Unfiltered Story #328068

Client I did a 30-page site for, $500. As a charitable thing. Told her she MIGHT want to pay for the premium version of a plugin I use, for 5 spam emails they got in 8 months.

Client: I didn’t have to do all that with the old one. Never had that kind of emails. I don’t want this site costing me hundred of dollars [sic] for few that look at it.

Me: Do you want me to send you $500 back asap and call it good? I was trying to help. And I see now that I shouldn’t have.

Client: No no. I don’t want the money back. I just am trying to wrap my head around all the new things I have to sign up for. Pay for. Just to have website. Granted. My was outdated. But people still found it. I am grateful for your job and help.

Me: You do NOT “have” to pay for the premium thing I mentioned above. The free version will work ok. I am happy to refund all $500 anytime. Just let me know and I will do it immediately.

Client: (silence for an hour)

Me: If I give you back the $500 you will have spent $112 for a year on the biggest hosting plan and NO extra fee for registration privacy OR for https. And $15 a yr for the domain name which is standard everywhere. Total of $112 + $15 = $127 a year — not hundreds. Other hosts charge for both of those things I just mentioned (“SSL certificate” and “WHOIS privacy”) and a lot more for a much smaller hosting plan with hardly any bandwidth. Up to you. I can refund you *immediately* via Zelle. And then you only pay $127 a year for the site. How’s that?

Client: (silence for another hour)

Me: I can refund you the $500 very quickly via Zelle. (But, you may have to sign up for “Zelle” to accept the $500, which might be a hassle you don’t need). So, I can also *mail* you a $500 personal check which I would send out first thing tomorrow morning. Let me know which you prefer asap. Thank you.

Client: (silence ongoing to this day)