15th, 2010 at 7:35 pmI always love reading your advice and stories.
It’s always an eye-roller and slightly amusing to hear stories about clients who want a whole lot for nothing, and then get mad when they are told no.
I don’t do much freelance work since I have a 9-5 job, but I did take on a website project.
She ended up not wanting any of my designs, was emailing me while I was at work wondering why I wasn’t emailing her back right away. She had this impression that I sat on my email for hours, just waiting for her to respond, and didn’t call. She had tweak tweaks tweaks! And was computer /internet illiterate. also thought my job was to set up her server and buy her domain. Then, kept giving me the wrong log-in info for her domain ftp.
So It ended, I got some money out of it, and was suuuper happy to have it over with. (not fun to come home from website work for 8 hours only to do it some more but getting yelled at)
One last comment to a comment, the economy here in the USA is bad. That is still no excuse for clients to want to pay nothing for a professional website.
Alpesh
July 15th, 2010 at 7:45 pm@Allie
I agree with your opinion about economy in our country. and many client just take advantage of that.
Good luck.
Leisa
July 15th, 2010 at 7:52 pmWow, Allie. I bet you don’t miss that freelance job at all. I can remember freelancing before I left my day job, but boy your client really went back and forth with you!
So many clients are either computer illiterate or confused about computer terms. Lately, I have been spelling out in my contracts what constitutes a “reasonable revision” for web design and for other projects as well. I also include a list of terms used in web design, so they will know exactly what is covered and what is not covered in their contract.
Especially when it comes to the Internet and web design. I had a client that kept wanting me to change the “banner” which was really the WordPress “theme” not covered in this revision. So, while it may seem like overkill sometimes, it really is worth spelling it out as much as you feel you need to spell it out.
Jordan Walker
July 15th, 2010 at 8:16 pm@Alpesh & @Allie
Indeed we find ourselves with glim circumstances, corrupt politicians, and unethical corporations. The true driving force for this country is us – the freelancers, entrepreneurs, and citizens (both legal and illegal). Who strive every day to make ends meet, to better their lives and those which they love. This country was founded with the prospect of better times and circumstances. Be fair in your deals and work hard. Let the worst work itself out and stay optimistic.
Alpesh
July 15th, 2010 at 8:26 pm@Jorden
Thanks for your kindest words.
Kei San Pablo
July 15th, 2010 at 9:13 pmOuch! Do we really have to experience this kind of client once in a while?! I guess we do.
I used to work more than I get paid also, not until I finally have created a list of services I would work on for the amount quoted and that any additional work will be paid. Good thing you had a contract.
Thanks for sharing your experience Amber, as we, freelancers, sometimes tend to oversee the obvious (red flags) when it comes to our clients. Great post!
Kei San Pablo
July 15th, 2010 at 9:23 pm@Jourdan – I completely AGREE!
Scentsy
July 15th, 2010 at 10:19 pmI’m sorry you had to go through this, but THANK YOU for sharing your experience with the rest of us, so we can learn from your experience. I also respect the fact that you left their name “nameless.” Very professional!
Urviho
July 16th, 2010 at 3:26 amLive is not so easy as it seems :)
Storm
July 16th, 2010 at 6:06 amSome of that does seem more like client mis-management than worst nightmare stuff, but you were lucky to be able to learn that early on in your career than with bigger clients.
At the beginning of my freelance career I came across many nightmare clients, all of whom I am eternally grateful for.
My worst client started out seeming like a dream. They wanted a complex site and were willing to pay, the only red flag I thought was that they wanted to do the design themselves (they were a print graphic designer) with me consulting on web usability. Their design portion was to take the first 3 weeks of the projected timeline. Contract signed, deposit paid, work beigns. Fast forward three months and we are still on the design phase, over 100 hours of my time spent on “consultation” which I know fondly look back on as me providing sound advice and the client throwing it back in my face.
The client finally decides they like it and says that if the site is not completed in gthe projected timeline (i.e within 2 weeks) they will withhold the final payment. Needless to say, I balked at that. They threatened to sue saying the law was on their side, thinking that would make me cave. Sadly for them, I sued them for breach of contract and, although it took over 6 months in the court system, I got all monies owed plus court costs and the satisfaction of seeing their faces when the verdict came down.
I learnt for next time that being upfront and making sure the client follows the letter of the contract makes all the difference. It doesn’t matter how good you are at project management or any of the rest of the freelance repetoire, there will always be a client who will push you to your limits, how you deal with it is up to you.
Kuswanto
July 16th, 2010 at 6:39 amYou should pay attention to each conversation. Some nitpicky client ask for anything for free.
José Mota
July 16th, 2010 at 7:14 amWhat a story…! This one is quite a hell story as well http://clientsfromhell.net/post/700943778/a-cautionary-tale . Writing it down and writing it clear is a major step towards success, I believe.
About the discounts, I believe everyone can ask for it. Just say no and it’s cool. I ask for discounts in retailers sometimes; if the clerk says no, then it’s ok.
Best of luck, Amber!
Morne
July 16th, 2010 at 8:38 amMan that sounds rough. A client who I worked with, had no idea what they wanted. They came to me asking me to design a sleek, modern, interactive site for them. And my first mistake was not talking money from the start, as I kind of knew them personally.
The first red flag for me was, when they replied to my design proposal, with the following words : “The site looks great, however, we don’t like the header image. Could you maybe use this image that we found in Microsoft word clip-art?”
Anyways, after numerous emails back and forth, I eventually gave them the code, the design, and told them to please stop bothering me. It was the first, and last client that I had to turn away. I’ve also since not taken any work with people I personally know.
