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08c2680d
Community Member

How To End A Contract With Less Damage?

Hello,

What is the best way to end a contract with a client with less damage. You started working with each other peacefully then all of a sudden after few weeks/tasks he/she started to act weird like:

 

  • Don't respect your time
  • Verbally abusive
  • Want things you can't give (unrealistic)

Or you start hating doing the kind of work the client needs and you want to end that relationship.

6 REPLIES 6
feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Mohamed S wrote:

Hello,

What is the best way to end a contract with a client with less damage. You started working with each other peacefully then all of a sudden after few weeks/tasks he/she started to act weird like:

 

  • Don't respect your time
  • Verbally abusive
  • Want things you can't give (unrealistic)

Or you start hating doing the kind of work the client needs and you want to end that relationship.


Things start out okay and then go downhill? I don't think that you've given us enough information - do you have a specific situation, or are you finding that a lot of your projects are going this way?

 

If you "start hating the kind of work the client needs"... well, that's a different matter, and you don't really have a justifiable reason to end the contract. I would just finish the job, and perhaps ask for more detailed briefs before starting projects in the future, so that you know what you're getting into. Personally, I don't feel like I'm entitled to be completely thrilled and fascinated by absolutely every project that I do - that's why they call it "work". 

Thanks Christine for your reply and let me clarify:

It's typiclly "Things start out okay and then go downhill" and this is just one case not all projects. 
You start to feel you are not a good fit and the sooner you end the contract the better for all parties.



Well, honesty is always the best policy. But I would give the client the option of ending the project instead of just quitting; say that you don't feel like you're the right person for the project and that they should find someone else. (Whereas if you complain about their behaviour and expectations and so on and then end the contract yourself, I would think that you're pretty much guaranteed a bad review.)


Mohamed S wrote:

Thanks Christine for your reply and let me clarify:

It's typiclly "Things start out okay and then go downhill" and this is just one case not all projects. 
You start to feel you are not a good fit and the sooner you end the contract the better for all parties.


___________________

Mohamed,  is this an hourly or fixed-rate project? 

 


 

It's a fixed-rate project.

Mohamed, if it is a fixed-rate contract, then the client should have funded the amount agreed for the job in escrow. The client has 14 days in which to review your work and request changes, or to agree to release funds - or to dispute.

 

It would not be in your interests, at this stage, to cancel the contract as the funds would automatically be transferred back to your client, who may or may not give you a negative review. 

 

However a no-payment contract + a negative review will impact your JSS. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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