Eight things I learned from getting screwed over by clients
December 2, 2008 by Michael Alexander · 18 Comments 
Not long ago, I took on a new client who wanted me to rewrite his Web site and add a few new pages of content.
From there, things went downhill.
It starts with a phone call from the soon-to-be client’s assistant on a Wednesday. We set up a time for me to meet with the boss on Friday. That day, I drive to his office (a 2-hour round trip) only to find he isn’t there. Evidently, he left town without telling his assistant.
English as a second language
The boss calls me about 8:30 on Sunday evening and apologizes profusely. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he begins negotiating a price for the job although I have no idea what he wants me to do at this point. I tell him I need more info before I can price the gig. He asks to meet the following morning and I readily agree.
To compound things, English is the guy’s second language and from the get-go we’re on different wave lengths. What should be a 10-minute conversation takes 30 minutes.
When I finally sit down with the boss it quickly becomes evident he has little idea of what he wants other than to have the site “look more professional.” At least that’s my takeaway after meeting for an hour and a half. It doesn’t help that neither one of us understands the other half the time.
I recommend I start by analyzing his existing site and proposing some ideas about what to do with the copy. We agree on an hourly rate of $40, which is less than I really want, but I can be flexible to a point. Besides, he really seems like a nice guy.
By now, I have 6 hours into this gig and haven’t earned a dime. I don’t charge for an initial meeting or drive time (and for this job, I’ve put in 4 hours of drive time, gas and tolls, so I’m already losing money).
Working for the man every night and day
I look at his site and formulate a plan, which takes me about 2 hours. I email the client and we agree to meet a couple of days later (another 2 hours of drive time). The meeting lasts 4 hours during which I explain my proposed copy approach, SEO and several other things. I mention setting up a Google Analytics account so we can chart our “before” and “after” progress and to understand the site’s metrics. He thinks that’s a waste of time, so I don’t pursue it.
I also tell him we’ll need to bring in a designer and maybe a coder to do some back end work. I’ve worked with a few good people, I tell him, so I can manage the entire project. I also explain that writing copy without a specific design in mind and without ideas for usability and content are about as shaky as a blind man in a circus aerial act. “Not important to worry about now,” he replies’ I have many people who work for me who can do this.”
I have my doubts, obviously, but I press on. I want the work.
By now, I have 12-plus hours into this project and the most I can bill this guy for is for 6 hours, or $240 (from my end that works out to be $20 an hour, which is about one-sixth the hourly rate of the electrician I hired last week).
Then, I spend about 16 hours writing copy, sending emails back and forth, going ’round and ’round in phone conversations, revising a couple of drafts based on his feedback, and finally putting together a mock up of the home page using Photoshop (hardly a strong point of mine). By now, I have 22 billable hours into the project.
Your cheatin’ heart
Because it’s the end of the month, I send the boss man an invoice for $880 (22 hours at $40 per). After that, I plan to bill him at the end of each month as long as the job lasts.
The head honcho flips out when he gets my invoice and calls me yelling: “You charge me $880 to write only a few paragraphs? That is too, too much! I give you $320! Job should only take 8 hours!” He slams down the phone.
There’s no written contract because I was both naive and too lazy to put anything in writing. So now I’m probably screwed out of $560 without recourse. Insult to injury, my hourly rate works out to be about $8 per.
What am I going to do now? Obviously, we had a failure to communicate. For him, Web writing is just stringing a bunch of sentences together. Should take only a couple of hours. How hard can that be, right? At least that’s what he’s thinking.
Okay, so I’m a dope. There’s no need to write and tell me so. I know. I know. From now on, I’ll get everything in writing no matter what. I don’t care how nice a person you seem to be.
What I learned from this and other experiences:
1. No matter what the client says, bring in your own people at the start. That means if you’re a writer, bring in your designer. I work solo, so I try to build alliances with designers that I can rely on for good design and high-quality service because it’s my neck on the line.
2. Insist on Web site metrics, no matter what the client says. You need to have a “before” and “after” picture of the site so (A) the client has an appreciation for the work you’ve done; (B) so you can make tweaks during the project to improve results; and (C) so you’ll have a reason to keep working with the client over a period of time to refine the site.
3. Get everything in writing. Some jobs I think will be quick and dirty, so I don’t bother. I’ve learned now that nothing is ever quick and everything tends to get dirty. I had some clown screw me out of a lousy $50 for a one-hour job, not long ago.
4. Get the client’s agreement up front about the work you plan to do. That seems obvious from your point of view. You need to make sure the client also understands what the objectives are. Most of the time, they have misconceptions about Web site copy and design, so you need to be clear on that. Also get the client’s agreement on how he plans to measure the effectiveness of the work you’ll do for him.
5. Ask the client who else will be involved in the project and what their role(s) will be. Insist on having a single point of contact and a single decision maker. It never fails to surprise me about how much corporate politics plays into every job, but it’s even worse for Web copy and design. Everyone thinks he or she knows all about it because they know how to use a browser.
6. Determine specifically how you will be paid and when. I think it’s reasonable to ask for a third at the beginning, a third midway and a third at the end. Whatever works for you is fine but get some money up front. That tends to keep both of you focused on getting the job done.
7. Don’t let the client bully you. If he’s unhappy about something, ask for specifics. Ask him to explain what his expectations are and what he wants you to do to fix whatever issue he things needs to be addressed.
8. If you can’t get the customer’s buy in about the work and its objectives up front, be prepared to walk away from the job.
What’s on your mind? What tips have I missed that you think should go on our list?
