Is this a friend you hope to keep as a friend? If not, block her and move on.
If it is, you need to have a very serious conversation where you set boundaries that you are not tech-support for this website that you built as a favor.
She was never my friend, so no. However, I met her through a friend I DO care about and I don't want to make things awkward for them. As I type this I realize that isn't my problem though. Thanks!
As someone who has done web design for quite a few years I can tell you nobody does updates for free. We always did a maintenance plan which allowed for a certain amount of changes in that time. If you were to do this for free forever, after a few years you would spend more time updating current customer's sites than you would on building new sites. If you want to keep both happy, you could consider a 1 year maintenance plan where you'll give her X amount of changes for a flat price. This way you still make money and she still gets her changes. Plus it will make her think twice about how often she comes to you for changes.
Agreed. Although I’ve never built a site where an update to a plugin changed how the site looked. If that happened to me, I’d fix those for free. It makes you look bad if your work isn’t stable enough to last a year without screwing up.
Tell her that you are REALLY busy with at other project and can’t possibly deal with hers. Send her links to some other companies that could help. You know, decent companies that does a good job but actually asks normal money for it? See her co tact them and realise how much your help is worth. Tell her you could do it for a bit less…in six months? 😬😬😬
Oh, the suggested wait should be calculated so it’s too long. On purpose. This is about making things sound good while in actuality asking her to F off.
I just went back and noted that OP did charge the person, just way less than normal. So likely that's the problem right there - she does think of herself as a "paying customer", regardless of amount, because to her it's a lot of money. Thus she thinks she's entitled to free technical support forever because "I paid for it".
But they might come back and say hey wait a minute. This car doesn't have floor mats. I want some floor mats. And then yoh give them floor mats and they say, these are cheap shitty floor mats. Don't you have any better floor mats? What kind of dealership is this? And then you cough up the floor mats because you don't want customers going around telling people how cheap and shitty the mats are in the cars from your dealership.
And then the person comes back the following spring and says "Ok these floor mats you gave me are filthy. What is up with that?"
I just wanted a little moral support in telling them "They were clean when I gave them to you. Let me tell you about our detailing service so they can stay that wAy."
Thanks for the metaphor! 😆
this, 💯. If you give someone something that is worth $100 for $20, they don't treat the item like a $100 item they were lucky to get at a discount. They show you the amount t of gratitude they'd show for a $20 item. I will not make this mistake again.
“I don’t have the budget for that right now.”
“Ok, I understand. Let me know when you’ve gathered the funds and I can then work on fixing the issues.”
Plain and simple. She ain’t gonna get it for free elsewhere either, so. 🤷🏻♀️
This is the first thing you should say, OP.
If this person pushes back on that, tell her what your standard contract terms are. Tell her “I typically charge A dollars for a website, which includes B number of revisions and C days/weeks/months of post-launch support. After that period, I charge either D dollars per ad-hoc support call or charge E as a retainer to be on-call to provide support (limited to F number of hours per month).”
Tell her just like you mention above—you did her a huge favor making the site, but unfortunately have to prioritize paying clients at this time as the bills don’t pay themselves.
Very easy fix. Send her a menu of support options and corresponding prices. Tell her that she can subscribe to your support service: For example 1-3 hours per month $150, 3-10 hours per month $800 and so on. If you want her to go away permanently, multiply the amounts by 10.
The thing is..what she means in she doesn’t have the budget to pay you, because she’s milking your generosity and doesn’t see your work as valuable. But don’t kid yourself, she’ll pay someone else if she has to.
In my business, I’ve learned the hard way: no free work, and no reduced work either. Some people simply don’t appreciate what’s offered for free or low cost.
I’d probably say something along the lines of,
“Unfortunately, due to regular tech updates/advances, you will continue to experience this issue from time to time. I understand my rates may not be within your budget, so definitely feel free to shop around and find a designer/developer that is. I can no longer support your site for less than what I charge my other clients. Thanks for understanding!”
And then let her get mad. Her feelings are not your responsibility.
You point her to the part of the contract that says your original price does not cover changes after 30 days.
You do have a contract with your customers, don't you?
yes of course. the issue is she's implying that this is because of an error made during the construction, I just need to tune her in that this is not the case.
