How to Deal with Bad Clients

Part 3 in series “Ask a Web Developer”.

This question comes from Nykc on DreamInCode: “How do you deal with bad clients?”

What is a bad client?

Let’s be honest – not all clients are ideal. Although the vast majority of my clients are wonderful (and I would do anything for them),  others are rude, inflexible, have unrealistic expectations and don’t pay on time.

Depending on the client and the situation, my advice might vary. Here’s a general list of solutions I use for bad clients:

Rude Clients

Rude clients are (in my opinion) the worst kind. I generally cut ties with these people early on in the relationship because I won’t be disrespected.

I once had a guy pressure me to do something quickly by saying “If you can’t get this done today I’ll find someone else.”

You know what I told him? Hire someone else.

Inflexible Clients

I’ve dealt with some clients who aren’t very flexible when it comes to taking professional advice, and it’s frustrating to know that they don’t value your opinion despite the fact that they’re paying you.

For example, I built a website a few months ago for a guy who wanted me to use some of the ugliest colors I’ve ever seen. I tried to reason with him but he wouldn’t budge – he liked his colors.

What did I do? I build his website, and I got paid. But I definitely didn’t put my name anywhere on the site, and it’s not listed in my portfolio. The client is happy with the final product – which is sometimes the only thing that matters.

Unrealistic Clients

There are many people in this world who are oblivious to the realities of everyday life: they want things done yesterday, they always think things are “easy”, and they expect quality work for cheap prices.

Dealing with unrealistic clients can be very tricky. On the one hand, you want to make them happy. On the other, you want to stand up for yourself and your work. As hard as it may be, you need to start saying “No” to these clients when they ask for something unreasonable.

A long time ago, I had a client who seemed shocked when I gave him a quote for his website. He tried to counter my price with something lower (a price he saw on Craigslist) but I told him no and explained why my price was more expensive. He backed down and agreed to my price.

Clients Who Don’t Pay on Time

These clients are sneaky and you often don’t know they’re a bad client until your invoice goes unpaid for weeks at a time. I’ve been burned by this problem once and I’m hell bent on making sure it never happens again.

Generally speaking, I’ll ask for a 50% down payment on any project over $500, and the remaining 50% is due before I deliver the final code.

But for clients who are late with a payment, I follow these two steps:

1. If a payment is more than a week past due, I respectfully ask to be paid ASAP. Most times, the client just forgot and sends payment immediately.
2. For clients who said they’d pay me in step one (but never did), I “respectfully” threaten to take my work off their server.

Step 2 is the beautiful part of being a web developer – I’ve been given access to their servers, and I have the ability to remove my work if I’m not paid. I actually had to do that once… and the client paid me the very next day.

Ask a Web Developer!

Have a question you want answered? Contact me through my website or send me a message on Twitter (@arthurakay). Then stay tuned to my YouTube channel for the answers!