I met this guy through a mutual love of cars, and we hit it off immediately. He wanted help digitizing his business and invited me to create a website for him. After a couple of small jobs where he paid me, I delivered a fully functional website using Next.js, which was a significant upgrade from his previous setup in Webflow. I sent him a detailed project proposal with a very reasonable price, but he completely ghosted me after that. I noticed he updated his own site recently, which resembles what I did, but is of lower quality. I feel like I've been taken advantage of, not just because he ghosted me, but also because he still owes me for the last delivery job I did. How should I handle this situation?
5 Answers
Sucks that this happened to you. It can be tough to find reliable clients, but focusing on contracts and upfront payments can save you from getting burned again. Keep your head up and good luck moving forward!
Sounds like you've learned a tough lesson about freelancing. It’s crucial to have contracts and clear payment terms before diving into any work. As for the lost money and time you put into the website, it's a bummer but it might be a good wake-up call for future jobs. Remember this when you work with new clients!
Honestly, it feels like some wealthy people take advantage of freelancers. You did great work but without a contract, it was a risk. The best thing you can do now is to move on, learn from it, and make sure you always have written agreements in the future!
Here’s a path you might consider: 1. Send him a polite reminder about the payment. 2. After a few days of no response, send another message mentioning that if you don't hear back soon, you might have to take legal action to get your money. 3. If there's still no reply, look into small claims court, as that might be your best option for getting compensated for your efforts.
Don't do any more work unless you've got money upfront! It's not worth it to pour your time into a project without a signed contract or payment. It sounds like you did a lot of work on faith, but unfortunately, you got taken advantage of. Make sure to learn from this experience!
Definitely! It's all about protecting yourself in the freelance world. Trust needs to be established with contracts.