Clients From Hell
clientsfromhell.net · Group blog · on HN since 2010
Collection of submitted anecdotes about difficult, unreasonable or clueless clients, mostly from freelance designers and developers.
What HN saysHN links it as a collection of client horror stories from many contributors rather than one author, often as a humorous aside in threads about clients and customers.
42HN people shared it
26linked it in comments
20stories submitted
90story points
5 years agolast shared
2010people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Clients From Hell stories28 people · 13 points · first shared 2010 · 1 comments on HN
- 2You're Not a Developer1 people · 23 points · first shared 2021 · 5 comments on HN
- 3Clients from Hell1 people · 23 points · first shared 2014 · 10 comments on HN
- 4Clients From Hell1 people · 10 points · first shared 2010 · 1 comments on HN
- 5A cautionary tale1 people · 5 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 6Client: We won’t be paying. We didn’t use your material.1 people · 5 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 7A client who gets it (humor)1 people · 2 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 8Client: "That's way too much money to charge for an email campaign"1 people · 2 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 9The Forbidden Fruit1 people · 1 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 10I was making a website for my client and asked for1 people · 1 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 11Freelancers don't get paid1 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 12How to build a better freelance job board1 people · 1 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 13“Our development team was working on a content management system for a client.”1 people · 1 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 14How many clients does it take to screw in a lightbulb?1 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 15Computer Bugs1 people · 1 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
pinaceae · 2013-06-11
yes, and there is nothing worse than presenting a really great solution to a client and they get hung up on the color of an icon.
there are whole blogs devoted to the stupidity of designer's clients - and now this can be witnessed on a global scale.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
http://clientsfromhell.net/
compare to the typical criticism right now. the safari icon looks terrible - instant fail! man, i hope the iOS team gets shielded from this outbreak of retardation, lest they slit their wrists.
tragomaskhalos · 2021-04-28
To play devil's advocate here, this can go both ways; clients may well take the piss unless the contract is quite strict about agreed scope etc. For big contracts that can make the difference between coming in under or over budget, although something of this kind of rigour is prudent at all scales, as https://clientsfromhell.net regularly attests.
theandrewbailey · 2019-05-10
In other words, don't have a client from hell. I've been reading stories about those kinds of people for years now.
http://clientsfromhell.net/
zbentley · 2017-09-16
I agree with everything you said, but couldn't resist:
The awful behaviors you see from some users of a previously free-and-open project that went closed (ish) sound an awful like the behaviors of . . . paying customers in pretty much every industry.
https://talesfromawaitress.wordpress.com/
https://clientsfromhell.net/
mtmail · 2017-08-15
More a collection of stories, not from a single author:
- http://thedailywtf.com/
- https://clientsfromhell.net/
minimaxir · 2016-10-24
http://clientsfromhell.net
http://trenchescomic.com/tales/post/9810 (dead, but a lot of content there)
josephcooney · 2016-07-14
clientsfromhell is filled with stories like this http://clientsfromhell.net/
shade23 · 2016-04-05
On a similar note .A more crowdsourced data website :
http://clientsfromhell.net/
PS:These are majorly designers ranting
drodgers · 2015-12-13
The customer version already exists:
http://clientsfromhell.net/
protomyth · 2014-12-13
read Daily WTF and http://clientsfromhell.net to prepare yourself for a career in consulting. Clients from Hell is a designer-centric site but it mirrors the IT side way too well.
BerislavLopac · 2014-08-09
Well, this attitude is not that uncommon, which is easily seen if you read http://clientsfromhell.net/ with any regularity. And in come countries this is the norm.
1simonsayz · 2012-10-11
So funny. Nice break from usual work. If you liked that, you should check out http://clientsfromhell.net/
Swizec · 2012-05-17
I used to think people are stupid.
Then I stopped being a teenager and realized that, hey, most people are actually pretty cool. When they're being stupid it's usually just a lack of information and when you educate them a bit, they get better.
But then the internet reminded me that there are, in fact, stupid people all over the place, they just don't live in my IRL filter bubble.
Evidence: http://notalwaysright.com/ http://clientsfromhell.net/
http://textsfromlastnight.com/
ambirex · 2012-03-30
Giving the maximum benefit of the doubt, this easily could have been a placeholder image that was missed when it was pushed into production.
The real problem is the gulf between the law and perception on what is content "theft". There are many people who wouldn't see a problem using the XCode logo for other purposes (read http://clientsfromhell.net/ for several examples of people not understanding copyright infringement).
