Bad Clients

The ones that take take take

[Jimmyco]

My best client is a pain in the @$$, but he has the big bucks to spend. I keep working for him, and then stop because his demands grow out of control (calling me at 2am to ask me a question). It is a kind of cycle. I am questioning if I should cut the string for good?

(Is life too short to put up with tons of bull#*$!?)

[eelixduppy]

Customer relations are very important in the business world. You don't want to lose a high paying customer, especially. I would kindly ask him to call only within a certain time frame during the day--say 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (something like that). Try this first to see what happens. :)

Good luck!

[ispy]

What string?

Unless they are in your face you are making your own tether here. Phones have ringers which can be turned off, phones have caller id's which can be screened, and there is nobody else answering the phone at 2am except you. If you stop feeding this guy the energy which he seems to need the problem would resolve itself one way or another.

[Jimmyco]

This guy is crazy, he is always calling. I do a project for him and then he will want me to do something else without giving me more money. He thinks we are still on good ground, I tell him when he is out of line but he doesn't change.

[MatthewHSE]

I am questioning if I should cut the string for good?

Depends on whether or not you can get by without him!

If not, grin and bear it and enjoy those expensive habits like eating and wearing clothes. ;)

If yes, turn off your phone ringer at night and sleep peacefully.

[edited by: MatthewHSE at 12:09 am (utc) on Nov. 3, 2006]

[rocknbil]

Jimmyco you have a problem setting limits. At some point yes, life is too short. But you don't have to shut them down to make it work.

One of the great rules of life to live by:

You can't change people. All you can change is the way you react to them.

I have a simlar customer, this guy was a pain in the ass and was under the impression the world revolved around him, also big bucks. He would do the same thing, call at odd hours, make rediculous demands. One day I called him with a list in hand and point by point, proposed positive solutions for each grievance. I figured he'd walk away. He thanked me, and to date is my **best** client.

I reinforced this every time he stepped outside the bounds. "Remember our discussion? We can't do this this way." "Oh yeah . . OK . . . "

[too much information]

Is there a way you can bill the guy hourly for your time? Then just hit him with a bill every two weeks for the time on the phone, and the time addressing his issues.

Also, could you charge double for the time between 8pm and 8am? I'm not sure how your deal is set up but sometimes raising the cost will slow the demands.

[LifeinAsia]

I second the idea about time-based billing. Explain to him that calls during business hours will be billed at rate X. "Emergency" calls (defined as any time outside of normal billing hours) will be billed at rate Y.

You may also want to specify that the smallest billing increment is 15 minutes. (So if he calls to ask a 5-minute question, then calls back in an hour to ask another 5-minute question, that counts as 2 15-minute periods and he will be billed for 30 minutes. The downside is that he may decide to use up the allotted 15 minutes for each call...)