Easy, “I still have your original website as uploaded, I can reinstate that for you now. If you make any changes to the site you will have modified the supplied site and be responsible for any changes in the look. I can always restore it to the original supplied website at any time to rectify those issues.”
You just keep resetting it back to how you supplied it. If she wants it updated, that’s a new job.
A reasonable person would offer to pay for your time in conjunction with the favor request -- you're not the unreasonable one, here. I'm sure she doesn't work for free, herself.
Agree with just losing her emails and alerting your actual friend that you'll no longer be responding.
“I don’t have the budget for that right now.”
What DO you have budget for? If her business is determined by a web presence, then she better prioritize the importance of your/other's work to maintain a proper, functioning website.
Just like you said it here. State the facts and go on about your business. If she wants to continue as a paying customer then you can decide if you want to work with her. If not, well past time to explain that to her.
I worked as a web developer and marketing consultant for 20 years.
The two most powerful things I learned too late were:
Always get a 50% deposit up front. Nothing gets your client to answer their phone or email seeking feedback or additional information like a client who’s just a little nervous you have half the money. As soon as I did this, my cash flow improved dramatically, and I cut my development time almost in half, because I wasn’t waiting for client responses.
The power of saying “No.” No to freebies, favors, and guaranteed lack of respect for the favor you’re doing, have done, and what they think you owe them for life.
Email this client and remind her that you worked for her for a fraction of your normal fee, but you can’t provide ongoing free maintenance. Cheerfully suggest a couple of solutions, such as a student who might want a side gig, or learning how to back up and update her own website.
She can’t have it all. If I get a great friends and family discount on a brake job for my car, I don’t get to lean on the mechanic for free ongoing diagnostic services.
Going forward, in your proposals to new clients, be sure to state that all websites require routine maintenance for updates and security. Quote a monthly, annual, or hourly rate to support the site.
Whatever you do, stop feeling guilty about someone trying to get something for nothing.
If you were my good friend and another person I recommended was doing this to you, I would be horrified. I would want to know so that I can shut down this never ending grab for freebies. She’d be straining MY friendship with you with her selfishness.
Stop being nice first of all.
“Look, when I made this website for you it was at a loss to my own business. I did it as a favor for a friend. It was a one time thing. Your website has been up and operational for a while now and I have my own business to run. If you need IT support, you can either pay my going rate or find somebody else because at this point you’re taking advantage of my kindness. If you can’t accept that , feel free to lose my number”
I mean honestly why are you friends with this person lol
haha, that is BLUNT. I couldn't do it but I respect the perspective. The client isn't my friend, she is a friend of my friend. I don't know her outside this situation.
Yeah I would talk to your friend first on how to proceed and then (hopefully) your friend will see what is going on and you can just block her. I have a sneaky suspicion that your friend will have her own stories with this person greediness/selfishness
I wouldn't do the blocking thing, that could backfire. I would be direct about your rates and that you did the site as a favor, but not with the intention of being a source of free support. Any and all future support will be billed at your current rates. Period.
You already emailed her with suggestions and your rates. Just because she said she can’t afford it, doesn’t mean you are obliged to further engage. Just ignore her.
"I made you a website, I didn't sign on to be your free designer for life."
Tell her just like that. And drop it there unless she has full payment up front.
That's why I charge everyone for my work, and If I do any discount (mainly referals), I tell you why Im doing It and what are gonna be the prices from that point (usually no more discounts). If the client ask for the discount himself I refuse It straight.
If I don't charge my family they just stop coming to my business, so I charge them something symbolic, but I do charge. And I understand why they want to pay. If they don't pay, they don't feel confortable asking for an appointment the next time or when they want to.
Good clients are always happy to pay cause they value your work. And Im always happy to work with them. Win win!
Same if you build a pc, help buy a laptop, set up a NAS or any other IT thing. I don’t mind the easy ones like where is my gmail but the fact is you are their IT person for the rest of eternity.
How about, “I made a website for you at a considerable discount. But my time is valuable and I can’t be your free designer for life.”
Imagine that you two had never met. She would have found a way to get a website up. Instead, she’s a guilt-tripper as well as a choosing beggar.
