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Horror Freelance Stories

polycounter lvl 10
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Pencilninja polycounter lvl 10
Let me hear them. I'm working with a very picky client, and I need to know someone out there has had it worse then me! :poly127:

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  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Not getting paid is something that kinda sucks... so that's my story :P
  • palm
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    palm polycounter lvl 18
    Its not a good idea to discredit your own clients online. Down a few beers with some friends instead. :P
  • ebagg
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    ebagg polycounter lvl 17
    I think just about everyone who has worked with clients has had at least one;
    -that has unreasonable deadlines because they have no idea how long it takes to make something
    -who take the first draft they OK, and then want you to completely redo the whole thing for free because they decide mid project they don't like their first idea
    -who somehow screw you on the paycheck, whether it be late, less than originally agreed upon, or not at all
  • TheWinterLord
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    TheWinterLord polycounter lvl 17
    Ok here is a collection of stories, very funny read!
    sry for the link to another forum in advance
    http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=43177
    sry

    :P
  • Gav
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    Gav quad damage
    That's part of freelancing, man. It's not always making hero characters and singing into toothbrushes. I've had really good luck with my clients, some have been more picky than others...some have been more indecisive than others. By being a freelance artist your giving yourself a bit of a management role as well, any management person in a studio can tell you worse horror stories from dealing with publishers and QA...and outsourced talent :)
  • Fanimator
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    Fanimator polycounter lvl 10
    How about flying to the other side of the world for a job on your own credit, then getting stiffed?
  • monkeyboy_garth
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    monkeyboy_garth polycounter lvl 9
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    Curious, if your unwilling to list bad contractors because of fears of reprisal. Is that because you are planning on doing business with them again? Or that you think the word would get out your a "nark". If a company treated you fair, why would they care if you had an expose about the competition.

    Or is it all under NDA until the grave? Even saying you worked with X and it was positive or negative? *

    If so, how do you warn your fellows against certain companies or people? Is there a anonymous site where you go alah Craigslist to let out your frustration? Or is it hush hush and you would have to kill me after telling me. :)

    I mean I have heard of blacklisting going on against potential employees. So why is there no resource for the opposite?

    *Wouldn't it be funny talking to your layer to together insert a small stipulation into your contracts saying you can nark the company to the world if they stiff you?
  • Pencilninja
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    Pencilninja polycounter lvl 10
    Ok here is a collection of stories, very funny read!
    sry for the link to another forum in advance
    http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=43177
    sry

    :P

    thats what I needed! thanks.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    oXYnary wrote: »
    If so, how do you warn your fellows against certain companies or people? Is there a anonymous site where you go alah Craigslist to let out your frustration? Or is it hush hush and you would have to kill me after telling me. :)

    I mean I have heard of blacklisting going on against potential employees. So why is there no resource for the opposite?

    since when has blacklisting been public? there's loads of it going on on both sides of a work contract but you'd normally keep that stuff within your circles.

    as a freelancer, assuming you're not naive and have a contract that specifies things (duties, rework, etc), what can possibly happen in our line of work other than you're not getting paid?
    i think there's way more 'potential' for abuse when one's an employee.
  • jrs100000
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    jrs100000 polycounter lvl 8
    oXYnary wrote: »
    Curious, if your unwilling to list bad contractors because of fears of reprisal.

    Same reason you dont walk into a regular job interview and tell them how terrible your last boss was.
  • BlvdNights
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    BlvdNights polycounter lvl 8
    Bumping this thread. Very long story short: Like Jason said, not getting paid the full amount sucks.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Half up front fellas! Settle for nothing less.
  • slipsius
  • Tekoppar
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    Tekoppar polycounter lvl 10
    Come an, people can't really be that stupid. Can they?
  • glottis8
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    glottis8 polycounter lvl 9
    Tekoppar wrote: »
    Come an, people can't really be that stupid. Can they?

    I'm pretty sure they can be :)
  • ScudzAlmighty
    ME: You hired me to design them, you signed a contract, agreed to the spec, and signed off on completion when I handed over the designs.

    CLIENT: Yes I signed a contract, but I thought the designs were just to keep me motivated.

    ME: Motivated to do what?

