Ask HN: What to do when a client writes

Hope you had a good contract that outlined everything that was expected and for how much before doing work with said client.

Hold them to the contract.

If you are a component to their project and their overall project is failing so they want to cut your component? If so they paid for your services and if they are failing their overall project that is not on you. Keep the money they paid you for your product that was outlined in your contract.

If they are a component or part of your project and want to quit because they underbid the portion they are responsible for and now want to bail before taking a loss that is also their fault and hold them to finishing their portion of the project for whatever amount you agreed to prior.

Not sure what else to say without knowing more and this is taken from construction experience with dealing with various sub contractors so it may not hold true as much for the tech sector.

Take all information as anecdotal evidence and I am not a lawyer.

Don't offer a refund. If they have been a good client overall, offer them an alternative. A concession of some sort. Perhaps a discount for next couple of payments (if subscription based). Work something out where you don't lose money from your past but you may have to give up something in the future. The reason is that you already have worked hard in the past to get that money. A concession in future will first put the responsibility back on client and you have the freedom to say "we can give you a concession but we may reduce some of the features/support etc".

I would reply with something like:

"Unfortunately a refund would not be fair to our team based on the work we have done so far for you. However, you are an excellent client and we would love to give you some type of concession for future and we can offer you xyz. I hope this helps you. Let me know if you have any questions on this concession offer"

Use words where you make the client feel guilty about asking for refund (because frankly, they shouldn't). However, you still sound like you are trying to help them. Win-Win.

I like to break projects down in to incremental milestones, that way the client sees a portion of completed work, pays for it and you begin the next milestone.

This helps keep both of you happy, they are seeing progress and you are seeing payment for work completed.

Client management is a difficult thing. I would assure them that the project will be completed, it is taking longer than expected because of x,y and z. That you will do a better job of keeping you informed of issues like these in the future. Give them an updated date that you can deliver early on. If you can break the remaining work into milestones where you can show them incremental progress.

They don't expect you to say yes. Assuming this is some service project, I would simply say, "Frankly, it's insulting and demoralizing that you're asking this given how hard we've worked on the project."

It is quite common. Don't go by the contractual obligation. If it is a small amount for you and your customer is going to stick to you, you might want to make him a happy customer by giving discount.

Are you asking "how should I word my reply", or are you asking "what should I do to mediate this?".