Always, always, always get a contract. They are simple one page documents that eliminate most of this stuff. Write a proposal and spell everything out, especially with this type of client. Refer to the proposal in the contract. WALK AWAY from anyone unwilling to do this.
I really agree with you. What I don’t really understand is why you have to tell your client about bringing in other people to do parts of the job. It is your problem, your outsourcing. You charge your client for the site design and basta.
Also, what I try to do every time I have a phone conversation of any length with a client (again, no matter how nice he/she seems to be), is to immediately write an email which contains what we talked on the phone and what each of us is required to do next. This way, none of us can complain about misunderstandings and try to pull it some way or another.
Also, I put in Google Analytics on each and every site, and then share the separate account I have created with the client if he/she asks about statistics. Otherwise, I make a gist of the data when they ask, and that is included in my yearly support fee (which you can consider as passive income for a freelancer).
Beware of clients that are easy to get as they are usually the hardest to get to pay.
It seems that most graphic and Web designers go through this at some point in their life. As designers what we want to do is stay focused and learn from those mistakes and not be the jolly fool again for anyone.
These types of clients want something – mostly everything – for nothing. It is a form of bully-ego-trippin-hey-call-me-master attitude. I’ve learned to listen to the client and pay special attention to their character – no matter how nice they seem to be.
Even Hitler was nice at times, but who would want that type of guy for a client? I bill my clients for what I think my time and work is worth. My time is valueable, I can not get it back and I will not have someone waste it – I can easily do this on my very own without anyones help.
Contract is the BEST way to go, with an added POLICY of what type of work you will do and not do for a client – get them to sign or somehow agree to this.
I’ve been lucky enough to find clients that pay immediately. The only time I have had problems with people not paying is when they are not close in proximity to me.
Dealing with local clients, even though doing what we do is the best remote type job you can have, has worked out the best for me.
You forgot one little tip: one of the first things when you negotiate is to tell the price. Both you and the client must know what to expect from each other.
Ofcourse the xx% when you start the job and another xx% when you are 50% done it’s almost everytime required
Ah, there it is:
“There’s no written contract…”
Any coincidence that phrase shows up in about EVERY ‘help my client screwed me!’ text I’ve ever seen?
Great article.
They are all same. Don’t care our rights. Exploids every part of us. If he/she doesn’t understants what you mean, then he/she directly thinks that I’m doing to rip off him/her. Just a small of papar can help them to trust you. Make a contract! Tell how much that costs!
During my life I made the same error two times: I didn’t write a contract and I didn’t ask money to start. THAT’S A BIG BIG MISTAKE! I ended with half work finished, many hours spent on it and no money, because the guy said he didn’t need it anymore.
Anyone have a good example of a simple contract for designers?
Get post! Headline caught my eye immediately. Thanks for the tips!
Great article, I think anyone who freelances part-time or full-time has or will at some point run into this. I also learned the hard way on web project and large print projects, always have a contract ready and get half the payment upfront.
I also submit a project estimate after discussing the project with the client that breaks down the time, i.e. design, coding, changes/revisions etc. This works great, if the client sees the ‘estimated’ cost and starts fussing or trying to haggle to get you to take half the $ you know it’s time to cut them loose. Clients like that are very rarely worth the trouble. Also, mention in the copy that it is an ‘estimated’ cost and may be more, even though I put Project Estimate in 30pt font, you would be surprised to find a client saying “what, an estimate, I thought this was the final project cost?” Oh yes, it happens.
Honestly I can understand why the client got upset; from what I can tell he didn’t expect to be charged for your travel time.
Yeah, I can see how a client might not want to be charged for travel time.
In this instance, it was the client’s idea. After he missed our first appointment he wanted to make it up to me, which explains why I initially thought he was such a nice guy.
You’re right though. When I get around to writing a piece from the client’s point of view, I will add something like: “Never surprise the client!”
Yep, been there done that. I worked for a new social networking/philanthropy site for a couple of months at waaaaay below what I normally get, just because I believed in the site’s message and objective, turned out I had to threaten and beg for every penny I ever got, when I finally told them NO MORE FREE WORK they owed me a month’s pay. Turned out the two guys running it were Palm Beach millionaires who’d read some old outdated book about the dot com business model, who were expecting to make millions in a sellout to google or yahoo. And I doube that either one of them even knew how to use email much less create a social networking site!
Never again! I get a contract with my cost on it up front nowadays.
Always a contract, and always a deposit to commence work, as well as a “kill fee” in the contract.Expectations should be set clearly (from copywriting,design,time line, to analytics) before hand in the contract. The less gray areas, the more successful/less painful the project is.
Balance due before site goes live. Stated number of revisions in contract and project timeline;also always stress timeliness is based on how quickly client gets requested info in to you. On larger projects, especially in this day and age, a credit report should always be run.
This was good reading. I learned this not in school but watching Judge Judy and Peoples Court at how clients and contractors screw each other over at first opportunity when there is no contract. I even wrote one for my Mom when I borrowed money from her to get a car.
Half down to start, the other half at approval and completion are a must! I don’t have much experience, but I’ve been screwed over enough to know. I even kept a record of the emails sent between me and client in case anything went bad.
Alma is right about including the “kill fee” or what happens when the client finds someone else when you’re halfway through.
It’s so easy for one to do a project without any contractual agreement, especially on the ‘not so huge’ gigs.
I think 50% deposit before commencement of project and the remainder at delivery is good and a good sign that the client will play their part financially (and otherwise).
A client who refuses to pay a deposit before the project starts doesn’t respect you as a person, creative and business-being!