Mini Rant

wendy_writes · ‎01-16-2021

Or perhaps a Mega Rant. The Direct Offer thing seems to be nothing but cheap clients looking for ways to scam freelancers unlucky enough to singled out. The most recent one:

1. had serious problems in detailing what was needed due, in the end, to dishonesty

2. managed to come up with at least 3 conflicting versions of what was needed

3. when I was finally able to get some clarity and imperical data (such as website and validity of claims) the **Edited for Community Guidelines** started asking for price cuts.

OVER & OUT. Go Away. Far away ....

m_terrazas · ‎01-16-2021

Wendy C wrote:
Or perhaps a Mega Rant. The Direct Offer thing seems to be nothing but cheap clients looking for ways to scam freelancers unlucky enough to singled out. The most recent one:

1. had serious problems in detailing what was needed due, in the end, to dishonesty
2. managed to come up with at least 3 conflicting versions of what was needed
3. when I was finally able to get some clarity and imperical data (such as website and validity of claims) the twit started asking for price cuts.

OVER & OUT. Go Away. Far away ....

Hola Wendy.

As the mods say, I'm sorry you had this bad experience

What do you mean by The Direct Offer?
I have a mess in my head with so many things that are changing ...
I looked for it in the help but did not find anything.

wendy_writes · ‎01-16-2021

Hola Maria, what I call "Direct Offer" is when a buyer can contact you directly about a job but has never created a RFP explaining what the job is.

In this case the buyer had some raw info - but it took about 2 seconds to determine what was there was both misleading or/and out-and-out lie.

Said buyer also knew my rate > he sent the offer directly to me. So WHY then try and bargain? Am I supposed to feel sorry for the lazy jerk?

I was not referring to when FLers bring a client to U ... although I believe U calls these the same thing ...

isamybaxy · ‎01-16-2021

Interesting...

I was a victim of this late last year.

After helping provide a breakdown of the project along with wireframes, it was time to get mock designs. He requested I interview potential UI/UX designers.

I realized this guy had been getting useful intel from me for free and wanted to continue his exploits. I requested the contract between us started on Upwork before proceeding.

That was when he suddenly realized I was no good for the project.

Another one asked for price cuts, we started the project and he wanted to use me as a workhorse.

He made a series of unrealistic demands which I was able to meet until I wasn't due to some circumstances which he was unwilling to accept. This was after I had turned an unsuccessful project with his last developer into something his client approved of.

I got a 2-star rating with a mega rant lying review. A dent to my impeccable 5-star rating.

I checked his other reviews from other developers - he had a queue of reviews from very unhappy devs.

I learned to watch out for these kinds of Jobs and as you said, OVER & OUT. Go Away. Far away ....

astepanov83 · ‎01-17-2021

It's been told a thousand times here, but I'll repeat it. You've likely learned this lesson. So, maybe it will help someone else.

Checking the client's jobs history is the first thing you need to do. It must be done before the contract is started. If a client has one 1-star job, you need to think twice. If there are two or more of them, you just walk away. I counted more than 5 in that client's profile.

I've worked with a client, that had only 1 completed job with 1 star feedback. The freelancer was a scammer. So I knew what I was doing.

aziz_92 · ‎01-17-2021

Rule of thumb for me: If a client even asks about lowering my hourly rate, I move on. Because it shows that even if the client agrees to pays you at your hourly rate, he'll be salty and nickel and dime you. Only work with clients that will happily pay your rate and value your service.

resultsassoc · ‎01-17-2021

Wendy, you are too kind. Do you know where the client lives, and what his dog might be allergic to? Not going any farther in that vein.

Samuel, more than 25 years ago I learned how to deal with requests for price cuts. I had priced a proposal at $1M, and the client got back to me four months later saying we needed to talk about the price. I told him the new price was $1.1M. He asked why, and I told him he was paying the DCP, Difficult Client Premium, because of waiting four months. He demanded I reduce the price, so I raised it another ten percent. Why? The Ignorant Client Premium, because he couldn't recognize a bargain when he was offered one.

He had the brains to stop and ask how many Premiums there were. I asked him how many stars are in the sky. He folded.

I just reached out, today, to a freelancer I employed last year who did a great job, and offered him a new job to create the art for a book cover. I created a Research and Definition milestone worth 20% of the total value, and told him to bill me whenever he wished. That's a lightly camouflaged downpayment, he's a busy guy. I don't need it until May. I wouldn't dream of making an offer to a random freelancer, and most clients don't, either.

wendy_writes · ‎01-18-2021

Bill - first off, I've missed you! The second is that DCP and ICP beat hands-down my PITA charge.