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nightmare client wants refund


Daniel93

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Just in general, could be useful to say: there are 2 (or 3 or more) stages in website building: Design and Launch. After you've done it, got your payments for it,All other work on the website, such as: improving, editing,updating - is actually website maintenance. So in fact again - will be helpful to have a plan beforehand with all these stages being explained to the client thus he will be aware at all times on what stage the project is.

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Well . . . it has been 2 days after I blocked her calls and email but now I am imagining a firestorm brewing on her side. Do you think I did the right thing? The site has been live for a couple months, I sent her the final site disk, sent her directions on how to set up all her social networks and cut the cord. I know there is no contract but I am still worried about being sued. Anyway . . . this could be my OCD kicking in. I have been taking all this crap from her for the past year so I am still feeling gun shy. This thing turned from a simple redesign to a monster full of redoes and more redoes and on and on. Plus there were new addons like business card designs, and a large series of fashion portfolio covers (8.5 x 11), 20+ in all, that I had to do for her. Each with a different color photo, different font design and different abstract full color graphic design beneath the 'photo' to enhance the image. At the end she wrote me a series of great testimonials but after hearing negative comments from friends concerning the amount of photos of her on the site, comments about her being full of herself, and her poor opinion and overall outlook, this started a spiral of low confidence for her and now she says she overpaid and wants a refund, but wants me to continue on with building social networking, in her words, "So she is happy again". The keywords we targeted originally are remaining incredibly high for what they are but she is not getting the amount of visitors and click through she was expecting. Is there such a thing as a visitor base being dried up? Not sure what to do if the keywords are great and haven't changed since the redesign but her stats have fallen. Here I am still dwelling on it.

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Don't get paranoid about being sued. You did a job that she never made any complaints about and has paid happily until the work was done.

 

As I said before, document everything you have. Print every email communications you have and file it. I don't know if blocking your call is wise but documenting the harrassing phone calls is advised.

 

Now if what you say is true and you have the evidence to back it up then you have no worries. Whatever you do, do not make any bad statements about your client by name.

 

If by chance she tries to sue, more than likely she will have to represent herself because it's hard to prove situations like this especially when it comes to non tangible products/services thus an attorney will probably want a retainer fee because suing someone for a few thousand dollars is just not practical for a practicing lawyer. If she loses then she's out whatever the retainer fee is.

 

Breathe and relax but be sure to have ALL your documentations together just for safe keeping.

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Wow just reading this I would say that "client" had alot of personal issues before she even incorperated your services. It should have been a clue to you as soon as she started sharing personal information with you that it's time to get out of the situation. I would retain legal services and refer her to only contact your lawyer. Inform the attorney that you have lost business because of her and if she wishes to persue the matter you would like to counter sue for lost wages. Everyone goes threw one form of this or another, don't let her distract you from work and just move forward withother projects that positive and productive. good luck

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Wow just reading this I would say that "client" had alot of personal issues before she even incorperated your services. It should have been a clue to you as soon as she started sharing personal information with you that it's time to get out of the situation. I would retain legal services and refer her to only contact your lawyer. Inform the attorney that you have lost business because of her and if she wishes to persue the matter you would like to counter sue for lost wages. Everyone goes threw one form of this or another, don't let her distract you from work and just move forward with other projects that positive and productive. good luck

 

Thanks frawgdawg :)

 

I learned my lesson with the personal stuff. She also used to tell me of friends that might see the site and want sites for themselves, but I was to tell them "I was too busy" since she didn't want other people working with me. God, I could write a book.

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Been looking around and it seems that a simple email is a good as a signed contract. I have literally hundreds of saved emails that state she is happy with my work and loves the site, emails that tell me to add more things, subtract things, create new testing areas for flash, rebuild custom flash galleries, add hundreds of more photos, emails that tell me I need to create different timing according to the beat of the audio soundtrack for each and every photo since some photos need to be seen longer then others, and so on. The thing I seem to see is a progression of her loving the site and then when it is launched her friends start giving great reviews but then she seems to be picking up subtle hints that people think she is full of herself because of the site content, or if she doesn't hear back from a friend for comments about her site it is worse. Her insecurity starts to grow and then she begins to pick the site apart to the point where she says it's the worst thing that has happened to her in her life and wants a refund. Also she doesn't want to hear about my hourly fee, or the time and effort I put into it, because according to her no one in my client list would pay that amount to me in this day and age. I quoted this site out with another company and they gave me a estimate twice what I charged her. Argh . . . I am hoping I can cover myself by using this email trail.

 

Thank you . . . typing this out is therapeutic for me.

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