What would you do about this client ?

stephen88

stephen88

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Earlier today, I received an email from a client I was working with from wayyy back in 2019. He's requesting if I can help him, as something to do with his cloudflare has gone wrong. It also looks like one of this business email addresses attached to the account has been deleted or something, as he said in the email earlier today, that he can't access it.

Would you charge him for this ? As I've got a feeling this could turn into a bit of a headache, as he can't even use his business email, so to me, seems like he has been messing about and expects me to clean up his mess.

I remember though, when he got what he wanted. He started to totally ignore my emails. Funny, 3 years later, he needs my help and expects me just to drop everything and be there at his beck and call.

Not sure if I should just ignore his emails, charge him for my time ?

What would you do ?

I'm not trying to be an A-Hole but 3 years is a long time ago and I'm busy with other things now.
 
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I would first reply to the mail, warm him up, and if the issue is simple fix it for free if you think he might have some projects for you. I would pitch my yearly maintenance plan to him to keep him as a retainer for support.
 
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Since you want people's opinion here, it seems you want to reply him but what he did to you that's confusing you. My recommendation is don't react the same, reply him and be what you are professionally.
 
I would charge him the hourly rate for the job, since it is 3 years ago and he ignored you before.
 
No freebies are owed by you at this point. If someone wants to do something for free to help, that's their decision. But personally, I would only limit my free time to like 10-15 minutes of advice. If the problem takes more than that, they would need to pay.
 
If the issue is small ask him to use alternate / diy fix

If he ask you to fix the issue tell your charges and close the deal
 
Deleted member 141666 said:
I would first reply to the mail, warm him up, and if the issue is simple fix it for free if you think he might have some projects for you. I would pitch my yearly maintenance plan to him to keep him as a retainer for support.
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Good idea! Solid advise! Thank you for that.

Prototype127 said:
Since you want people's opinion here, it seems you want to reply him but what he did to you that's confusing you. My recommendation is don't react the same, reply him and be what you are professionally.
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I will be professional. Not going to lie, I was pissed at the time, due to him promising more work, then he ghosted me after he got what was needed.

RoiBox said:
I would charge him the hourly rate for the job, since it is 3 years ago and he ignored you before.
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He deffo needs to pay something! I like Deleted member 141666 idea of pitching him some type of support retainer. As in all honesty, he was a bit of a clown and didn't follow through and ignored messages. Now I'm supposed to drop what I'm doing and be at his call, when he requires. Part of me is very tempted to just completely ignore him!

SocialManager said:
No freebies are owed by you at this point. If someone wants to do something for free to help, that's their decision. But personally, I would only limit my free time to like 10-15 minutes of advice. If the problem takes more than that, they would need to pay.
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My thoughts exactly! The way he's wording it though, is say I changed cloudflare details and can he have access to account to check settings, like it's my issue... I'm sitting reading message thinking "mate, this was 3 years ago" god knows what your details are or whats happened. Not quite sure how to respond though, as I haven't touched anything and in all honesty, busy with a lot of my own things at moment, too give 2 shits about what he needs.
 
rajiced said:
If the issue is small ask him to use alternate / diy fix

If he ask you to fix the issue tell your charges and close the deal
Click to expand...
Probably going to ignore him, he's a big boy now, should be able to figure this out. Not my issue in all honesty. It's over 3 years ago. Sitting there thinking what do you want me to do, get my crystal ball out and see whats happened. He was a bit of a know it all as well. I'm not messing around checking accounts and stuff to see whats going on, I've worked on a ton of things in the past 3 years.

Even if I did want to pitch him for a support package...

What do I say "sorry mate, i don't have a f*cking clue whats happened" lol...but if you want, i can look into it for you. He's then going to think I've done something to get more money. When reality is, I don't know and I don't really care, it's 3 years and I'm not giving myself a headache for nothing, to look for some ignorant a-hole, who couldn't be bothered to reply. Looks like karma came full circle!

I should stay humble but in all honesty, I don't care about his silly little business. The clown can't even use one of his business email addresses, so god knows what he's doing. Probably fiddling around and messed something up, now wants me to clean up his mess.. Thanks! but no thanks!
 
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stephen88 said:
He deffo needs to pay something! I like @Deleted member 141666 idea of pitching him some type of support retainer. As in all honesty, he was a bit of a clown and didn't follow through and ignored messages. Now I'm supposed to drop what I'm doing and be at his call, when he requires. Part of me is very tempted to just completely ignore him!
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Instead of ignoring him, tell him you fix it for $250 it is hopefully only 30 minutes of work to fix it.
 
RoiBox said:
Instead of ignoring him, tell him you fix it for $250 it is hopefully only 30 minutes of work to fix it.
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I'm not going to lie, it did cross my mind..

But how do you reply to this ? The little peanut can't even spell cloudflare. He's sent a message to reply to him at some other address, as he can't use his other business email address. He's a bit of a know it all but can't figure out, simple things..

If I tell him a price, he may think I have done something intentionally do get more money but truth is, I haven't and can't be bothered to get into a debate or making it reflect bad on me. It's 3 years ago, he was a 1 hit wonder type client, that totally disappeared after he got what he needed. At this point, i feel i owe him nothing.


You set up these cloudflair DNS accounts for us some time back

They are not working at present, can you send me the login for the cloudflair account so I can check the settings

Regards
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Charge him.

If he values your work he will pay.
If he doesn't, your fears about him will be confirmed. :)

Also, if he treats you like shit (ghosting, debating your work, etc) charge him much more than you normally do.
At least that is what I did years ago with really difficult clients.
 
mindmaster said:
Charge him.

If he values your work he will pay.
If he doesn't, your fears about him will be confirmed. :)
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How do I respond to these messages though.. In the quote box below, is clients message to me..