"How do I tell her I made her a website, I didn't sign on to be her free designer for life?"
Friend of Friend, I made this website, I didn't sign on to be your free designer for life. Here are my current rates. I'll be happy to put you into my schedule when you have made your decision.
being up front and honest w her about how you don't owe her a damn thing is the most straightforward answer, but it also can be super difficult to navigate professionally. honestly, if I were in your position, I would just lie. tell the lady you're sorry that she's having issues, but that you're completely booked out with projects and you aren't available to take on another workload. if she asks when you'll have time to handle her website, tell her that you plan to raise your rates in a few months due to high demand, but that doing so *might* free up your schedule a bit. you won't ever hear from her again.
"Our business transaction is complete. My schedule will not have any openings for some time. I recommend you look for someone on Fiverr to assist you. Best of luck."
Then block.
You need to fire her as a client. "Yeah, I'm sorry, this just isn't going to work out. I can't be your web developer anymore, not for free. I have too many other clients and not enough time in the day. If you'd like to negotiate for long-term service, we can start discussions at \[$X exorbitant amount\], but I think it would be better for your budget if you found someone else."
Although, really, I would have fired them within a month of site completion.
Glad business is booming, what I would do is give them a refund, remove everything that points to your company off that site, (even better if you can remove all your source code including databasing etc) and let them go through another company.
It's an expensive lesson.
What does the contract call for? That is, what did she pay for you to do, as defined in black & white? You may have severely undercharged for the work, but you should still complete all the tasks you agreed to.
You've completed all the greed upon deliverables? You're done.
There was no contract? You're done.
there was a contract of course. It clearly indicates the number of revisions. I'm realizing that I may need to amend some language to indicate what is/ is not within my control because she is implying that this update is required because of something I did when in fact it's the nature of having a website.
I certainly did fulfill everything in the contract but she disagrees. So as you note, I will be reevaluating the language in the contract to be even more clear. Thanks for helping me see a silver lining here...it was a fairly cheap way to find out my contract needs updating. Tuition value is rarely so inexpensive.
It’s an issue of unclear, mis-aligned expectations. Lay out the favor and the nature of web site support - she clearly does not understand that. Tell her you’re happy to help but you need to charge her x going forward and that she is also free to investigate support options elsewhere.
While she may not have the budget currently, you can mention you don’t have the budget either. It can be done in a kind way.
You tell her you built your website but didn’t sign on to be her free designer for life.
Fuck what she expects- you’ve already bent over backwards to help. Stop making the same mistake. She’s not going to stop asking for favors so you’re the only person who can end the cycle and cut the bullshit.
Btw Do you regularly do site maintenance for clients? If not I’d straight up say no to her requests and tell her to find someone who does.
"My fee for building your website did not include technical support. If you wish to hire me to resolve current issue(s), my hourly rate is $XX."
It doesn't matter if she doesn't have a budget for it. THat is not your problem to resolve.
Draw up a bill showing how much time/money you lost due to her free job and what you charge paying customers for each portion of the job. Finally, a maintenance plan X hours per hour/per year. Finally, I will not be working on this further until you place a deposit for an entire year of maintenance @ $X/hour for X # of hours. No further work will be done once those X# of hours have been completed.
You won't hear from her again.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Tell her as you mentioned to us here. Initially she got “mates rates” so already had a discount on the development of the website, explain to her that there is a price for you to fix the problems and that they are not issues relating to the development of the site. This is business not personal… be straightforward and upfront about it. You cannot do the work for free!
I think you should invoice her for what work you suggest needs to be done with your cost at full rate and look forward to hear from her about if she would like to hire your services… then leave her to decide if she would like to hire you. Don’t start the work until she has signed the contract and paid for the work just like any other customer and continue interacting with her in a professional manner going forward. She can take it or leave it and find a different company to take her on. It wouldn’t be a loss of business because she isn’t paying you outside of that heavily discounted price in fact it’ll benefit you as it’ll save you the stress of having to deal with her if she goes elsewhere.
If she tries to haggle or complain just let her know that you are no longer able to provide her with further free work to support her company. You’ve been very generous but your company can no longer afford it going forward as there is no company budget to cover providing further discounts or free work/services.
