Navigating challenges in web consultation from a first-person perspective…this is a hard one to write. We got bit. Bit hard at our other project – Mañana No Mas! – a web consultation provider. This article points out not only how we got bit but also asks… what now?

Navigating Challenges – Backstory

In April of 2023, we were referred by a Marketing Association we interact with to meet with a new client. The client exhibited some oddities and was very complimentary of both myself and the work done at my agency – Mañana No Mas! Of note, the client was also Ukranian. It is because of this that I allowed myself to mask the oddities in her communication. After all, English was not her first language.

The discovery call included both the client and the referring vendor from the Marketing Association. After the meeting, I drafted a proposal and sent it to the vendor, thinking we were setting up a sub-contract. A couple of days later the client reached out directly asking about a proposal. I double-checked with the vendor and she said to go direct. I thought this was odd because we had not discussed any finder’s fee, referral reward, or the like. I questioned this and asked if I needed to raise my rate to compensate her, and she said no. So I forwarded the proposal.

Web Consulting Leads to Many Calls

This led to a second three-way Zoom, where the client was asking for clarification on how much “Business Support” I was offering. I clarified that this was a web-building proposal and not a training or coaching offer. She then negotiated her proposal from over $7,000.00 to just $3,500.00 – saying that she had everything web-ready for a new site and it just needed to be embedded and published. The only “new” offer on her site would be online classes. I bid the time to migrate and build her 14 classes, but again she said “There is only one course”. I stuck the $3500.00 and sent the invoice.

Navigating Challenges and Red Flags

Immediately after getting the payment and getting started, more yellow flags popped up. The client was unable to follow directions and access our client portal. The credentials they forwarded for their GoDaddy account were incorrect. They did not have access to their videos, images, or text in a web-ready format (if at all). I was getting asked, “Can’t you just copy it from the other site?”, then if I did it “Can this be bigger?” or “You need to crop the bottom but keep the words.”.Add to this, a constant request to get on Zoom and clarify, show, or explain something so she could “See It”.

A few Zoom meetings in, the client asked me if I would “Partner” with her and extend my commitment to her on a commission basis. She then started to ask about marketing, and using a 400,000 person email list she had bought. I advised her about the costs and responsibilities of using a CRM and quoted that to her to include the best practice of scrubbing down the list. She asked if I would throw that in. When I responded negatively to the partner concept, her complimentary nature began to fade.

Web Consulting Requires Funding

The next Zoom call we had gave me a different feeling. It was obvious that she was calling in from a Motel. An unkept room in the background as she started to ask when the site would be done and how quickly it would generate revenue. I explained that it would only take a couple of days to launch once she submitted the required content to launch, but that launching the site could in no way forecast her revenue – especially without investing in a way to promote it. Again she asked for partnership.

The project was planned for six weeks, but 10 weeks in, she was still forwarding content for the course she said she had written prior to negotiation… but was in fact, hired out on Fivvr and submitted to me in June. Of course, it was not formatted for the web, edited, or even spell-checked. In good conscience, I did the work and had it up within days.

Navigating Challenges of Buyers Remorse

About the second week of July, her project had extended past its schedule and I had other clients on the schedule, so when she asked for something… I told her I would have to work it in. At the end of that week, she sent a cancellation email and asked for her money back. What?!?!

The site is all done except for HER stuff. She needed a Stripe API to hook up the e-commerce and she was supposed to get me a video for the homepage. Other than that – it’s done and she wants a refund on the labor that she’s already used up well beyond what is paid for.

I denied her

Then she said, “Maybe we can make this work”. I gave her a list of what she needed to supply, and I gave her the opportunity to furnish a list of changes for ONE and only ONE run through the site to change the content she thought needed to be changed. At this point navigating challenges was simply mitigating loss.

She submitted 5 pages of changes, never the Stripe API, and I executed begrudgingly on every line. When I followed up with her, she said she had filed a dispute with her bank to get a refund. I sent a “We-Transfer” for the site files and told her I would dispute the dispute.

I proactively contacted Stripe via support which did nothing. Weeks later, just a couple of weeks prior to our move to Kansas… Stripe took back the $3500.00 which negatively affected my Wells Fargo account. Coincidentally — the same bank as the client.

I meticulously followed Stripe’s advice for responding to a dispute. I added my description of the transaction and attached the “Evidence”.:

• Signed Proposal
• Copy of WeTransfer receipt showing she downloaded files
• An email log demonstrating her lack of preparedness
• Screenshots of site

When you do this, you get a confirmation message saying it will be 60-90 days for an answer. Meanwhile, the money is gone. Well, the decision came in during our move. Wells Fargo stated that I as the vendor failed to demonstrate taking care of the client. I am flabbergasted, hurt, and kind of ticked off.

I have been with Wells Fargo since 1993 and I should also be treated as a client in this matter.

Injured Bank Customer

How else is a service provider supposed to prove services in an online debate? The customer signed for it, paid for it, and received it. It is a service. It is labor. It is not like returning a pair of shoes you don’t like.

In this case, I knew in my gut this person was “touched” but I ignored my gut over it being a referral. After the payment and during the first couple of Zoom calls – I could have offered a refund and amicably parted ways, but again the referral and the idea that I wasn’t serving the community well. Sometimes navigating challenges is bypassing them altogether and cutting them loose.

By the time the partnership offer was asked and the Motel was on screen, it was too late. 80% of the work was done and it was a race against client unpreparedness to get through it.

In the end, the client overspent outside the project and didn’t plan life well. She wanted to use Mañana No Mas! as a savings account instead of a vendor and Wells Fargo let them do it.

But… What Now?

This is the question, isn’t it? As a business owner, how can you put in the extra and work for people, but not trust them? It takes mental strength for sure. There are ways to avoid these issues. I could say “Cash Only”, “Wire Transfer”, or continue on the same journey.

This was my first dispute since founding in 2008, and now because of the dispute… Stripe is asking for all kinds of additional information on my account and linking me to “Why we review accounts” links. As a small business, one thief can change your day, your week, your quarter, or even your year. So what now?

Do you change course because of one thief? Two thieves? When and how do you change?