You set up these cloudflair DNS accounts for us some time back

They are not working at present, can you send me the login for the cloudflair account so I can check the settings
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I just wanna reply "I have no f*cking idea pal, it's 3 years ago" - I can't even remember what I did 3 months ago! Got more luck trying to find a needle in a haystack! I'm not messing about giving myself a headache, my job was done 3 years ago.

Anyways, what would you say to that ? whilst still sounding professional.




Regards
 
stephen88 said:
But how do you reply to this ? The little peanut can't even spell cloudflare. He's sent a message to reply to him at some other address, as he can't use his other business email address. He's a bit of a know it all but can't figure out, simple things..
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Just reply professionally, that it was 3 years ago and you will be happy to help him out with it. But that you need X amount to help him since it was a long time now and you do not offer free support above 6-12 month. Keep it simple and open.

stephen88 said:
If I tell him a price, he may think I have done something intentionally do get more money but truth is, I haven't and can't be bothered to get into a debate or making it reflect bad on me. It's 3 years ago, he was a 1 hit wonder type client, that totally disappeared after he got what he needed. At this point, i feel i owe him nothing.
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He can think whatever he wants, I bet he is not giving his customers free lifetime support. Just be upfront and honest with him. And charge more then you usually do since he ignored you, a little bit of payback .. =)
 
RoiBox said:
Just reply professionally, tha it was 3 years ago and you will be happy to help him out with it. But that you need X amount to help him since it was a long time now and you do not offer free support above 6-12 month. Keep it simple and open.



He can think whatever he wants, I bet he is not giving his customers free lifetime support. Just be upfront and honest with him. And charge more then you usually do since he ignored you, a little bit of payback .. =)
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Thanks for that mate, that's a good idea! The way he mentions about login details, like I just have them there instantly is bizarre to me! This wasn't a job done last week, last month or last year! It was 3 years ago! Your right, I bet he doesn't give life time support. The way he messages is just so assumptive!
 
Definitely charge him yes, be up front and let him know what it will cost- hourly rate.
If you think he might mess you around, then charge him up front (or at least a percentage up front).
 
what would i do... pitch him. reply with email along the lines of "i am familiar with such issues due to being a webmaster and administrator for so many years....i've resolved similar issues. i cannot guarantee i can solve yours but i can look at it to the best of my ability. my price is $xxx payable to cashapp $blackhatworld". then give it an honest shot. if the email is deleted most likely you'll have to escalate to customer support and explain the issue. i've had it go 50/50 where they restore access in a case like this so long as you can prove you are who you say you are with gov't ID. keep the customer in the loop with what youre doing so they know you've either expunded all possible options or are working your way up the chain to fix it.

under no circumstances take it for free. will just lead to headache and him thinking he can PM you for every thing in the future. if you don't like the guy just go ahead and ignore or say you don't offer support for 3rd party services.
 
davids355 said:
Definitely charge him yes, be up front and let him know what it will cost- hourly rate.
If you think he might mess you around, then charge him up front (or at least a percentage up front).
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I think I want £200 to solve his issues. Just don't like how his tone seems to be assumptive, like I save login details. It's 3 years ago. Don't like his tone as well, when he clicks his fingers, I should jump and say how high. He has sent me 3 or 4 messages today, it's the same person 3 years ago, after he got what he needed, totally ghosted all my messages. 3 years ago when I did job as well, he had to get "clearance of the board" and claimed to "know SEO" - one of those, he's been reading "such and such thread" some dude, you never heard of in your entire life. He can't even spell "cloudflare"

One part of me thinks, money. Another part of me think f*ck him. I will sleep on it, see how I feel in the morning.
 
stephen88 said:
I think I want £200 to solve his issues. Just don't like how his tone seems to be assumptive, like I save login details. It's 3 years ago. Don't like his tone as well, when he snaps his fingers, I should jump. He has sent me 3 or 4 messages today, it's the same person 3 years ago, after he got what he needed, totally ghosted all my messages. 3 years ago when I did job as well, he had to get "clearance of the board" and claimed to "know SEO" - one of those, he's been reading "such and such thread" some dude, you never heard of in your entire life. He can't even spell "cloudflare"

One part of me thinks, money. Another part of me think f*ck him. I will sleep on it, see how I feel in the morning.
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sounds like you dont like this guy. i would bump price up to $500-800. for $200 i cant get someone here to spend 1 hour fixing basic issue on my computer/printer/network.
he must be really desperate to be reaching out to you after 3 years. and youre not too keen on working with him anyway.
think about it. where in the world would a normal person even reach out to get support for such an issue. not many places to go. youre the only guy in town who can help. for all you know he already tried reaching out to people and nobody could help.

i had similar problems for people i actually like working with. they have impossible problems of similar scope. i try my best. i explain exactly what can potentially be done and my progress throughout. sometimes it reaches a positive conclusion, sometimes not. but i let them know at the start that this is not something that is guaranteed to be resolved. i could easily burn 4 hours on this and hit a roadblock and the story ends.
 
stephen88 said:
I think I want £200 to solve his issues. Just don't like how his tone seems to be assumptive, like I save login details. It's 3 years ago. Don't like his tone as well, when he clicks his fingers, I should jump and say how high. He has sent me 3 or 4 messages today, it's the same person 3 years ago, after he got what he needed, totally ghosted all my messages. 3 years ago when I did job as well, he had to get "clearance of the board" and claimed to "know SEO" - one of those, he's been reading "such and such thread" some dude, you never heard of in your entire life. He can't even spell "cloudflare"

One part of me thinks, money. Another part of me think f*ck him. I will sleep on it, see how I feel in the morning.
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If you feel like that, charge a bit extra, then you don’t mind jumping right. £250. If he says no; so be it.
 
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