Thought my $50 retainer was a one-time deal, not a monthly fee

Back in March, I took on a small branding project for a local shop in Omaha. The client asked for a retainer to lock in rates, so I agreed to $50 a month for ongoing tweaks. Fast forward to last week, I realized they thought it was a one-time payment to start work. I ended up doing 6 months of minor edits for free before I caught on. Has anyone else had a client completely misinterpret a retainer agreement?

3 comments

3 Comments

scott.alex3d ago

Brought this up with my buddy who does freelance web stuff, and he had a similar mess with a client last year. He wrote up a retainer for $75 a month for hosting updates and security patches, but the client read it as a one-time setup fee and never paid again. By the time he noticed, like four months had gone by and he'd already pushed a dozen updates for them. He said it was super awkward when he finally emailed them about it, and they got all defensive like it was his fault for not explaining better. Now he puts "MONTHLY PAYMENT DUE ON THE 1ST" in bold caps right at the top of every agreement he sends out... learned that lesson the hard way.

the_faith2d ago

Bold caps are ugly but they save your bank account every time.

rowan_ross2d ago

Ngl, bold caps can feel a little aggressive to clients though.