Mother told her friend she doesnt have to pay me?

[Imacelebritygotit]

I do translating/admin e.g appointments, filling out forms. Work stuff on the side

My mums friend heard i do this and hired me. We agreed on sum etc

I did 3.5 hours work

She then tells me she will give the money when she sees my mum the next day, i agree

My mother then goes "omg guess how much she paid you!!!" "I said no, no, no, no! You are a friend!!!! Absolutely no need to pay that much!!! Wtf!!! 10 pound is fine!!! But she insisted she pays you the agreed amount!!!!! Said treat it as a gift then. But then i insisted and said 10 pound is fine!!!! Trust me!

Explaining to her is useless she just keeps going She is a friend!!! You cant charge her like other people!!!/anyone else!! How can you be so money hungry and greedy!!!

Am i right to be angry about this! I mean this woman is not my friend, i barely know her. And it was like 4 hours work!!!

Edit: oh and now im getting texts from this woman saying she was very happy with such a good price, what a nice person i am and how others she hired "take advantage and over charge". And she wants to hire me again for same price!

But shall I say your post is so confusing, I understood it as she overpaid you and your mother was telling you, you should have charged normal and you were saying not needed. Really some apostrophe needed after finishing sentences to make it more understandable.

Your mum sounds abusive. Tell her it’s her rich friend who is greedy, not you and if she is so generous why doesn’t she clean for free for her friends and all family members.

You understood wrong.

I think you should tell your Mum that you will ask her friend for the full amount, as agreed - or else she can make up the difference. That would be les embarrassing for her.

I'd message Mum back reminding her of her own charges for friends that your Sister mentioned & explain that you're doing a job not running a charity & want paying for the work you do. Message the friend again stating there's been a mistake & your Mum shouldn't have said you'd only accept £10. Attach an invoice with the total amount on & date required for payment. If your Mum expects you to do her friends favours tell her you've agreed she'll go round to a friend of yours to clean her house top to bottom for a Fiver.

Honestly just send through an invoice to the woman with the correct amount.

so tell her to fuck off. OP is more likely to lose work if other local translators, who would usually be a good source of referrals, find out she has a rep for undercutting the market.

The fact you misunderstood is on you not the op.

I'm not saying that OP would or should be foolish enough to do further work for her for next to nothing; just that the fact that she was given a ludicrously low 'revised' price before by OP's mum could have negative repercussions.

If I were OP, I would definitely counter anybody who brought it up with me, and tell them what really happened - with the £10 price never actually being an agreed or acceptable price; but it's just if people 'whisper' and spread rumours amongst the translator community without actually raising it with her directly.

This isn't a difficult situation. Work for this lady again. She appears to appreciate you which is wonderful, but payment needs to be to you, not your mum. It's not your mum''s business.

Has she replied yet???

Text her and tell her your mum was talking rubbish and the actual amount was what was initially agreed!

Nope

What did you actually say to her?

What a pair of jerks. This lady is so greedy, and your mom had no business looking in the envelope.

Crumbs, she and your mum are peas in a pod!

I think that says it all your customer has no respect for what you did for her. Op your mum is a busybody tell her that her friend is a bitch. And you won’t be doing anything for anyone ever again.

Thats a bit dramatic

Why is it? her mum interfered so op has every right to say she won’t do anything for anyone connected to her mum. Why would a mum who knows her dd is struggling financially stops her earning extra cash. It’s cruel.

Well you just called the lady a bitch and what you actually said was she wouldn’t do ‘anything for anyone ever again’, you didn’t say connected to the mum. Which is all a bit dramatic.

Ok if you say so. Of course I meant to do with her mum why would she not do work for anyone again.

Glad you agree!

In which case I would politely message again.

"hello, not sure if you saw my previous message. Please could you pay the remaining balance of £XX as soon as possible? My bank details are XXXXXXX, or cash is also fine. Please make sure the balance is paid by 28th April 2026. Thank you"

@Imacelebritygotit you need to send her a formal invoice.
Agreed price £x
Paid £10
Outstanding £x-10
Please pay within 7 days (or insert date here) to avoid court action.

Tbh your mother's intervention is irrelevant. You had an agreement with this lady, and she owes you money. Deal with it like you would any other business interaction.

Tbh I don’t think you should threaten court action to a pensioner who your mum told not to pay. Tbh you’re not going to take her to court for 60£ or whatever so that is a bit ott. Reading some of these comments I genuinely think I exist in a parallel universe to people calling someone’s mother a CF for this. We don’t know what the mother does to help the OP child care help etc. this is not a hill I would die on.