I think my client was rude and trying to scam me.

[48bf3786]

Hi, I'm a freelancer and animator and I'm losing sleep because I'm worried about my situation. I'm wondering if I can ask for solutions about my problem without affecting my ratings, I've been a top rated freelancer outside the upwork and I'm kind of new in upwork.


My problem is that I have a current client and an open contract that will be soon be expired tommorow. And my
client is being very rude because he didn't like my art even though I used his own characters for the project. And so I offered and offered for two times that we treat our first made milestone to be a complete payment just so we can be done for the whole project but he kept on disregarding it. He kept saying this is good at the start of the project and only asked for small changes, he even saw the character I made long before I completed the task He asked for 6 mins of animation and I sent it the way he wants it. I also always tell him that we can change things in my animation as we go along (I told him that in our second milestone and our milestones consist of 3 segments) the third milestone was suppose to be all the changes he wanted to have. I built trust on him because he wanted me to make a religious content so I did not put watermark. As soon as he got the whole video he then immediately said I appreciate your efforts but this will not work and I kinda got offended with full frustrated feeling and then I said "I've done all the things you wanted to change the way you wanted it and I don't think what you're asking is possible because you only sent me limited files so I cannot put all the characters so I made mine", wich I regret saying. then he became rude and then harassed me and asking for a refund for the first milestone. And now he offered me to work on another project that he says more easier one. I'm losing trust on the client and my emotional quotient cannot accept it. Please tell me what to do I'm so lost but I don't want my ratings to go bad.

[prestonhunter]

Howard, are you saying that this client is frequently rude AND tries to avoid paying you for your work?

And you want our advice about whether or not you should continue working for this client?

[48bf3786]

He is not rude at the moment because he wants me to do another job. He was rude before. Saying things like "I watched your animation with my kids and they laughed". He is still trying to avoid paying me and asking for a full refund, and offers me to work for him on another video just so we can satisfy his first payment. I'm so scared of my reputation if I get at least one bad feedback.





Yes sir, I need advice on what better actions to take since I'm just a starting member of upwork. should I just let it go?

[wlyonsatl · Accepted solution]

Hi, Howard.

Don't significantly increase your previously-agreed level of current work for this client or work for this client again until he pays you in full for previous work and you see his feedback on the current project.

Then, and only then, should you decide whether or not you want to work for him again. He will have no leverage to force you to do any additional work.

Some clients are just not worth the worry and frustration their attitude and unjust demands create. Others take a bit of getting used to or you learn how to define a project with them and have the necessary project details in writing before agreeing to a contract.

Ideally, when any client demands extra work from you your pre-contract written discussions on the project message board on Upwork will allow you to point out to the client that what they are demanding is outside the scope of your original scope of work. You will (may?), of course, be happy to add extra elements to the project if another milestone is added and fully funded (for fixed price contracts) or he acknowledges in writing that additional hours will be required of you to complete this additional work (for hourly projects). Under no circumstances should you agree to use manual hours with this type of client.

Good luck.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Saying things like 'I watched your animation with my kids and they laughed'."

I am not convinced that this particular example is a an example of a client being rude.

I am more concerned about the client trying to avoid paying you. I think Will has provided some excellent advice about this.

[48bf3786]

This is very learning. I think you are right, maybe he is not being rude. But he also said "look at what you drew. Is that a mouth? Viewers are going to laugh" . And I think that is an example of being rude. Or maybe I just lost a lot of sleep and things got hectic. Thanks for the advice.I love asking a question here. It feels like a family.

[48bf3786]

Thank you very much for your answer sir. This helped me a lot.