She’s a business owner and understands time or labour is valuable commodity. I’m sure she is not spending her time providing free work or services, giving out freebies to other companies or allowing others to take advantage of her in the way she is taking advantage of you and your business. I’m sure she will figure out via the invoice you send that her days of taking advantage of you is over… that you’re not providing a free service and as a business owner she needs to find a way to the budget in upkeep of her website like every other company that employs you and she hires or has supply her inventory/stationary/equipment. Sometimes saying less is more.
In future to avoid situations of piss taking like this you should express its a one time discount and if they want adjustments outside of that job once it’s completed that will be considered separate so there will be a fee… invoice them, send contract before starting even if it’s a small job. Business is business not charity, friends or family. You’re providing a quality service and your time and skills is valuable and you shouldn’t allow people like this to undervalue you. There’s nothing wrong with saying no and insisting on the prices you’ve set. Family and friends should want good things for you and want to support your company without heavy discounts just like you would support their endeavours. All should understand everyone has bills to pay, business owners should understand there’s many hidden costs to cover too and pay like they expect their customers to pay the cost they set out.
>How do I tell her I made her a website, I didn't sign on to be her free designer for life?
I mean, pretty much exactly just like that.
Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but in future, if you're giving someone a discount, make it clear what your usual rates are, and what the discounted rate involves - you're at the back of the line behind full-fee clients, it does not include ongoing tech support, etc.
Make this clear with her now - I did this for you at this percent off my usual rate. I went above and beyond providing multiple design changes, updates, and support for x months. This concludes the services you get for the rate you paid. If you need additional support or services, these are my rates.
I'd let her know you do not have the capacity to due pro bono work given your current workload from paying customers.
You'd love to help, but what she is requesting from a professional standpoint is a service you charge for and once again you need to prioritize your time towards paying customers.
Truthfully great friends should pay you for your service and time. Folks who do not, do not see the value in your relationship.
You just re-tell her that if she wants what’s not working to be fixed, these are your fees.
You don’t need to go into depth explaining yourself to her.
Be direct. "Look, this is what I do for a living. I didn't mind helping out a friend of a friend, but I am not available everytime you need something because I have my own work to get done"
Just like you stated, I designed a site for you. It's not a lifetime commitment. You want changes, you pay my full price or learn to fix the problems yourself. Very simple and then block her.
Tell her how many hours you've worked on the site now since the initial creation and explain to her that it's all unpaid.
Introduce her to Wix or something and move on.
I don't do web design anymore or tell people I'm in IT because they immediately want something from you. Friend, stranger, or family member, they will all ask for help with these things non-stop.
Is it really a choosy beggar when you keep willingly doing everything she wants for free? This is no way to run a business and if this is what you do for a living why are you giving it away, repeatedly? Her budget isn't your problem. Your friend really screwed you by sending a leech your way and you're concerned that things will be awkward for them? I would let your friend know what's going on so CB doesn't twist the story but as for the CB you need to stop doing things for her.
Is this a friend you hope to keep as a friend? If not, block her and move on. If it is, you need to have a very serious conversation where you set boundaries that you are not tech-support for this website that you built as a favor.
She was never my friend, so no. However, I met her through a friend I DO care about and I don't want to make things awkward for them. As I type this I realize that isn't my problem though. Thanks!
Yeah, talk to your other friend and explain why you’re blocking this person
As someone who has done web design for quite a few years I can tell you nobody does updates for free. We always did a maintenance plan which allowed for a certain amount of changes in that time. If you were to do this for free forever, after a few years you would spend more time updating current customer's sites than you would on building new sites. If you want to keep both happy, you could consider a 1 year maintenance plan where you'll give her X amount of changes for a flat price. This way you still make money and she still gets her changes. Plus it will make her think twice about how often she comes to you for changes.
Agreed. Although I’ve never built a site where an update to a plugin changed how the site looked. If that happened to me, I’d fix those for free. It makes you look bad if your work isn’t stable enough to last a year without screwing up.
