
I completely messed up a freelance project,seeking options to end this - completeMess
http://pastebin.com/AUHYFMRV
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MatthewWilkes
First off, do not commit suicide. You say you've been entertaining the idea so
these problems are too serious for you to not seek professional help. You're
ill, there's no shame in this, but treat it as seriously as you would any
other illness. Call the Samaritans and speak to your doctor. Do not do
anything that will make your health worse.

As to the legal situation, hire a lawyer. Seriously. You've said your client
has hired legal aid in your country, you should immediately stop talking to
the client and speak only through a lawyer. You could inadvertently make the
problem worse by saying the wrong thing. Things like "I agree I am responsible
for his losses", for example, you lawyer would stop you from saying. You
aren't acting in isolation here and you're not in the business of insuring
your client. If your client is spending $6k over the course of a year on
something that, if it fails, will lose him hundreds of thousands and he
doesn't act to protect his own interests then he is partially at fault.

You've made some mistakes here but you're not the only one. It's not the end
of the world, everything can be salvaged. I know people that have been in a
similar position and less than a year later it was sorted, they had a better
job and were happy. Do not give up, do not try and solve this alone, you need
help from people who aren't so close to the project.

Good luck.

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atlantic
Keep in mind that, if you are a beginner who was taken on for a big project,
then your client hired you to get a much cheaper deal than with an experienced
developer, against the risk of a delayed or unfinished application. If it
doesn't work out and he makes a loss, tough - it was his decision to take that
risk in the first place. And it sounds like he repeatedly extended the scope
of the project without offering additional compensation, which is very
dishonest.

If you can't finish the job, don't. And don't let the client guilt-trip you:
you're not responsible for his losses, he is. If you can't deliver, then the
worst that can happen is for you to return the payment already received.

At this stage, stop working, cut off all direct communication, and hire a
lawyer. And stop worrying - we have all had a failed project or two in our
careers.

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shove
Relax. This has, or will happen, to every freelancer once. You're going to
learn from it and move on. You do NOT need a lawyer. This guy knows you
haven't got any way to pay damages and it's going to cost him $10k+ for _his_
lawyer. He'll fume and threaten and make a lot of noise. Eventually, he'll go
look for another sucker—I mean—inexperienced developer to take advantage of.
Send an email with a sincere apology, a zip with the latest files, and a clear
statement that you're unable to do _anything_ further. Don't return any calls
or emails afterwards. He might get a lawyer to send a letter. This costs $100.
Ignore it. The only thing you should respond to is a court summons. You won't
get one.

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user42
It is not your fault.

I think this client is misusing you and your friends. He is putting the
preisure on you as high as possible to get you working for cents an hour.

From now on you have to play it harder.

Let a lawyer check your contract and legal situation. From my experience there
are always large holes for interpretation.

Charge him a large sum for all work on features and changes not part of the
initial project scope and bill them. You need a strong counterweight to his
claim. I think 1,000 of hours are.

When communicating with him, overdraw everything you are doing for him, the
amount of work, the extras, the pain, etc.

Do you have agreed to contract penalties when failing a dead line? If not.
Just give your best and everytime you face a changeing estimate, just tell
them. Take the time you need!

Deliver only the minimum required according to the initial scope and then tell
them the project is finished.

For the future:

\- dont work so much for more than two weeks in a row

\- take time to refresh

\- be selective with customers

From my experience with similar situations, I can say that you'll learn the
most from this kind of problems. You'll be stronger and happier after it.

------
fsk
Another red flag is that the client is threatening to sue you for $100k but
you only billed him $6k. Your maximum loss should be the $6k he paid you. But
you do need to consult with a lawyer.

You say you have another job? So you should be able to come up with the money
to hire a lawyer. If he's sending you legal threat letters, you have to pay
for a lawyer yourself. However, he could be bluffing. It seems weird that a
guy would pay $6k on a software project and then $10k+ to sue those developers
for not delivering.

I agree with the other people that walking away is the right thing to do. The
lesson is that fixed-bid projects are usually a bad idea for small
freelancers.

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ilaksh
Its not your fault and you don't owe him anything. It is very common for
projects to be under-budgeted and the ones that go overseas are the more
extreme cases.

If that guy managed to lose $200k its not because you took too long to 'earn'
your small $4,500. If he is 'losing' that much then he defrauded his own
customer/partner. Obviously the project was massively mismanaged.

I have been freelancing for many years. I would be happy to review any details
you have and testify on your behalf as an expert witness.

I would be suing him for the $1,500.

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filvdg
So it looks like you took a job for a fixed price. you could have opted for
time and material but you did not.

When you work fixed price, you need to have a fixed scope.

It is completely normal to have discussions with the customer on the scope of
the project. the key is to see this negotiation as a way to ask more money
from your customer.

I have the impression from your description that at the start of the project
you did not define the scope in detail and that now you battle with the
interpretation your customer makes from your scope description and your
interpretation of that same description. Every time you hear your customer
saying something you did not expect, you need to formally put on paper that
that was not your interpretation and that your customers interpretation will
be seen as a (scope) change request and will result in a new offer (= added
cash)

so you should stop coding and start better defining what the scope is of the
work that needs to be done.

(and always make a contract with your customer that states he can not ask more
damages than the contract value)

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z02d
First, you have to get the pressure from yourself. You need an imaginary stop-
button in your brain go get away from all BS going on outside. Otherwise you
are not able to think clear about your options.

Second, talk to a lawyer. I don't know where you are coming from, what kind of
legal entity you are in (with your company? personal?). Worst case, you messed
up and your company files bankruptcy. Depending on your country you are free
of debts after few years, if you are even personal liable.

Third, start new company and make sure you learned from this.

Chin up!

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rwhitman
This client is essentially bullying you into indentured servitude and using
mind games to motivate you into continuing to work for them indefinitely.
Unless you've heard from this supposed lawyer they've hired in your country,
I'd take a solid guess they haven't actually taken any action in that area and
have no clue how to go about it.

As others mentioned, cut off all communication with your client. Find legal
support or at least have someone ready to defend you if needed. As soon as
they mention legal action all communication goes through legal channels, on
both sides. If they haven't taken that step yet, they are bluffing.

What I would do is send a short very clearly worded email, with _no emotional
or personal language_ (this is important). The email would 1) state exactly
what was delivered to date in terms of hours spent, equivalent hourly value
based on my rate 2) assurance that the client has access to all assets and
source files as a showing of good faith and 3) a short, very specific
statement that the contract is now terminated with no further work delivered,
payments made or communications outside of legal channels.

Then walk away and look for other clients. File every communication the client
sends you, save somewhere in PDFs and make hard copies. Any response you send
should say simply "This information has been retained for my attorney."
Respond that way to the client for everything. Say nothing else (very
important). Eventually they'll either get the message and walk away or take
some sort of action. If they take action then you will need an attorney ready,
but I'm guessing they're bluffing and you'll never hear from them again.

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lhabjane
Hire a lawyer ASAP. And, if you have some kind of a contract, you should
consult with your lawyer how to fortfeit it. For example in my country, a
contract can be fortfeit if it wasnt in good faith for both parties, so you
are inexperienced and let into the project that is bigger than you can really
do for 6k. Of course, you should have strong evidence for that.

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sqldba
It wasn't very smart to offer $100k of work for less than $6k. This is
stealing money from the mouths of professional developers who charge a fair
fee for fair work. You don't have my sympathies.

~~~
rebelpixel
Don't be harsh, please read through his post. 100k was his client's supposed
business losses because the project wasn't done in time, not the true value of
the project itself if it were done by a true professional like you.