Mitchell W. Morris
July 17th, 2010 at 5:37 pmGreat article! I don’t think these sort of mistakes appear inexperienced at all. It’s too easy to make these mistakes in this industry. These types problems are almost shape shifting and to say there is 123 method of handling these sorts of mistakes doesn’t always apply as business relationships become more and more dynamic. It all comes down to interpretation. I would just recommend that we all just watch our pockets and if a client feels threatening then let them know early that your ALL business and 0% personal. Sometimes even good people find hard times and can’t pay and so we must consider some assurance like retaining hours up front. My ALL business methodology has allowed me to focus only on the bottom line which in turn has got me paid more.
Better to pull the plug even when your desperate, then to lose more money to bad clients. Believe it or not they’ll respect you more if you don’t let them stiff arm you.
Rob Loukotka
July 18th, 2010 at 3:49 pmThis is the kind of project that only happens once. After that, just never work with people who need discounts, or ‘don’t have much a budget’.
When I receive e-mails from these types of clients, I’m always very polite and suggest some alternatives (usually websites where they can find tons of cheaper freelancers, students, outsourcing, etc.) I want to help everybody that wants to work with me, but the truth is, a huge percentage of people don’t understand the industry, or don’t have a proper budget, or are just plain rude.
It’s hard to turn so many people away, especially when you’re looking for work, but projects like this one hurt your bottom line (and your brain).
It’s all about the warning signs, you just have to hope you’ve gotten enough of them before you sign the contract, haha.
The good news is, we all have amazing clients that make up for occasions like this, eh?
Daniel
July 18th, 2010 at 7:25 pmI had a client worst than that…actually a friend who told me what he wants, and what the price he will pay for it. I refused. He bugged me for the next week, several times daily. O caved in, and regretted. I am sorry that I did not do it for free! Too many complaints started with “I payed you, so…”
Sara Hamil
July 20th, 2010 at 8:52 amI had a client-fallout smiliar to this one. It’s a rattling experience and I definitely learned a lot from it.
Web design portfolio
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:44 amouch! firstly, always understand a brief before commencing any work. raise questions with the client over a friendly discussion so everyone knows what can and can’t be done. and secondly, the guys sounds like a d*ck!
web design india
July 26th, 2010 at 7:48 amThanks for u r information
its very useful
Gale Leitch
August 24th, 2010 at 5:28 amMy worst freelance project is a never-ending stream of revisions of Microsoft Word documents for a psychologist/writer. She coaches people on how to coach other people through communication. The problem is that she cannot communicate or instruct worth a $!#%. I receive wads of paper with scribbles all over them. I have to create diagrams in Microsoft Word. Everything must be done in Microsoft Word. Arrrggghh. I used to work at her pigsty of a house until I quit. Twice she told me to let myself in by her back door but when I got there – after having driven 10 miles – it was locked! Then she called me up and virtually begged me to do more work for her at my home. Today, she dropped off a manuscript but it was the wrong one. She is driving me crazy. I have worked in the graphics, printing, and publishing industries since 1982. I have a 3-year diploma in graphic design, a 1-year certificate in printing production, and a 6-month certificate in multimedia. I have worked for the two largest ad agencies in Canada. I have art directed magazines. In the late 80s, I was earning $30 per hour as an employee. A few years ago, I was a freelance contract employee production artist for $40 per hour. She pays me $12 per hour. I’ve been unemployed full-time for over 2 years. The recession is fierce in Vancouver, BC, but the competition is more so. Today, somebody working as a layout artist at Future Shop told me that I was too old and that, unfortunately, age discrimination in people of my gender (female) is common these days in the graphics industry. Oh, joy! What a wonderful world! Not. I asked the $12-per-hour lady to give me a reference for a magazine layout position I could do with my hands tied behind my back. That was 5 days ago. She wants to keep me as her personal slave. Is there a way out of this hell, for a graphic designer who has no business skills?
Biffo
August 30th, 2010 at 6:29 pmEver have a client that pries into your personal life or history so deep it’s criminal? How do you make nice with these creeps?
I consider myself pretty tolerant of “unconventional workplaces”, even those modeled on the “modern ashram” POV. However, giving someone the option to “drink the coolaid” and making it a requirement are two different things. The latter violating regulations of “creed discrimination”. How can this low-level criminality be addressed?
Mobile Game Development
September 27th, 2010 at 7:40 amThanks for the nice information. I am sure, I will tweet this to my twitter account. This will help a lot of users.
Kate
October 6th, 2010 at 6:12 pmI certainly have had a client who was too nosy about my personal life. I work from home so sometimes my parents answer the phone and she wants to know all about them but she doesn’t seem to grasp that I don’t want to share details about my life with somebody I have only met twice.
The only way I have been able to dispense with this client is to tell her that I’m closing my business – in fact, it’s not an excuse. The work I have done for her is so time consuming that and she wants everything done so cheaply that I have stupidly ended up effectively working for what equates to £0.60 per hour (to put it into context, the minimum wage in Britain has just risen to £5.93 and I’ve been doing fiddly design work that she is never happy with which I could probably have charged £10 or £15 an hour for), haven’t had much time to market my more profitable work and basically have killed my fledgling business because I was too stupid to decline further work after the first six weeks of doing her work so have lost money rather than making it.
I actually feel like she must think I’m like a small child doing this work for pocket money, and no matter how hard I have tried to demonstrate how much work I’m putting in and that I actually can’t afford to do it any more, she is still asking for corrections on designs that she approved months ago! I’ll be so glad to see the back of this work.
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