Client asking for a refund contract is paused not ended

[leony07]

I have a client that I have been working for several months in an hourly contract. Now suddenly she paused the contract and told  me not to work until we will hop a call. We initiate a call and she just asked me if I will still commit working for her from 10am to 2pm PST and another hours in the evening. I told her yes, and I was always working on that time and several hours beyond that time when they send me messages to work on something. Then she suddenly says that what she wanted is I will commit those exact time to her but if I finish some task then I should stop the tracker and just wait for her until she gave me new task within those time frame. I don't think this is fair because sometimes she will just not communicate with me in the entire time frame but I do have recurring task with her. She also want me to finish those task very quickly when it is impossible. She want me to create 3 a graphical image for 5 to 10 minutes, different designs and different contents with different icons for GMB post which for me would be impossible. When I told her I cannot do that she just insist I should. She wants me to commit my 4 hours to her but not to track the whole hours only if I have task and I should finish those recurring task in an impossible time range. Now suddenly she wanted to ask a refund for all the entire hours I have worked last week because she said there are times that I am inactive in the time tracker but it was because she said I should commit my 4 hours with her so I thought I should track it regardless if I have finished the tasks or not. Should I give her the entire refund requested when I have delivered all the required tasks to her? I want to end the contract too.

[d63dfdea]

 I don't think your client is being fair asking for a refund and I sympathise with you on that. However, I think you should only track the hours you are actually working on your client's tasks. Tracking time without actually working on a task is not fair to a client. You can do other jobs within a client's allocated time if you dont have any pending tasks with such a client at that time. Peace.

[leony07]

The client requested for a full refund of my salary during the last 2 weeks. Should I accept and give the full amount? Though there are things/tasks that I have delivered?

[magreth]

Don't refund if you did the work. Only refund if client was unfairly billed. Refunding does not mean job outcome will not hit your JSS. Agree on responding timelines with client. If client wants you to devote time only for her jobs, she can pay for it. Manage your time yourself, don't let clients do it for you. 

[leony07]

During my interview with her she wants me to devote my 10am to 2pm PST time with her so I assumed this time should be paid since she doesn't want me to work for another client during this time. But now she suddenly told me that yes, I should devote/commit my 10am to 2pm time to work for her BUT only to track time when there is a task if no task given or I have finished my recurring task I should stop and wait for her to contact me for another task during the given time frame. But she's usually out of reach during those times.

[magreth]

Try to get more jobs from other clients. If your client is the 1 major client that you have, if they give you negative feedback at the end of the contract, your JSS will be hit hard.