The article seems a little overblown in its tone. We should allow NBC the same latitude we would want if one of our employee's had made the same mistake. We should also ask NBC to support legislation that would allow for education and forgiveness.
henrikschroder · 2012-01-31
I like http://clientsfromhell.net/
Same idea as this, but funnier and more about learning to laugh about the stupidities of some clients and moving on.
jrabone · 2012-01-31
Uninspiring. http://clientsfromhell.net/ is (funnier|sadder|closer to the truth)
wedesoft · 2011-11-02
There's a nice collection of the kind of demands customers come up with: http://clientsfromhell.net/
nodata · 2010-10-11
Is this clever reverse marketing?
You might be interested in this site:
http://clientsfromhell.net/
particularly the Twitter one.
PDoF · 2010-04-30
http://clientsfromhell.net/
Is this what you're looking for?
throwaway888abc · 2020-11-13
mrbill · 2015-12-13
Reminds me a lot of
http://clientsfromhell.net/
buff-a · 2011-12-10
In an ideal world, Waterfall will lead to a worse product than an iterative one. We don't live in the real world, and I expect these guys deal with clients who regularly fall into the -from-hell[1] category. I would bet that many people posting here aren't running consultancies and don't have experience with such clients (or any clients).
In such a situation, it is in fact entirely rational to develop a lightweight, low cost UI that a non-technical person can commit to, i.e. sign a contract. The developer can then go off and implement it with a very clear legal case if the client then chooses not to pay because "its not what we wanted".
Its not what I do, and I know that many here take a more involved approach to their clients, but its undeniable that it is a successful business model, and in some cases I believe it can produce some result where otherwise there might be none. Equally I'm sure it produces results that are ultimately not used, but where the company still gets paid.
[1] http://clientsfromhell.net/
wetbrain · 2011-09-28
> Someone wants a Facebook clone for $500? Simply respond "it's a huge amount of work and I won't be able to do it for that." If they press, explain why.
>Just saying "no, I can't help you" and walking away isn't doing yourself any favors.
You're right. But it's a grey area. There are some real crazies/idiots out there, and picking up a delinquent client is parasitic. If you work a large project, and the client pulls some bullshit to avoid payment, you may need to take them to court. This takes time you could be productive on other projects. A client who signs off on a design, and then complains that it's not what they want, will extend project. Too much of "could you make the yellow more yellow?" "I want people to smell cinnamon and peppermint." results in a poor finished product due to both frustration and a lack of communication.
Just dropping a client has it's own difficulties, and may not be possible depending on the agreement.
"I'll pay you $500 for a large project" is one indicator that could be a difficult client. Of course, it's not a truth, but I feel a good defensive game goes a long way.
It's sampling bias, but http://clientsfromhell.net and http://clientcopia.com/ are entertaining yet frustrating sites to see some of the worst of it. Let's add to the cynicism!
And a decent top ten list. These guys are more common than you'd believe. http://freelancefolder.com/bad-clients-and-how-to-avoid-them/
gargravarr · 2015-09-11
All very good advice here, and you're not alone in having this problem. In fact, there's a whole site dedicated to it, mostly for entertainment, but also some tidbits of advice here and there:
http://clientsfromhell.net/Deadbeat%20Clients
sethrin · 2015-01-31
Argument from lack of imagination. But I don't think the the large, well-represented adversarial client is as common as the clients who are simply stupid. Either way it's not something I have a lot of personal experience with, but Clients from Hell is pretty full up with stupid, greedy clients and equally stupid designers with bad contracts. As an example:
http://clientsfromhell.net/post/107004953453/me-your-invoice-is-now-mo…
The above is clearly a situation where contract verbiage for transfer of rights would make any subsequent conversation on the topic very short. However, as to your general point, what do you suggest? Is that risk something that can be mitigated, or priced into your rates?
ramy_d · 2010-07-11
I... I have to reply to this ridiculous article. First, i want to point this guy out. This guy is called Don Rainey and he works for Grotech Ventures http://www.grotech.com/ which like to show how many CEOs they have.
Straight up, grotech ventures doesn't know how to properly render websites, see here, http://www.procrastinatorstangent.com/rd/hacker_news/grotech.jpg
so tweak that, Don.
no - but seriously, I came here to write something important, and here it is: I don't know if Don is managing _right now_, but judging by this article, i'm going to assume he is (even though this is probably a list of things not to say when doing a pitch to him). Now Don has been managing peeps like most us at HN for 30 years. That's crazy.
can you imagine doing something for 30 years? I can barely imagine doing the same something for 5, but he's done this for 30. That means he has experience.
Now, I don't know Don, but today, on this cool sunday, Don has summed up 30 years of experience to me into 8 rude complaints. He has pointed out flaws he has seen over and over again without pointing out any solutions or constructive criticisms or proper examples to look up to. And that to me is like a child complaining.
dev - "it's modular, so we ca-"
don - "no."
what? what kind of conversation is _that_? can you not think of 1 modular application ever built? By the comments here, some people clearly have. Off the top of my head, here is one modular project…