    CLIENT: Think about paying you, I guess.

    that's the best right there :)
  • Hang10
    slipsius wrote: »
    I`ll just leave this here.

    http://clientsfromhell.net/

    Wow, I can't believe some people can be so astronomically thick headed...
  • AlecMoody
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    AlecMoody ngon master
    Feedback is part of freelance and every artist needs to be able to draw a line between providing high quality service and being taken advantage of. The most important thing you can do is start billing by the amount of time and not by the asset. Also, it helps to have something about timely feedback and no design changes in your contract.

    Even if you are paid hourly, it is possible to have a client that repeatedly gives small design change feedback and then takes days to respond. At that point you are only billing one full day a week and you should either bring it up with them or drop the client.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    So ur with ur client and yur talkin budgets out wen the phone rigns. U anser it n the vioce is “wut r u doing wit my child?” U tell ur client n dey say “my dad is ded”.

    THEN WHO WAS PHONE?
  • McGreed
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    McGreed polycounter lvl 15
    arghh, I hate this kind of links, they ruin my evening...when time passes by and I suddenly have to go to bed. :P Man, the horrors, remember some of them when I was working as web designer...gah...
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Being told I could get payed now through sex or later once our project becomes famous.

    My bum hole cannot thank me enough.
  • willy-wilson
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    Let me hear them. I'm working with a very picky client, and I need to know someone out there has had it worse then me! :poly127:

    Had a client once who didn't want to pay and delayed payment with all kinds of fishy reasons. Fortunately I had everything documented. A lawyer got the court to threaten to seize some of his assets if he doesn't pay within a certain time, so he coughed up the money pretty quickly. (pretty much a routine process that springs into action if someone breaks a contract and doesn't pay).

    Turned out later that other freelancers had similar issues with the guy. Unfortunately they didn't have everything in writing so they didn't see any money.
  • DrunkShaman
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    Ace-Angel wrote: »
    Being told I could get payed now through sex or later once our project becomes famous.

    My bum hole cannot thank me enough.

    You did web design work for John Travolta?
  • willy-wilson
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    willy-wilson polycounter lvl 8
    Nitewalkr wrote: »
    Well put!!

    yes very much so, anyone who has not seen this and works freelance should. Its about contracts lawyers ect. and best of all its called Fuck you Pay me.
  • DrunkShaman
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    DrunkShaman polycounter lvl 14
    yes very much so, anyone who has not seen this and works freelance should. Its about contracts lawyers ect. and best of all its called Fuck you Pay me.

    Its good for starting a new business, be it, contract freelance or a new studio that does 3d arts, game development as well as concept art.

    I dont have anything concrete but an idea that I have placed on piece of paper (in writing and drawing) few characters are done in high res, and few environment props are done in high res.

    This guy who was soo much interested in working with me and I am with him believes that the legal council is available to us for free but he is in NYC doing the international law studies.

    This will make him realize that a lawyer must be present to back you up and not be in NYC or HongKong.

    And the contract agreement that you make for your start up company or the free lance company or the contract agreement that you get from the client must be thoroughly reviewed by the lawyer because chances are, there are things that you probably won't understand and sign it.

    Thanks!
  • DrunkShaman
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    DrunkShaman polycounter lvl 14
    Got any more of those sir Wilson?

    Since this thread is related to the freelance / startup business(which is almost like a freelance but there are more things to be done then just given jobs.)

    I was expecting someone to come up and share his story about what he experienced (besides the agreement.) When he was either starting up his business or starting up his freelance work. Like how hard was it for him to find the clients, dedicated employees, etc, etc.

    I know that this goes against the PC's Code of Conduct but its the main reason for me to bump this thread.
  • Gestalt
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    Gestalt polycounter lvl 11
    I'm surprised more people don't enact something along the lines of "The completed project files will only be delivered upon settlement of the outstanding amount.", especially for 3d work where a simple screengrab to show off the progress of something doesn't replace the need for actual files (I'm not sure how people would deal with concept art, probably by only showing low res for the wips, but still unless it's illustration work that could be iffy).
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    generally you do the work and most decent companies pay within a few weeks.
    i wouldn't be threatening anyone with not giving out assets.
    If you are really unsure of a company do a small job first, see how it pans out
    or if it is a largeish contract split it in to milestones, so you get paid after each portion.
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