Should I fire the client?

December 7, 2008 6:26 AM

Firetheclientfilter: I did a deal for freelance writing, agreed to a flat rate, have found the client to be unreasonable and inflexible, feel like this is fast becoming a bottomless pit of time and frustration. Politely pull the plug?

Long story, but this is my first time working for the client as a freelance writer. Based on my experience, a conversation about our views on reasonable hourly rates, anticipated time to do the project, etc., I agreed to a flat rate.

Much as that's looking like a not-wise choice, an acquaintence referred me to the client and spoke well of him. Too, there's no written agreement. (I know, I know... .) Hindsight being what it is, I should have presented a document calling for a certain number of revisions and an agreed-upon hourly rate for further work.

Mr. Allegedly Reasonable's become the Client from Hellllllllllllllllllllll. It's all "You must...," "You need to...," with relentless requests for major changes; limited feedback; limited responses to my requests for feedback; zero regard for my perspective, accepted industry standards, etc.--anything other than what he needs.

While I don't need to see this through to keep the lights on or pay rent, I loathe the idea of walking away from a project. To me, though, there is an implicit understanding that someone may well walk away from a business arrangement if they feel the other person is unreasonable (and efforts to find middle ground are unsuccessful).

My options (?): Walk away, attempt to negotiate adjusted fee and walk away if it doesn't happen or descend into the pit and see it through.

Cue the hive mind for other options, similar experiences, opinions and such. Many thanks for your time and insights.

posted by ambient2 to work & money (11 comments total)

I've fired a client - it was not fun, but totally worth it in the long run. I could've tried to renegotiate our verbal agreement, but factoring in a stressful client, it wouldn't have been worth it. I told them I realized I didn't have the amount of time it would take to do a good job for them, but could give them names of other freelancers they could call. Just took one phone call, even though I did have to repeat myself about five times to get the message across. Then I sent an invoice for time spent. It was best for everybody.
posted by shopefowler at 6:54 AM on December 7, 2008

Hindsight is 20-20, but you are right; you should have given them an estimate with a number of revisions and an hourly rate for additional writing.

You have everything pretty well thought out. Your options are exactly as you specify. Some things to consider as you weigh your options: Is your client influential and connected to the local business community at all? Would completing the job with him lead to further work from others? Would completing the job with him lead to more work from him and would you ever want to work with this guy again anyway? How much money would you lose or gain by finishing the job? The other issue: will being so accomodating now cause problems for you down the line? Have you raised his expectations to the point where they will be totally unreasonable on future projects?

If you want to get through this, I'd suggest you turn off your analytical human brain and turn on your robot brain. It just sounds to me like you have different ideas about the project than your client. Industry standards are ultimately irrelevant to your relationship with your client; your job here is to make your client happy. One way to make him happy and to make yourself less insane about working with him is to get him to spell out EXACTLY what revisions he wants, and you just do them. Nothing more, nothing less. If he's unable to do that, then you're unable to do the work, so the onus is off you if you quit.

Some clients want you to be creative and thoughtful, but others want you to just take their often lame and often bad ideas and polish them a little bit so they are less lame and less bad. The unfortunate part of being a creative professional is that sometimes you just have to put your head down and be a total hack to get through a project successfully.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:57 AM on December 7, 2008 [2 favorites]

Have they already paid you the full amount, or was pay based on milestones?

If you've already received the full amount, I think MegoSteve has it right -- become a hack. Just do whatever it is they say, regardless of how crappy the result. "The customer is always right" and all that. Or, give back the full amount and walk away (because the pay was based on the full job, and you will not complete the full job).

If you've received partial payment, then I think shopefowler has it right -- make sure you've met the milestones so far, and then fire the client.

I don't think renegotiating will work. What's in it for the client? He's already paid, and you've already agreed, and nothing is in writing.
posted by Houstonian at 7:19 AM on December 7, 2008

A little follow-up to touch on the thoughtful points raised. No problems with hackery now and again; I get my creative jollies through other things. Short of a client wanting to relate that his shampoo turns dirt into gold and peacefully removes Mugabe from power, I'll hack away with the best/worst of 'em.

In terms of payment, this was two casual arrangements: my first and my last. Payment is upon completion.
posted by ambient2 at 7:41 AM on December 7, 2008

I'm an editor who has hired freelance writers, though we pay for word count and not an hourly rate. If I require more than a second draft, or if I have major changes in the direction of the piece that are not because to anything the writer has done, I always pay the writer an additional fee. I would tell your client, "When we agreed upon a fee for my work, it was calculated considering it would take X number of hours to write and rewrite. We've already gone well over that amount of time. You can have the draft as it stands now, or you can pay me an additional fee for my time." Or, instead of getting another flat rate, say that because this project has become more time-consuming than you imagined, that you will start charging an hourly fee for the rest of the revision work.
If you really want to fire the client without confronting them, just tell them you've gotten another job that will be taking all of your time, and you'll need to wrap up their job immediately. If they grumble, say the stuff above about already working way more hours than you had agreed to verbally.
posted by chowflap at 7:41 AM on December 7, 2008 [3 favorites]

Another option is to propose a clear & reasonable plan to get the project to completion, without any faff and with clear dates and requirements. Quote an hourly rate for any additional work incurred by unplanned changes or delays (and ideally have staged payments). Make it clear that this is the only way you can see to wrap things up and do a good job.
If they won't firmly agree then walk away. If they agree and then start slipping then give regular updates on the additional charges they're running up. Some clients actually respond surprisingly well to imposed discipline when it pushes things forward.
posted by malevolent at 7:47 AM on December 7, 2008