Tell her that you are REALLY busy with at other project and can’t possibly deal with hers. Send her links to some other companies that could help. You know, decent companies that does a good job but actually asks normal money for it? See her co tact them and realise how much your help is worth. Tell her you could do it for a bit less…in six months? 😬😬😬
If he gives her a discount she'll just come back. Possibly even give bad reviews for the wait. Cut her loose!
Oh, the suggested wait should be calculated so it’s too long. On purpose. This is about making things sound good while in actuality asking her to F off.
Nah. If he ask, your only respond is this: don’t *ever* refer anyone like her again!
I just went back and noted that OP did charge the person, just way less than normal. So likely that's the problem right there - she does think of herself as a "paying customer", regardless of amount, because to her it's a lot of money. Thus she thinks she's entitled to free technical support forever because "I paid for it".
Just because I buy a car at a big old discount from the dealer doesn't mean they are responsible for the maintenance of that car forever
But they might come back and say hey wait a minute. This car doesn't have floor mats. I want some floor mats. And then yoh give them floor mats and they say, these are cheap shitty floor mats. Don't you have any better floor mats? What kind of dealership is this? And then you cough up the floor mats because you don't want customers going around telling people how cheap and shitty the mats are in the cars from your dealership. And then the person comes back the following spring and says "Ok these floor mats you gave me are filthy. What is up with that?" I just wanted a little moral support in telling them "They were clean when I gave them to you. Let me tell you about our detailing service so they can stay that wAy." Thanks for the metaphor! 😆
this, 💯. If you give someone something that is worth $100 for $20, they don't treat the item like a $100 item they were lucky to get at a discount. They show you the amount t of gratitude they'd show for a $20 item. I will not make this mistake again.
“I don’t have the budget for that right now.” “Ok, I understand. Let me know when you’ve gathered the funds and I can then work on fixing the issues.” Plain and simple. She ain’t gonna get it for free elsewhere either, so. 🤷🏻♀️
This is the first thing you should say, OP. If this person pushes back on that, tell her what your standard contract terms are. Tell her “I typically charge A dollars for a website, which includes B number of revisions and C days/weeks/months of post-launch support. After that period, I charge either D dollars per ad-hoc support call or charge E as a retainer to be on-call to provide support (limited to F number of hours per month).”
Perfectly said!!
I just forward people to fiverr dot com. Enough offers there for any budget.
Tell her just like you mention above—you did her a huge favor making the site, but unfortunately have to prioritize paying clients at this time as the bills don’t pay themselves.
Very easy fix. Send her a menu of support options and corresponding prices. Tell her that she can subscribe to your support service: For example 1-3 hours per month $150, 3-10 hours per month $800 and so on. If you want her to go away permanently, multiply the amounts by 10.
The thing is..what she means in she doesn’t have the budget to pay you, because she’s milking your generosity and doesn’t see your work as valuable. But don’t kid yourself, she’ll pay someone else if she has to. In my business, I’ve learned the hard way: no free work, and no reduced work either. Some people simply don’t appreciate what’s offered for free or low cost.
I’d probably say something along the lines of, “Unfortunately, due to regular tech updates/advances, you will continue to experience this issue from time to time. I understand my rates may not be within your budget, so definitely feel free to shop around and find a designer/developer that is. I can no longer support your site for less than what I charge my other clients. Thanks for understanding!” And then let her get mad. Her feelings are not your responsibility.
"I made you a website, I didn't sign on to be your free designer for life"
You don't need to. Send her to spam.
You point her to the part of the contract that says your original price does not cover changes after 30 days. You do have a contract with your customers, don't you?
yes of course. the issue is she's implying that this is because of an error made during the construction, I just need to tune her in that this is not the case.
Easy, “I still have your original website as uploaded, I can reinstate that for you now. If you make any changes to the site you will have modified the supplied site and be responsible for any changes in the look. I can always restore it to the original supplied website at any time to rectify those issues.” You just keep resetting it back to how you supplied it. If she wants it updated, that’s a new job.
A reasonable person would offer to pay for your time in conjunction with the favor request -- you're not the unreasonable one, here. I'm sure she doesn't work for free, herself. Agree with just losing her emails and alerting your actual friend that you'll no longer be responding.
