As most freelancers, I got into it because I could choose my own hours while picking and choosing the work I decide to take on. That part is great but sometimes you deal with people of different backgrounds, different areas and different definitions of what freelancing is. I’ve been freelancing close to month now and in that time have taken projects from Malaysia, Australia, the US and New Zealand. I hadn’t had any issues as far as project scope, payments or communication, nothing at all. The other day I took a job from a guy in Las Vegas for some PHP fixes on his website. We talked for a good 30 minutes to ensure everything was understood and it was my responsibility to resolve his PHP issues which in reality turned out he had changed hosts and didn’t re-upload everything correctly. After I accepted the project he refused to fund the escrow account but I had begun fixing some of his errors. He got very rude and thought I was just messing his site up more because he then began getting MySQL errors. After trying again and again to tell him that my bid wasn’t for setting up a MySQL database he began calling me a crook and even filed a dispute with the service we used. He just kept trying to squeeze whatever he could out of the fee I had bid for the PHP issues. We eventually got it resolved amongst ourselves and didn’t have to use the service or an arbitrator to resolve it for us.
The lesson I learned from this is always, ALWAYS have your payment agreements lined out. The service I use allows buyers to add their escrow funds immediately after the freelancer accepts the project but this was definitely a wake up call and depending on the amount a project is, escrow will be funded and released at certain milestones in the project after the client approves it. The second lesson is to not let anyone take advantage of you. I fixed his PHP issues and uploaded his new website but you have to have a point where you say no to a client. The client I worked with expected me to do the PHP code fixes, upload his site, setup new MySQL databases and setup a payment gateway so he could accept Credit Cards on his site. Sometimes even if a client is threatening with negative feedback or filing a dispute be sure you have everything in writing and agreed upon before starting. Otherwise as in my case you’ll be taken for a ride and the frustration of working with someone like that won’t be worth it.
