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As Kia put it, I get the most "speshul clients".
Ok, so a year ago, right about when Ex-Coder started to decline...we had this one project, where they asked for an extra item, if it was possible to pull off. Coder said he thought he could, but wasn't sure.
We completed the project, and then looked into the extra little item...and coder spent hours trying to do it. No dice. Well, client wasn't happy, and kept claiming it was easy to do, but coder said he wasn't versed in this sort of thing, and that if they had someone who could do it, to use them. They supposedly did, so that was that.
Afterwards, they contacted me off and on for a couple of weeks needing other edits done by the coder, and eventually....well, I'm not sure what happened. I put them in touch with him directly and explained that if they needed extra coding stuff, they had to go to *him*.
Seemed to be fine and dandy, heck, we talked a lot afterwards, chatted about games and such, and the client even dropped me a surprise present of PSN network cards as a thank you for always being so helpful.
So this week was a total shock, then.
Few days ago, he shows up, frustrated about their new site they're launching, and asks me about Ex-Coder. I explain what's transpired since then and now, and help them out with some new coders they can use, and offering that if they want to buy stuff for the new site, I'll give a discount. He asks momentarily if I will give him a free template, and I politely decline, saying again, discount only, no freebies. He says nah, that's fine, thank you for helping us find someone to change these additional edits the coder didn't finish. (Emphasis on that is mine. Additional. Edits. After the project.)
So, unrelated, I thought, I get an email and Im from a client, letting me know a new site had cropped up that was stealing images of mine. I checked, and yeah, they were stealing four images from different sites that I did. I sent over a polite C&D, asking to please remove the images as they came from this site and this site, and that if they did not reply, I'd just ask their hosting company to remove the images. (This is actually super polite, standard is "pull them or I sue you into the ground")
Imagine my surprise when the website contacts me back, and its the ex-client. Oh.
They're stating that some third party sold them the images, so its not their fault, but oh, while they have me here, they'd like to inform me of something.
Supposedly, the project they paid me for was never completed, and therefore because of that, they suffered "huge losses in business", and therefore are demanding that I either give them a full refund, or give them a free premade template. Oh, and I have to decide which way by the end of today. They emailed me this at 5 am my time. So that's....12 hours notice? If that? Otherwise, they'll "see me in court".
I'm smelling a pile of poop here, and I'm honestly really ticked about it. I've been nothing but helpful and friendly to them, and they turn around and do this?
I replied rather nicely, saying I was confused by all of this, after their earlier claims that everything was sorted. And I also showed how the offers page they claimed was not done, WAS completed, and that since the additional edit of the item was the only thing missing...I did not see how this was my fault. I also asked why if this was such a huge issue, it took them a YEAR to say something to me.
Even better, they're refusing to pull the stolen images. They're claiming that they're "investigating the alleged theft", even though I linked them directly to the site they're being stolen from.
I'm fairly sure my butt is covered for this. I think. I have lots of emails and IM logs of them, yes, kvetching about the coder not replying to some of their emails, but long story short, I figure its like this: It was an additional item they were originally informed we weren't sure we could do, and the coder couldn't. They asked me a year later to point them at someone who could do it, and I did. Thirdly. THEY WAITED A YEAR. We've chatted many, many times in between then, so if this was such a big issue, why not say something BEFORE.
I guess, though....I don't know if I should be like, here, take this $80 item, and gtfo. Rather than go through this.
Ok, so a year ago, right about when Ex-Coder started to decline...we had this one project, where they asked for an extra item, if it was possible to pull off. Coder said he thought he could, but wasn't sure.
We completed the project, and then looked into the extra little item...and coder spent hours trying to do it. No dice. Well, client wasn't happy, and kept claiming it was easy to do, but coder said he wasn't versed in this sort of thing, and that if they had someone who could do it, to use them. They supposedly did, so that was that.
Afterwards, they contacted me off and on for a couple of weeks needing other edits done by the coder, and eventually....well, I'm not sure what happened. I put them in touch with him directly and explained that if they needed extra coding stuff, they had to go to *him*.
Seemed to be fine and dandy, heck, we talked a lot afterwards, chatted about games and such, and the client even dropped me a surprise present of PSN network cards as a thank you for always being so helpful.
So this week was a total shock, then.
Few days ago, he shows up, frustrated about their new site they're launching, and asks me about Ex-Coder. I explain what's transpired since then and now, and help them out with some new coders they can use, and offering that if they want to buy stuff for the new site, I'll give a discount. He asks momentarily if I will give him a free template, and I politely decline, saying again, discount only, no freebies. He says nah, that's fine, thank you for helping us find someone to change these additional edits the coder didn't finish. (Emphasis on that is mine. Additional. Edits. After the project.)
So, unrelated, I thought, I get an email and Im from a client, letting me know a new site had cropped up that was stealing images of mine. I checked, and yeah, they were stealing four images from different sites that I did. I sent over a polite C&D, asking to please remove the images as they came from this site and this site, and that if they did not reply, I'd just ask their hosting company to remove the images. (This is actually super polite, standard is "pull them or I sue you into the ground")
Imagine my surprise when the website contacts me back, and its the ex-client. Oh.
They're stating that some third party sold them the images, so its not their fault, but oh, while they have me here, they'd like to inform me of something.
Supposedly, the project they paid me for was never completed, and therefore because of that, they suffered "huge losses in business", and therefore are demanding that I either give them a full refund, or give them a free premade template. Oh, and I have to decide which way by the end of today. They emailed me this at 5 am my time. So that's....12 hours notice? If that? Otherwise, they'll "see me in court".
I'm smelling a pile of poop here, and I'm honestly really ticked about it. I've been nothing but helpful and friendly to them, and they turn around and do this?
I replied rather nicely, saying I was confused by all of this, after their earlier claims that everything was sorted. And I also showed how the offers page they claimed was not done, WAS completed, and that since the additional edit of the item was the only thing missing...I did not see how this was my fault. I also asked why if this was such a huge issue, it took them a YEAR to say something to me.
Even better, they're refusing to pull the stolen images. They're claiming that they're "investigating the alleged theft", even though I linked them directly to the site they're being stolen from.
I'm fairly sure my butt is covered for this. I think. I have lots of emails and IM logs of them, yes, kvetching about the coder not replying to some of their emails, but long story short, I figure its like this: It was an additional item they were originally informed we weren't sure we could do, and the coder couldn't. They asked me a year later to point them at someone who could do it, and I did. Thirdly. THEY WAITED A YEAR. We've chatted many, many times in between then, so if this was such a big issue, why not say something BEFORE.
I guess, though....I don't know if I should be like, here, take this $80 item, and gtfo. Rather than go through this.
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