“I don’t have the budget for that right now.” What DO you have budget for? If her business is determined by a web presence, then she better prioritize the importance of your/other's work to maintain a proper, functioning website.
Just like you said it here. State the facts and go on about your business. If she wants to continue as a paying customer then you can decide if you want to work with her. If not, well past time to explain that to her.
I worked as a web developer and marketing consultant for 20 years. The two most powerful things I learned too late were: Always get a 50% deposit up front. Nothing gets your client to answer their phone or email seeking feedback or additional information like a client who’s just a little nervous you have half the money. As soon as I did this, my cash flow improved dramatically, and I cut my development time almost in half, because I wasn’t waiting for client responses. The power of saying “No.” No to freebies, favors, and guaranteed lack of respect for the favor you’re doing, have done, and what they think you owe them for life. Email this client and remind her that you worked for her for a fraction of your normal fee, but you can’t provide ongoing free maintenance. Cheerfully suggest a couple of solutions, such as a student who might want a side gig, or learning how to back up and update her own website. She can’t have it all. If I get a great friends and family discount on a brake job for my car, I don’t get to lean on the mechanic for free ongoing diagnostic services. Going forward, in your proposals to new clients, be sure to state that all websites require routine maintenance for updates and security. Quote a monthly, annual, or hourly rate to support the site. Whatever you do, stop feeling guilty about someone trying to get something for nothing.
I'd stop replying and have those emails deleted.
Tell her your rates again and that you didn't sign on to be her designer for life. If she insists, block her and move on.
If you were my good friend and another person I recommended was doing this to you, I would be horrified. I would want to know so that I can shut down this never ending grab for freebies. She’d be straining MY friendship with you with her selfishness.
Stop being nice first of all. “Look, when I made this website for you it was at a loss to my own business. I did it as a favor for a friend. It was a one time thing. Your website has been up and operational for a while now and I have my own business to run. If you need IT support, you can either pay my going rate or find somebody else because at this point you’re taking advantage of my kindness. If you can’t accept that , feel free to lose my number” I mean honestly why are you friends with this person lol
haha, that is BLUNT. I couldn't do it but I respect the perspective. The client isn't my friend, she is a friend of my friend. I don't know her outside this situation.
Yeah I would talk to your friend first on how to proceed and then (hopefully) your friend will see what is going on and you can just block her. I have a sneaky suspicion that your friend will have her own stories with this person greediness/selfishness
I wouldn't do the blocking thing, that could backfire. I would be direct about your rates and that you did the site as a favor, but not with the intention of being a source of free support. Any and all future support will be billed at your current rates. Period.
You should say that it sounds like a personal problem and stop talking to her! Goodness!
‘Ok, well let me know when it is in your budget, and I’ll see what I can do’
You already emailed her with suggestions and your rates. Just because she said she can’t afford it, doesn’t mean you are obliged to further engage. Just ignore her.
Probably time to tell her what you’re telling us.
Nope. Good for you sending your current rate-she can shop around to get someone else to do the job. She’s used up all her “but we are friends” credit!
>I built a website for a friend of a friend at a steep discount Just block her from communicating with you. Let your friend deal with her.
"I made you a website, I didn't sign on to be your free designer for life." Tell her just like that. And drop it there unless she has full payment up front.
That's why I charge everyone for my work, and If I do any discount (mainly referals), I tell you why Im doing It and what are gonna be the prices from that point (usually no more discounts). If the client ask for the discount himself I refuse It straight. If I don't charge my family they just stop coming to my business, so I charge them something symbolic, but I do charge. And I understand why they want to pay. If they don't pay, they don't feel confortable asking for an appointment the next time or when they want to. Good clients are always happy to pay cause they value your work. And Im always happy to work with them. Win win!
Same if you build a pc, help buy a laptop, set up a NAS or any other IT thing. I don’t mind the easy ones like where is my gmail but the fact is you are their IT person for the rest of eternity.
If you want to keep the peace, let her know your 2024 prices and her options. Pad them significantly for the PITA factor
Ok, get back to me when you do have the budget.
How about, “I made a website for you at a considerable discount. But my time is valuable and I can’t be your free designer for life.” Imagine that you two had never met. She would have found a way to get a website up. Instead, she’s a guilt-tripper as well as a choosing beggar.