Sigh. Take it from another full-time freelancer: Fire your client now! That's the short answer, but I'll try to be more helpful and provide some realistic options for you. These are options that I have taken in my several years of going it full time, and while some of them are less than desirable, they will make you feel worlds better in the long run:

• First, if you have a heavy workload with other clients, do not sacrifice your time for a flat rate project. You are losing money minute by minute every time you acquiesce to this demanding client. I'm sure if you do the math on how long it has taken you to fulfill this person's demands, you will see that you are already over budget. If you will need to refund a portion of your client's deposit (and can afford to do it), then do it. Peace of mind will help you with your other projects.
• I really think you should give this project up, so the question is how to deal with breaking the relationship with your client. I think that you should either say (1) honestly that the scope of the project has drastically gone over what you originally agreed to. This is a slippery slope, as your client may fire back with some ambiguous terms that you may or may not have agreed upon.
• In the case that your client pulls a fit, offer a 50% project refund. You are under no obligation to give a 100% refund for work that you have already performed. He/she has your ideas, your work, your drafts, and your expert advice on how to deal with his/her project, so under no circumstances should you think that you need to give the client a full refund.
• If the client won't accept a refund, then you are in shaky territory. Firmly state that this is your final decision, send him or her the refund, and give your client whatever files or documents you feel that they are entitled to. He will be angry, at least I think he will, given the way that you've described him, but he will get over it and move on to another unsuspecting freelancer.
• Finally, do not take additional work from this client. If he says that he would like to renegotiate an hourly rate from you, just remember that unless you need the money badly, you will be causing yourself ulcers and anger over having to deal with him further. And if he does say he wants to renegotiate an hourly rate, he will be 1000% worse than he was before, because he will be paying you more money and expecting more from you than he already expects.

Web development is a bit different than writing, but I'm sure there is a per/unit rate instead of a flat rate. In the long run, never take on a flat rate unless you have a repeat client who you are very, very comfortable with or if the scope of the project is clearly outlined in a project agreement or contract. Also, in the future, take 50% deposits or less if you must but make sure to put a clause in your contract which specifies how much of the project budget is refundable and how much of the project is nonrefundable. I hope this helps and the best of luck to you. Fire him!
posted by aloneinvietnam at 8:19 AM on December 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

Treat this one as a lesson learned. Some clients are just bad clients, and there's no way to change them. There's no shame in walking away from an unprofitable situation.

I'd claim overwork as an excuse, negotiate a partial fee for time already served, if it's substantial enough to be worth the hassle, and call it a day.

And, yeah, never do flat fees. Paid by the hour nips 90% of these problems in the bud.
posted by ook at 8:28 AM on December 7, 2008

Yeah, fire him just like I fired the Web client in this question I posted who was similarly being such a control freak that it was turning a healthy profit into minimum wage. I'm also a freelance writer, and I recall that the Writer's Market has a list of suggested by-the-hour rates.

They're not used in my journalism sector, but they must be standard practice in some business communications areas? Ook is correct in saying that hourly billing will tip the power scale back your way. I decided to make the hourly switch and so far it feels good.
posted by Kirklander at 9:59 AM on December 7, 2008

I'm a translator, not a writer, and have never had to deal with quite that set of circumstances. I'd also be loathe to drop a project before it's done. I'd also be loathe to invest more time in a project that's looking like a bottomless pit.

Call a meeting with the client to "iron out a few details regarding our working relationship." Tell them that you need to put the project to bed (because, I dunno, you're going to Bora Bora for a month), and you need to know exactly what they want in order to make that happen. Do not do more work on the project until you have had that meeting. Make it clear that once you have done what is agreed to in that meeting (no follow-ups, no "wait, I forgot to mention…"), any future work will be on the clock.

If you take work from this client in the future, remember to factor in a PITA surcharge.
posted by adamrice at 11:46 AM on December 7, 2008

Since you haven't been paid anything yet, your negotiation options are limited. But here's one: you wrote it and he hasn't paid anything, so you own the copyright. The client can't use the material until he pays.

So I vote for saying, "The fee was based on X hours of work. We've used up that time. So now I need your fee, and then we need to use the agreed-upon hourly rate for work from this point forward" (assuming you can imagine continuing to work for him at that hourly rate). Maybe he says, "But it's not done!" And you repeat the bit about going past the time agreed on, and if it becomes necessary, mention that you will be happy to release the work and the rights to him when he pays, and then he's free to work on it himself or find someone else.

Firing a client is a good thing: it shows that you respect yourself and aren't desperate. If you don't feel comfortable being direct when dumping him, a good excuse is to say that your calendar is filling with other projects, ones you scheduled weeks ago, since you thought this project would be done by now. That way you make clear that you're in demand and he needs to respect your time.

And in case it isn't already painfully obvious: Get a down payment before you write a word. Base subsequent payments on deliverables. Use a contract, and in that contract spell out the bit about the copyright.

An hourly rate is a safe approach to an unknown client, but I don't agree that flat fees are always bad. I use them whenever possible because I'm fast. An hourly fee would penalize me for my speed; a flat fee nets me a much higher hourly rate. The important thing is to put firm, clear boundaries on the work so you and the client can agree on what is in and out of scope. And, of course, get multiple payments as work progresses, including a fat down payment.
posted by PatoPata at 2:18 PM on December 7, 2008