unreasonable wannabe client

[basschick]

7 months ago, a guy i know a very little from the boards approached me and asked for prices to do a bunch of reviews starting within the next week or two. he wasn't sure how many so i gave him my prices for various sized orders. he asked about my availability and how long the order would take to complete and i gave him that info.

yesterday he hits me up on icq. he wants to pay less than my lowest bulk price based on what some chick whose work he didn't like charges. he wants me to start immediately and wants 3 reviews per day 7 days per week. i told him that i was sorry but i wouldn't be able to do the work for the price he was offering and that i was not currently available to start a new project. i recommended a couple other writers, but he felt he needed me. don't know why - i've never done a single review for him.

and get this - he said i told him i was available to start immediately and he felt his price was fair. i pointed out that we last spoke 7 months ago and that the price he offered was less than 50% of what i am currently getting paid by ALL my clients, which was true. he wasn't mad, exactly, but he nagged and nagged me about it - as if THAT would suddenly make me change my mind and magically make me want to deal with him.

JEEZ!!!!

anyone else go through stuff like that or is it just me?

[maxpower]

Sorry Bass, I don’t know how you deal with all that I really have almost NO contact with anyone I work with. That has its own problems I guess :evilgrin:

[TropixxxStudios]

Yeah, sorry you had to deal with that. I kind of live in a vaccum here too. No real contact with anyone outside of this board...and my dogs.

Just remember, people can be assholes sometimes.

If you need proof, just read some of these threads... :king:

[DonMike]

Just a personal observation. Feel free to discuss.

Every time you stray from a topic to flame another member of a board, you are actually grabbing the spotlight for yourself. "Look at me, I'm going to call so and so names, aren't I cool?"

Agree, disagree, make assumptions, report fact, create or report a conspiracy theory. It's all part of discussion. But don't make it personal. Keep to the topic.

Thank you.

[TropixxxStudios]

Just a personal observation. Feel free to discuss.

Every time you stray from a topic to flame another member of a board, you are actually grabbing the spotlight for yourself. "Look at me, I'm going to call so and so names, aren't I cool?"

Agree, disagree, make assumptions, report fact, create or report a conspiracy theory. It's all part of discussion. But don't make it personal. Keep to the topic.

Thank you.

I would agree, and want to clarify my earlier post:

Just remember, people can be assholes sometimes.

If you need proof, just read some of these threads...

I was not refering to anyone on THIS thread, just that people (all people) can be assholes. What I was meaning, was go look at almost any thread on here, and you can find someone being an asshole to someone else.

Sorry if I was not clear.

In fact, I am an asshole myself on my share of threads too...so I am just as much to blame.

[gaybucks_chip]

Honestly, even if you were to get him to agree to your pricing, I would probably stay away. He sounds like the sort of person who is used to bullying the people he works with to get what he wants, and in my experience, that almost always means a client who will be consistently unreasonable.

I've been on both sides of the fence, as a consultant (not in adult) and as a business owner who works with a lot of consultants and contractors. If either party is demanding or trying to push the other beyond what they are comfortable with, the transaction will almost always end up unpleasant or unsatisfactory for one or both parties.

[DonMike]

Okay, can I just say what an incredible DORK I am?

My post in this thread was meant to be a new thread and NOT a reply to anything in this thread, especially not in relation to any particular person in this thread. I was a little bummed out that a lot of great discussions on message boards tend to devolve into name calling and bickering over personal matters because someone disagrees with someone else and rather than just stating that they disagree they have to make it personal and start flaming each other.

And I especially didn't mean to hijack Patti's thread.

I'm sorry. :hmm:

[DonMike]

OMG, I'm just mortified over this. :ill:

[DonMike]

Well, the least I can do is help get this thread back on track by commenting...

I can totally understand where Patti is coming from. Once, when I was working at another job, I had a client who wanted content (I said another job, not another industry, hee hee). He demanded that I pick the content out for him, promise that it would boost the sales of his site and bring recurring memberships, and if it wouldn't I would guarantee a full refund if it didn't.

I was tempted to ask him if he wanted me to build the damn thing and give him a footrub when I was done. I mean, how unrealistic can you be? I can sell you the best prime rib there is but if you boil it in grape juice and serve it with potato chips and warm jello it's still going to taste like crap. My job is to provide people with excellent content, what they do with it is their own gig.

That's why I tend to refrain from choosing content for people. I know what I like but it might not be the same for you. I can pick 30 guys I think are hot but it might not fit the theme or feel of your site at all.

[basschick]

thanks, chip - but there was already a 0% chance of he and i ever doing business

for one thing, i really am booked solid till next money, and still too solid to do 21 - 30 more hours per week. for another thing, he's shown himself to be completely unreasonable, and i have no reason or desire to work with unreasonable people - been there, done that.

Honestly, even if you were to get him to agree to your pricing, I would probably stay away. He sounds like the sort of person who is used to bullying the people he works with to get what he wants, and in my experience, that almost always means a client who will be consistently unreasonable.

I've been on both sides of the fence, as a consultant (not in adult) and as a business owner who works with a lot of consultants and contractors. If either party is demanding or trying to push the other beyond what they are comfortable with, the transaction will almost always end up unpleasant or unsatisfactory for one or both parties.