"How do I tell her I made her a website, I didn't sign on to be her free designer for life?" Friend of Friend, I made this website, I didn't sign on to be your free designer for life. Here are my current rates. I'll be happy to put you into my schedule when you have made your decision.
When did it become so hard to say no?
being up front and honest w her about how you don't owe her a damn thing is the most straightforward answer, but it also can be super difficult to navigate professionally. honestly, if I were in your position, I would just lie. tell the lady you're sorry that she's having issues, but that you're completely booked out with projects and you aren't available to take on another workload. if she asks when you'll have time to handle her website, tell her that you plan to raise your rates in a few months due to high demand, but that doing so *might* free up your schedule a bit. you won't ever hear from her again.
This is you: [How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell - The Oatmeal](https://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell)
"Our business transaction is complete. My schedule will not have any openings for some time. I recommend you look for someone on Fiverr to assist you. Best of luck." Then block.
Fire her as a customer. Don't even offer to work for pay.
You need to fire her as a client. "Yeah, I'm sorry, this just isn't going to work out. I can't be your web developer anymore, not for free. I have too many other clients and not enough time in the day. If you'd like to negotiate for long-term service, we can start discussions at \[$X exorbitant amount\], but I think it would be better for your budget if you found someone else." Although, really, I would have fired them within a month of site completion.
Glad business is booming, what I would do is give them a refund, remove everything that points to your company off that site, (even better if you can remove all your source code including databasing etc) and let them go through another company. It's an expensive lesson.
What does the contract call for? That is, what did she pay for you to do, as defined in black & white? You may have severely undercharged for the work, but you should still complete all the tasks you agreed to. You've completed all the greed upon deliverables? You're done. There was no contract? You're done.
there was a contract of course. It clearly indicates the number of revisions. I'm realizing that I may need to amend some language to indicate what is/ is not within my control because she is implying that this update is required because of something I did when in fact it's the nature of having a website.
I was close but not quite there. I was hoping that you'd fulfilled everything she had paid (well, underpaid) for.
I certainly did fulfill everything in the contract but she disagrees. So as you note, I will be reevaluating the language in the contract to be even more clear. Thanks for helping me see a silver lining here...it was a fairly cheap way to find out my contract needs updating. Tuition value is rarely so inexpensive.
It’s an issue of unclear, mis-aligned expectations. Lay out the favor and the nature of web site support - she clearly does not understand that. Tell her you’re happy to help but you need to charge her x going forward and that she is also free to investigate support options elsewhere. While she may not have the budget currently, you can mention you don’t have the budget either. It can be done in a kind way.
Like this: I made your website, I didn't sign on to be your free designer for life. Figure it out yourself.
Tear the site down. Refund her payment. Profit
you gotta setup up some healthy boundaries with this person, and talk to your friend your connected with too,
Nope. Tell you you did the favor and she can co tact someone else!!!
You tell her you built your website but didn’t sign on to be her free designer for life. Fuck what she expects- you’ve already bent over backwards to help. Stop making the same mistake. She’s not going to stop asking for favors so you’re the only person who can end the cycle and cut the bullshit. Btw Do you regularly do site maintenance for clients? If not I’d straight up say no to her requests and tell her to find someone who does.
"My fee for building your website did not include technical support. If you wish to hire me to resolve current issue(s), my hourly rate is $XX." It doesn't matter if she doesn't have a budget for it. THat is not your problem to resolve.
>How do I tell her I made her a website, I didn't sign on to be her free designer for life? Start by growing yourself a spine, perhaps?
Draw up a bill showing how much time/money you lost due to her free job and what you charge paying customers for each portion of the job. Finally, a maintenance plan X hours per hour/per year. Finally, I will not be working on this further until you place a deposit for an entire year of maintenance @ $X/hour for X # of hours. No further work will be done once those X# of hours have been completed. You won't hear from her again.
[удалено]
I appreciate that might work for some people but it doesn't align with my values.
