People, April has just not been my month! The latest in the "lessons I am learning the hard way and then telling you so that you can learn from my mistakes" is this: Here is my lesson learned the hard way: Have a contract that states a statute of limitations for refunds and have something in there that protects you if the client decides to use your work for something other than what they had specified in their project instructions. (I figured stating the lesson first would work for those of you who don't want to have to read through the whole story ) ----Long Story Begins Here. Feel Free To Skip It If You Want To---- Seven months ago I was freelancing for a content production company for a ridiculously low price per article and did a large project for a client who wanted filler content for his blog--nothing fancy, just something to give the blog some history while he worked on building it up. I did the project one and a half times (I had to rewrite half of the articles because they weren't what he wanted) and did my best to forget about it. Now he has decided that he wants a full refund for everything I did because the articles I did weren't being accepted into an articles site (think content creation or Ezines)...which was not what I was told to do. To me, seven months later seems a little....well, my left eye is kind of twitchy right now, but as far as I know the company I was freelancing for didn't have any sort of contract or refund policy. I haven't heard yet how the refund will be set up--they're pretty reasonable people, I could probably just do a bunch of stuff for free to "work it off" but it is still a little annoying. He also can't have a full refund as some of the articles are published on his site (and possibly one other), but it is still a large refund (by small time content producer standards). Learn from my mistakes!
You don't have to "work it off." I wouldn't give them a refund at all. You did the work. They accepted it (therefore implying it was what they wanted). How they use it later is not your concern. You didn't write copy where you were getting paid on conversions, acceptances, etc. Not your problem. Writers need to grow a spine, and learn when to just say NO.
Yeah, but it can go the other way... awhile back I paid $100 for an article pack that was gauranteed to be unique original content and only mine by purchase... imagine my dismay when soon after I downloaded the exact same pack from a monthly subscription site the provides 1000 articles a month for around $27!!! Not same situation I know, but he may have had some of the same feelings. You are right, if such problems occur, that is why contracts exist... or just don't get into it at all. We have many projects we will not develop, not because we do not own the rights, but because there are unscrupulous people that will sue you and extort money to leave you alone. Well, good luck!
Oh sorry--jhmattern, when I wrote "work it off" I meant for the company I freelanced with, not the original client.
Yeah right, LOL. It wasn't your mistake, the mistake was with the one who made the deal with that moron. I wouldn't do anything at all for anyone. For the client or the company. besides you mentioned it was for ridiculously low prices.
Yes, but even the ridiculously low paying clients are good to keep around should you find yourself needing some work Wow, I sound so argumentative but I don't mean to be. I'm happy to listen to everyone's advice!
You could better spend that time spent working for the ridiculously low paying clients [RLPC] finding better clients
That sounds shady. You can't write something for someone, turn it in, get paid and then be expected to refund the money later because it's not working for them. If a client is unhappy with something they should let the writer know and arrange edits prior to payment.
Have you delivered what has been promised to the client? If you have, you don't have to worry about the refund. It's not your concern if the articles haven't been accepted by a directory. No client can expect a refund seven months after completion of work. No matter how tough it seems, you should remain firm on these issues.
I 100% agree, I was writing in here for $1.5 per 100 words until about 2-3 months ago, after speaking with people in here I began to value my work so I wanted my rates to reflect that. I now charge 4 cents a word minimum and have enough work to get me through, I don't do this full time yet but whenever I'm not writing or working I can get some of my own sites up and running and I planning on trying some affiliate marketing to see how that works out. People often say will you accept $0.0X per word, I simply say no and move on. They will either say ok and give me the work anyway or often I have had them come back in a week or two saying they need some rewrites doing because a 1 cent a word writer didn't do a great job. I still charge my full rates depending on the quality, I find it easier to write unique articles than rewrites and they take the same amount of time - the same amount of effort goes into the article so I charge the same (more times than not). Richard
Oh no, don't give that refund at all. If they had problems with your work, they should have told you that before they paid you. Besides, they already used some of the articles and they didn't tell you that they needed those for article submissions!
No way! I wouldn't go for the refund. That's like purchasing cookies at your local bakery and returning them seven months later half eaten and moldy because they weren't good. Don't work it off. Just write it off as a lesson learned. You worked for the money--time and a half--a refund is not fair.
Seems to me that the only possible justification for a refund after 7 months is if there was a performance guarantee for conversions or search engine results - otherwise as my family says "tough tiddlywinks". Good luck and I hope your company sticks up for you and does the right thing with this client.
Thanks for all of the support you guys! It looks like I won't have to do any rewrites. My old boss and I talked about using the experience as a reason to develop a contract (sort of) that says, basically, you have x days to ask for changes, rewrites or refunds. Once x days is up, all sales are final." You know, only more legal-y. I'm not sure what the company will do, but I know that I'm going to try to implement that as soon as possible.
Hi snarke, Have you refunded your payment? If not yet, just throw away the idea. Once, your service buyer has paid you that means he/she must have accepted your work. Now after seven loooooong months he is telling that he never liked it!!! Is it some kind of a joke? After okaying the article he can do whatever he wants. He may even burn his computer. You are not at all concerned about that. Yes, I agree with our moderator jhmattern, we need to stiff our spine a bit. briteday, all I can say that it was a very unfortunate incident with you. I recommend these kind of service providers should be cursed loudly. Not only you should give him a negative iTrader (possibly 100 if our moderator accepts), but you must inform other potential buyers about him in the forum. I am sorry for being rude, but my ideology tells me that you should be clean from any kind of double standards.
Yep, it's a good idea to include a time limit on refunds in your contact. You should also include a clause stating that refunds are left to your discretion. That way you get the final say on refunds whether they're within the specified time frame or not. In this specific situation, I wouldn't even consider a refund. You gave the client what (s)he paid for. The end.