‘I was shaking [with laughter]:’ Freelance web designer gets stiffed on the bill, uses a hosting provider error that has nothing to do with him to get the $1,500 he earned

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
May 22, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

Have you ever worked freelance? It's extremely stressful, even if you're making good money! You have to basically run yourself as a business, make sure you do your taxes accordingly, follow your own deadlines, make sure you get paid, etc. It's not for the faint of heart. But once you get into the grove of freelancing, it can be liberating. 

 

That being said, it doesn't matter how long you have been working freelance, you are going to encounter a shady client. So, you might as well learn how to handle a situation with that kind of client right away. That's what this freelance web designer was forced to do. He had designed a website landing page, and agreed on a very low price, since he was just beginning. However, when it came time to get his payment, the client went radio silent…

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  • So what do you do when this happens? Well, this guy was unsure, but the universe was on his side. Because one day messages him panicked thinking that he hacked her website. Though it was not his fault, he decided to make her think it was by being vague and the money he earned. And guess what? I worked!! See how it all went down below. 

  • TA
    via Unsplash+ (and Sigmund)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "She ended up begging me to stop hacking her website"

    This is my freelance- revenge story that happened about 8 years ago, and it was one of the first times I was ghosted without pay.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • I created a landing page for her Elven symbol jewelry store (a bunch of esoteric BS, but I was young and trying to break into copywriting, so I took any deal I could).
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • We agreed on a pure performance deal, so I got nothing upfront, but we settled on a 5% performance fee. Her wordpress store was really small, and I was aiming to get $300-800 out of it, but honestly at
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • some level I would have been happy to just do it for practice & my portfolio. Long story short: I wrote the landing page & built it inside her wordpress site.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • She started running some Facebook ads to it, and I was shocked to see that it was actually converting. $120 on day 1, $200 on day 2, $150 on day 3, $360 on day 4, etc.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • By the end of the month that landing page brought in $6,000 in revenue. I honestly thought I struck gold. $300 in royalties in the first month??
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • I was going to make bank from two days of work. Well, predictably, she disappeared the moment I mentioned "first invoice." 3 months go by. Nothing.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • No replies to emails, calls go unanswered. She's still running ads (I can see all the sales coming in, because I still have access to her website).
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • Then out of nowhere I get a panicked message. "My site is down! Are you doing this? Please stop!" Now, I had NOTHING to do with her store going down.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • Probably just her cheap hosting. But after being ghosted for months while she made thousands off my work... I knew this could be my one and only shot at getting paid.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • 53 Brania do •
    via Unsplash+ (and Christina @ wocintechchat.com)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • So I decided to play along... But I had to be careful. I couldn't just "admit" in writing that I'm the hacker and threaten her to pay up, what if she went to the police and showed them the messages?
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • No, I knew I had to make her THINK I was... but not admit to anything at the same time. So I replied: "Sorry, but I'm not going to talk to you until you pay me what you owe me."
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • This turned out to be the perfect level of vague. I never said I hacked her site. I never threatened to keep it down. I just looked suspicious AF. She immediately called me and asked me what I want.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • I told her I still have access to her website & google analytics, I can see what she made off of the landing page, and that I want what we agreed on: 5% of sales from that landing page.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • It ended up being just shy of $1,500. She said she'll take care of it. We got off the call, I sent her the final invoice, and she wired the money immediately.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • She then messaged me with a payment confirmation from her bank and asked me to enable her website. IT WORKED!!
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • I was shaking when I typed back this reply: "I had nothing to do with your website crashing, you should talk to your hosting provider." I never heard from her again.
    via ClawedPlatypus
  • Lord Tengil Glorious. I'm still a bit annoyed on your behalf of the future revenue you missed out of. But well played. A you said, perfect amount of vague.
    via LordTengil
  • LeeKinanus Seriously I would have over thought this whole scenario and just lost money. OP plays it like a sage wizard or something. Brilliant.
    via LeeKinanus

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