Told potential client to sod off, pretty much.

[SolidGoldBrass]

OK, I was a little bit more diplomatic than that but.... Client is an acquaintance of a friend. He wanted his book 'proofread'. His first email to me was a bit of a whine about how he wanted to keep the costs down, so I sent him one stating my rates and a guide price for a book of 75000 words. The book turned out to be a lot shorter but absolute crap, and he didn't want proofreading so much as a proper copy edit. So I quoted him a price. He replied offering half the money, the promise of future work and 'a link to you on our new website.' Which is just as crap as the book.

I suggested that if he was on that tight a budget he should perhaps make do with Word's own spellcheck program and a friend having a final look at the document.

THe funny thing is, his masterpiece seems to be one of these 'How to make a million pounds working from home' crapsacks. WABU not to have told him that I refuse to work on a book which appears to encourage people to rip off the self-employed?

I would make sure you get paid in advanced. I can see him delaying etc

Yep, get him to pay up first. He's going to bun you [:(]

I still wouldn't touch it Solid. Not a helpful comment from me, but you will end up doing so much more work on the edits than any price could possibly reflect, and he'll be difficult and argue with you all the way.
Not worth it imo and ime.

Ha ha, loved reading your posts! You should write yourself, or maybe you do? I would try not to upset him if you think it might affect your relationship with your friend. That said, it sound like a bit of a waste of time. Maybe mention Word again and offer to skim through it afterwards?

How long does it take to read 75k words, by the way?

ye, payment in advance.

scam artist

We have a Dutch friend who, when clients try this sort of stuff on, literally tells them to fuck off. Breathtaking but he doesn't get messed around! He's lovely btw, just don't try to take the piss.

I guess you could have a compromise, solidgold, if you feel inclined to do the work, why not ask for a deposit or else do the work, then tell him you wont release until payment is cleared. He sounds pretty cheapskate, scumbag not to value your service and screwing you down on price to peanuts.

You've done the right thing. I have finally grown cojones today with one of my clients. They want the equivalent of full-time response speeds to their emails for minimum wage rates. They can bog off.

I gave up a fledgling home business because I was constantly expected to 'do a deal' for bloody acquaintances of friends.

These people expected (and bloody got) a top quality product but wanted to pay bargain basement prices because I worked from home so it wasn't like a 'real' business. It was bloody exhausting trying to convince them I wasn't somehow conning them because I wanted a fair price.

Of course, silly me, I didn't have a 'real' office or a shop so I was just playing at it. Fuckers.

And breathe……..