Client moved a 3 week deadline to 5 days and I'm the one getting blamed for saying no | Deadline Panic Room - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Client moved a 3 week deadline to 5 days and I'm the one getting blamed for saying no
Got an email last Tuesday at 4pm from a client in Denver who wants my whole batch of work moved up 2 weeks because their launch got bumped. I said I could hit it if they cut the scope down, and they came back with a list of things they refuse to drop. So I gave them two options: full scope on the original date, or trimmed scope on the new date, and they picked the new date then complained about the trim. Everyone here says just eat the hours and grind it out, but I think that's how you train clients to keep doing this. Where do you all draw the line when they want the same work in less time?
Ran into this last year with a client who wanted a 6 week job in 2. I stuck to my two-option offer and they grumbled but took the trimmed version. They came back a few months later with a normal timeline and paid full rate, so holding the line worked out.