So Jeff sends me this invoice — full amount, eight thousand dollars — and I‘m staring at my laptop thinking, does this man think I can’t count?
Because here‘s what actually got delivered: half the graphics I ordered, none of the social media templates, and exactly zero of the brand guidelines he promised. But the invoice? Oh, the invoice was for everything. Like I wouldn’t notice that the folder he sent me was basically empty.
The backstory is stupid simple. I hired Jeff three months ago to handle a rebrand for my consulting business. He came recommended by Aaliyah, who swore he was ‘amazing’ and ‘so professional.’ Red flag number one should have been that she put both those words in air quotes, but I was desperate and he quoted me a reasonable price.
The timeline was tight but doable — six weeks for everything. Logo, color palette, website graphics, social templates, brand guide. Standard package. We had three check-ins scheduled, and the first two went... fine. He showed me mockups, I gave feedback, he nodded along. Very professional. Very reassuring.
Then week six rolls around and I get an email that just says ‘Attaching final deliverables! Invoice to follow.’ No explanation. No ‘hey, ran into some issues.’ Just this weird chirpy tone like everything was perfectly normal.
I open the folder and it‘s like opening a bag of chips that’s ninety percent air. The logo is there — decent, actually — and maybe half the graphics I ordered. The social templates? Missing. The brand guidelines document? Four pages of lorem ipsum text with placeholder images.
Four. Pages. Of placeholder text.
I screenshot everything. Save the original email. Document exactly what‘s missing versus what I paid for. Because I can see where this is going, and I’ve been patient with vendors before. Those two things together — patience and experience — make you very, very careful.
Then the invoice shows up. Full amount. Like he delivered everything perfectly and I should just be grateful.
I write back: ‘Hi Jeff, reviewing the deliverables against our original scope. I’m seeing about 50% of the agreed-upon items. Happy to pay for what was completed — sending $4,000 for the logo and graphics delivered. Let me know if you‘d like to finish the remaining items for the balance.’
Professional. Reasonable. Documented.
His response came back in like ten minutes, and it was unhinged. ‘The creative process requires flexibility’ and ‘the delivered items represent the full value of the project’ and — my personal favorite — ‘payment is expected within the original terms regardless of minor scope adjustments.’
Minor scope adjustments.
Like he accidentally forgot to do half his job.
I forward the whole email chain to Aaliyah with a note: ‘Is this normal for him?’ She calls me twenty minutes later.
‘Oh my god,’ she says, ‘he did the exact same thing to me. I just paid it because I didn’t want the drama.‘
And there it is. He’s been running this same play on everyone, banking on people being too polite or too tired to fight back. Just deliver whatever, invoice for everything, count on awkwardness to get you paid.
Wrong person this time.
I send one more email: ‘Jeff, I’ve paid for the work delivered. The remaining balance will be released when the remaining deliverables are completed per our original agreement. All project communications are documented should you need to reference our scope.‘
That last line was me being petty, but also practical. I wanted him to know I had receipts.
He never responded. Never finished the work. And I never paid another cent.
Six months later, Aaliyah tells me he tried the same thing with Valeria from our networking group. Except this time, Valeria had heard about my situation first. She paid him exactly what he delivered too.
Funny how that works. Some people really think you won’t do math.