An old client emailed me out of the blue and asked if I could update his website. I was at a loose end for two weeks so said as long as it could be done in that time-frame then sure. 

I proceeded to outline a time-frame of things I needed from him and set up a basic Woocommerce store with all the categorisation in place, gave him a login and talked him through adding products, images and text.

Rookie error: I didn’t ask for anything upfront thinking it would be quick cash once done.

At the end of the first week, I hadn’t received anything from him from the timeline I’d given him. The design was done and in place and I was just waiting for him to finish up. I even offered to help write category descriptions and ploughed through them. The next week still no progress at which point I said for him to get back to me when it was done. Three months later:

Client: The website isn’t finished yet! This is ridiculous! I thought you were a professional!

Me: I’ve been waiting on you for items to complete the work. I should also mention we are well past the window I gave you to for this project, so even if you got everything to me tomorrow I would have a tough time scheduling this work. 

Client: Don’t try to blame me! This is on you!

I logged in and the products still hadn’t been input. so I politely told him where to go and forgot about the cash. 

A year on the site is still half finished but has had someone else publish it with a different front end design. He emailed me asking if I wanted to redeem myself by helping out with his SEO

I’ve yet to reply to this email.

Source: Clients from Hell