Should I fire my client or give them another chance?

I have a new client that I turned away for a small job originally, as I got the feeling he would be cheap and suck all kinds of time out of me. He called some other places and then begged me to work with him, so I gave him a quote thinking he would be too cheap to go for it, but surpirsingly he accepted.

Well now we are going on hours and hours just into the design and planning phase and I have already put more time into this doing samples / revisions and consulting with him because he has no design sense whatsoever and keeps sending me back ideas that are 1990's looking template sites with silly sound effects and horrible layouts. I've clearly explained why I've designed things in a certain way, why certain things are good and bad and that he should focus on sales and not what he thinks are cool effects on the site. I have also received barely any content with no organization to it and absolutely no direction as to what goes where. The only feedback I can extract is "i want it to look professional" and "it could be a lot cooler". Oh, and the definition of 'professional' to him is super cheesy stock photos like some girl in a call center smiling - even though we don't have a call center (or an office)

I really don't want to seem like a jerk or come off as a stuck up designer, but at this point I would just like to cut my losses as this is sucking up all my time and I don't want to spend 3 months of time in order to make a weeks pay. I am even willing to refund this guys full deposit and just let him know things aren't working out and he will have to find a new design company to work with. Do you think it's wrong to fire your client midway through a project or do you think some have just worn out their welcome?

 

Well it's not really "firing" if he hired you, no? My opinion is to have one last chat with him to see if you can have a better understanding of what he is looking for. Perhaps ask for examples or provide him with a few to get the brain flowing. Another thing you must understand is the client is 8/10 times right, now this has its limits of course but at the end of the day you'll be doing exactly what he wants anyways so why bother arguing and simply deliver him the product as he sees fit.

It's all on you to send him a full refund but I won't send him a full one if I spent countless hours or even days on a project with no guidelines. But then again we work different and have different guidelines to things.

If you are willing to cut your loses and take it as a learning experience which is always worth every single penny; simply pay him back and give him an explanation on why you are turning down your services to him.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

 

Or make him the lame design that he whant

The client is our boss if he whant's it in a way do it if he is not enough open minded ...

 

Cut your loses while you still can. There are plenty of capable designers out there to work with, you just got unlucky.

 

Give him whatever he wants. Don't act like a teacher.

 

i have worked with designers who were smart aleks in the past and tried to come up with their own ideas completely overlooking at what i actualy wanted. as a designer,it is your job to come up with a design that your client wants. regardless of whether it is from 1900 or or how un-cool that is. your client knows about his/her market better than you and knows exactly what he needs even though you might think he doesnt have any sense of designing. it would be lot easier on you if you just focus on cleint requiments and give him what he wants. thats the way it works cause your client is the one who is paying for it

 

@ sultanofseo, I would agree with your points in some cases, but I had taken specific instructions regarding what the client wanted to accomplish in the way of business goals and designed accordingly. I had also suggesting some other ways to drum up business with SEO and specific promotions which they agreed were great and actually led me to believe they didn't really have a good grasp on their own business and its selling points. Unfortunately in this case where the original goal was to rank well and generate leeds through the website, the client has started to focus completely on trying to design the page themselves and included graphics that have nothing to do with their business and products / logos of things they do not even carry, simply because it 'looks neat'. So I feel as if I AM in fact focusing on the clients requirements and they are the ones constantly getting off track.

And for the comment "dont act like a teacher", I think it's essential to educate your clients as to why you are designing things a certain way. The designer is the expert and the client is paying you for expertise and advice. Of course there are cases where you should make your suggestions and then just do as the client wishes if they decide to ignore your advice, but unfortunately in my case we seem to be just going in circles. I will do what they ask and then a completely new idea comes up.

I did reluctantly give them another chance and spent almost an hour on the phone going over very specifically what needed to be done to get things back on track and move to the next stages, but everything went in one ear and out the other and almost a week later we are back to square one on the design stage. Thanks everyone for their input, but I cannot in good conscience continue the project and take someones money for a product I feel will actually hurt their business.

 

Your client is hesitant about what he wants. You can't give him anything since there is nothing to give actually. It's best to leave him alone till he comes to you with some final decisions.
Usually experts make clients hesitant with tons of advises and information about which the clients haven't heard before. Nothing is perfect in the life and nobody is the best expert in a particular business. I think you are trying to be perfect and expect the same from the businesses of your clients. But it's not a correct attitude in the life. We can expect the perfect only in our dreams.

 

Maybe I can break this down in simpler terms for you.

A client asks you for a fast car from the 1970's with a bright colour that will get looks from people.
You come back a week later with a Red 1974 Firebird with the wicked decal on the front.
Client says it could look a lot cooler and sends you a photo of a Blue 1988 Ford Taurus
You scratch your head and ask him for more details, and he replies "just something cooler"
You return with a 90's Corvette in Black and the client tells you that's still not what they're looking for.
You ask the client to send you a delears address where you can view some samples of cars they DO like.
Client sends you an address, and you drive out only to end up in the middle of a scrapyard.

See where I'm going with this?

 

Yeah I think I got it. Probably he knows what he wants but just can't express. He needs to see first before saying okay. You can't know what will be the next request unless you have the same eyes with your client to see the same blurred imagination. That image came from his past life. May be it is better to hire a psychologist in you company if you have too many clients like him.

 

Well I actually just looked over his revisions and recommendations again. I searched around and just realized he has basically gone to about 3 of his competitors sites and just ripped off all their graphics and then pasted them into a document and moved things around. I AM going to need a pyschologist. Good Grief.

 

YES, finally you could see the same imagination. Congratulations!