Ask FreelanceSwitch: Firing Clients and Providing Hosting

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In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at firing clients and providing hosting. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

Question 1

How do you deal with clients who refuse to accept that you’ve decided to end the relationship? We have a client that we formally terminated contracts with for a number of reasons, but this client refuses to accept that we are no longer interested. He has been very passive-aggressive, making very subtle, veiled threats, and then saying he needs us because we do such wonderful work.

We initially responded to his e-mails politely and firmly, but ignored his last two e-mails. We’re wondering if we should respond at all anymore. It’s a bit challenging, because this client and our company are in the same community, so we have the same circles of contacts and friends. We will certainly run into this client time after time and certainly don’t want to burn bridges.

We are concerned, however, about this client’s persistence and instability. How do we get it through his head that we will never work with him again even if he were the last person on the planet, without involving legal resources or having him wreak havoc?

Unfortunately, you’re already doing pretty much everything you can in this situation. Because you’ve already addressed his emails and formally terminated your contract, it’s acceptable to simply stop replying to his emails. You may also want to prepare a standard response, in case one of your shared contacts asks you about the situation, something along the lines of ‘it just didn’t work out.’ You may also need to prepare yourself for the fact that you’ll probably encounter this person at events in the future.

While it’s not common, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that an ex-client can essentially harass you. What’s worse is that if you are feeling uncomfortable or threatened by this ex-client, the only further action you can take is if he actually escalates the situation (such as through harassing phone calls). At such a point, you can have a lawyer draw up a letter, asking the individual involved to cease communicating with you or otherwise take legal action, depending on what is appropriate to the situation.

In most cases where an ex-client is having a hard time taking no for an answer, though, we are limited to repeating that word over again, and doing what we can to keep the situation polite.

Question 2

If the client needs web hosting and wants me to set it up, do I find a good web host for them since I don’t have my own hosting packages?

If your clients are asking you to handle web hosting, but you don’t normally provide that as a part of your services, you have a couple of options that depend on how closely you want to be tied to a given client in the future.

The easiest solution is simply to choose a good web host and recommend that host to your clients. You may need to give them some instructions for setting up their account so that you can do your work, but you can refuse to do anything further. You may find that some clients want an all-in-one solution: they want a finished product that they don’t have to worry about paying both a freelancer and a web host for. Such clients have a preference for having you handle setting up hosting and then passing the costs along to them in your own invoice.

In my own experience, I find that approach is less ideal. It sets you up to need to stay in touch long after the actual project is done, so that you can get another check each time a hosting bill comes due. The same is probably true of domain registration, as well.

One alternative that can be made very effective is to team up with a hosting provider — possibly a smaller company that is happy to work with you to find the best solution for each of your clients. There are pros and cons to working with a smaller host, of course, but it can be worth considering.