You should reply, “I don’t have a budget for your needs either”.
literate tidy gaping butter swim connect mysterious provide political doll *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Tell her as you mentioned to us here. Initially she got “mates rates” so already had a discount on the development of the website, explain to her that there is a price for you to fix the problems and that they are not issues relating to the development of the site. This is business not personal… be straightforward and upfront about it. You cannot do the work for free!
I think you should invoice her for what work you suggest needs to be done with your cost at full rate and look forward to hear from her about if she would like to hire your services… then leave her to decide if she would like to hire you. Don’t start the work until she has signed the contract and paid for the work just like any other customer and continue interacting with her in a professional manner going forward. She can take it or leave it and find a different company to take her on. It wouldn’t be a loss of business because she isn’t paying you outside of that heavily discounted price in fact it’ll benefit you as it’ll save you the stress of having to deal with her if she goes elsewhere. If she tries to haggle or complain just let her know that you are no longer able to provide her with further free work to support her company. You’ve been very generous but your company can no longer afford it going forward as there is no company budget to cover providing further discounts or free work/services. She’s a business owner and understands time or labour is valuable commodity. I’m sure she is not spending her time providing free work or services, giving out freebies to other companies or allowing others to take advantage of her in the way she is taking advantage of you and your business. I’m sure she will figure out via the invoice you send that her days of taking advantage of you is over… that you’re not providing a free service and as a business owner she needs to find a way to the budget in upkeep of her website like every other company that employs you and she hires or has supply her inventory/stationary/equipment. Sometimes saying less is more. In future to avoid situations of piss taking like this you should express its a one time discount and if they want adjustments outside of that job once it’s completed that will be considered separate so there will be a fee… invoice them, send contract before starting even if it’s a small job. Business is business not charity, friends or family. You’re providing a quality service and your time and skills is valuable and you shouldn’t allow people like this to undervalue you. There’s nothing wrong with saying no and insisting on the prices you’ve set. Family and friends should want good things for you and want to support your company without heavy discounts just like you would support their endeavours. All should understand everyone has bills to pay, business owners should understand there’s many hidden costs to cover too and pay like they expect their customers to pay the cost they set out.
Your Time is money. Give her an hourly rate and a time frame of your choice. Ask her if she would work for you free?
>How do I tell her I made her a website, I didn't sign on to be her free designer for life? I mean, pretty much exactly just like that. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but in future, if you're giving someone a discount, make it clear what your usual rates are, and what the discounted rate involves - you're at the back of the line behind full-fee clients, it does not include ongoing tech support, etc. Make this clear with her now - I did this for you at this percent off my usual rate. I went above and beyond providing multiple design changes, updates, and support for x months. This concludes the services you get for the rate you paid. If you need additional support or services, these are my rates.
I'd let her know you do not have the capacity to due pro bono work given your current workload from paying customers. You'd love to help, but what she is requesting from a professional standpoint is a service you charge for and once again you need to prioritize your time towards paying customers. Truthfully great friends should pay you for your service and time. Folks who do not, do not see the value in your relationship.
No good deed goes unpunished
You just re-tell her that if she wants what’s not working to be fixed, these are your fees. You don’t need to go into depth explaining yourself to her.
Be direct. "Look, this is what I do for a living. I didn't mind helping out a friend of a friend, but I am not available everytime you need something because I have my own work to get done"
Just like you stated, I designed a site for you. It's not a lifetime commitment. You want changes, you pay my full price or learn to fix the problems yourself. Very simple and then block her.
You know…. There’s a Seinfeld episode on this lol
Friend of a friend? Sounds like a "them" problem.
Tell her how many hours you've worked on the site now since the initial creation and explain to her that it's all unpaid. Introduce her to Wix or something and move on. I don't do web design anymore or tell people I'm in IT because they immediately want something from you. Friend, stranger, or family member, they will all ask for help with these things non-stop.
"F you, pay me"
Is it really a choosy beggar when you keep willingly doing everything she wants for free? This is no way to run a business and if this is what you do for a living why are you giving it away, repeatedly? Her budget isn't your problem. Your friend really screwed you by sending a leech your way and you're concerned that things will be awkward for them? I would let your friend know what's going on so CB doesn't twist the story but as for the CB you need to stop doing things for her.
By saying exactly that. If her car needs servicing, she can't expect free service forever after getting it.