Client wont respond to close a contract and I don't trust him If I do.

[johnston_john]

Hello guys, hope you can help. I took a SEO job in September with a client who was happy with my proposal which was a fixed price contract. My milestones price was set to optimise "per location" and client was happy with that price. The work was completed on time and client was delighted with the work and the extra value I gave him.  

This is when it went wrong. When I submitted work for payment he was very surprised I did so? From the momment we first had contact he was in a rush and anxious to get going and I had to request a few times info he had not provided for the job to be started. I made sure he was ok and asked about any concerns he had.

So when I asked for payment he said something along the lines of "you still have another 49 locations to do" I quickly realised he has thought the contract was for all 50 locations and not per location and made this clear. He then realised himself that he had not read the contact correct and issued the $90 I was owed right away. Once that was realised he vannished even after me getting in contact with him soon after.

I think he was annoyed by his own mistake and so just didnt want to communicate with me or be co-operative anymore. So I've lately got in contact to ask about closing the contract as it still sit's open and looks bad as its old.

My concern is I dont think he deseves a good review and I dont think he will provide me with the good review that I deserve. The milestone was done to high standard exacty how he wanted it but he feels cheated at end of the day. I have a great rating just now of 100% and he could mess me up if he wanted to and the way he's acted since the work was done I just dont trust him. Can anyone advise me how to proceed?

I added little of transcript below

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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John J wrote:

Can anyone advise me how to proceed?

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Just close the contract yourself. You're overthinking this. Chances are the client will not leave any feedback at all. In the unlikely case that the client does leve poor feedback, you an use your top rated perk to remove it if you haven't used it in the last 10 contracts and 3 months.

PS - The client could not have been much clearer that his budget was thought for all 40 locations...He even clarified it in the job post. How you thought the client would be happy to pay 40 times the stated and clarified budget puzzles me somewhat...

[johnston_john]

Thanks for your fast feedback I will proceed that way. 

Further to your repsonse I get where your coming from, Its why I stated "per" in my proposal. It was not clear to me if it was all locations or fixed price for each. Will get better clarification in future.

Thanks again.