Difficult Client

[mfine]

I've got to side with BeSeenLocally. It depends on her personality, though. I would inform her that the price already includes the 25% off, but if she seems to be getting angry over it, I'd give in to make her happy. In the future I'd make sure to give my customer a copy of a price sheet that has the breakdown of the prices and the 25% discount so that she can see what it would have cost before the discount was applied, to avoid any confusion like that in the future. It's been my experience that some of the pushiest customers are also the loudest complainers to others, so standing your ground could hurt you with bad PR, especially since she has already referred you to two other customers.

[Matt Ohne hamen]

Jason,

That's why I STOPPED giving discounts for any work that I do. It's not worth it! I have also been using a website recently as a way to get money that people owe me. The website is called Nastyclient. As a contractor my whole life I really like this site, because customers have things like Angieslist and the B.B.B. Maybe it can help you also.

[vangogh]

I think there are still times you can give a discount and have it work out fine. The key is clearly communicating the price before and after the discount to the client before work begins. There are certainly some clients who are problems, just as there are some service providers who are problems too. I think most on both sides are good honest people and most of the issues between them tend to be miscommunication more than anything else. If you can make things as clear as possible up front it usually ensures the issues don't arise. When they do I find a little compromise goes a long way.