Had a tough one this week. My firm was approached by a marketing agency to develop a content management site for one of there clients. I went through an extensive demo of the system tools with 1 in person meeting numerous con calls and a webex meeting. Along with the normal documentation describing our modules and pricing. All through out this process the owner of the agency was pushing to have our branding removed from the content management tools area. We declined this request with explanations as to why and covered this. Also we would not be allowed to utilize work performed for them is our portfolio. Again we explained we are promoting our content management software not the design of the site. This fell on deaf ears. During the Webex demo he brought it up again. This was now beginning to become insulting. As we described to the owner of the agency this is a proprietary piece of software written over the last 5 years. We are promoting the back end not the design of the site. We also noted that most 3rd party software utilized by some web developers also would have the branding of the developer. When we develop an a alliance site we display all parties. Web site designed by******** Web site driven by LCN Technology So in the end we did not see this being a good long term relationship and declined the project. This was not an easy decision. I could use the money and the potential for other projects seemed to be there. Sorry this was so long, but wanted to share my story.
I think you did the right thing. This could have been the tip of the iceberg as far as painful clients go. I often send clients elsewhere when I get a sense that they're going to be more trouble than they're worth. Even with the potential for future work from these people, would you really want to keep banging your head against a brick wall?
One other note: He is in the practus of some black things I would not wanted to be part of. This also gave me a good feel for who I may be getting in bed with. Makes it tough when things are slow and you have slow paying clients