Comments on: When Freelancers Piss Off Clients

By: Customized Fat Loss

Customized Fat Loss — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:38:51 +0000

The writer should know better than to send the invoice with the first draft. After all, it was clear that payment will be made after the manuscript was complete. He/She should have waited for your response and comments before assuming that the draft was already perfect.

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:39:24 +0000

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By: copymarket

copymarket — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:43:31 +0000

If you still need more professional freelancer for you.

By: Bob Bly

Bob Bly — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:26:31 +0000

Dianna: Yes, but my business model does not allow me to pay what a Bob Bly or Dianna Huff would charge to write a book. And I have found that, for $500 to $800, I can get a pretty good e-book researched and written on almost any topic I need. It won’t be as good as you or I would do. But it will be more than good enough for my needs, especially after I make my edits.

By: Dianna Huff

Dianna Huff — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:20:58 +0000

Bob,

Do you think you would have received copy at a higher standard of writing if you had paid more for your copywriter?

By: Karl Rohde

Karl Rohde — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:40:54 +0000

I’d be annoyed.

But when I do bids for work, I expect a 30% deposit on the value of work before anything starts, 30% upon reaching an agreed milestone and then balance due on completion.

Admittedly this is in IT Consultancy, however, as I move to freelance writing, I actually see very little difference to this payment model.

All client’s are provided this payment structure up front. Some refuse to pay a deposit.

The next response from my company is usually “Next”.

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:58:27 +0000

Wow-the fact that you paid him in advance & he billed you for the 1st draft is really bad form.

I have a client that I can’t get to agree to 1/2 up front nor do they want to pay my full fee from A to Z. So we have compromised that my role is to provide the draft (I mostly do ghostwriting of articles for them)and they are responsible for any changes. It’s not how I like to work but it’s what they want. So the terms are all spelled out in my contract. That is the only way I would bill after the draft. And even at that I don’t send it with the draft.

By: Don

Don — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:22:43 +0000

Personally, as a service provider, you’ve got the point there. You already paid him in advance, so what else he want. Your willingness to pay in advance gives you the credibility of being a good payor. What he must to is to wait for your approval of his work before sending an invoice.

In my case, I usually give 1-2 days allowance before deciding if I need to send an invoice to my client. Simply because, most clients are too busy with other deals. Some will automatically pay for my fee, while for some, I still need to send an invoice.

By: Bob Bly

Bob Bly — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:33:11 +0000

Kurt: you might be right, though writing a book is less subjective than art, because the e-mail correspondence between me and HH (which I saved) shows specific items I required him to put in the book which he did not.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:58:27 +0000

Be careful here I have seen a case where an artist who had a great portfolio submitted subpar work under the same terms you described. He also sent his invoice in at the initial submission.

When we refused to pay for the work until he revised it to our satisfaction he sued us. After 8 months the case came before a judge and he simply said “I ain’t no art critic” and ordered us to pay in full.

Bad for his business, yes because we have told all who would listen what a snake he was. I don’t think he cared. Bad for us as well because we paid twice for the job we contracted with him for.

So if I was you I would not get angry but instead just send back your comments on his draft and restate the terms taking care not to let it become a confrontation.