I wish there was a way I could cut my words in half and still charge the same, but some of the articles they use word for word, which means I still have to write the full articles…

There's the thing, Jake. You don't know if she meant something you actually did wrong (doubtful), something someone added, or worse – something one of her friends or one of the people in the chain said needed fixing. Don't discount the power of the posse mentality. They've killed more than one of my projects.

Jenn, I had a long-time client do the exact same thing recently. They decided not to use it, so my invoice was ignored. I waited. I knew they'd be back. And I was going to tell them "Let's clear up this invoice first" before touching anything else they asked for. But something wildly weird happened – their contractor, who apparently knew about what they'd done, waited until the right moment, then told them it was totally unacceptable for them not to pay me because they'd changed their minds.

The check came in just before vacation. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

The client was a long-term one. He ordered a press release for news his company was putting out. He wanted it quickly. He got it. He approved the writing. Then he didn't pay. I kept following up. One day he finally responded saying that he wasn't going to pay because the company decided not to release it. They didn't decide that because of problems with the release I wrote. It was that they decided against the project / event the news was announcing.

I made it clear that wasn't acceptable. To this day I haven't collected on that account (it was worth far too little to justify suing at that point).

To make matters worse, the guy had the gall to come back to me quite a while later wanting another release. He also wanted it at 50% of my then-current rates (his old rate as he came in and negotiated a special rate quite a long time before). I told him I wouldn't take on any projects for him until his previous invoice was paid. I never heard from him again (thankfully).

Pissed me off enough to not get paid (the only time that's ever happened to me, and from a regular client no less). But to come back asking for special favors later? Wow.

Good luck with this one Lori!

More irritatingly, and to your point about "partnership," she never responded to my requests for clarification on exactly what the mistakes were, although she finally did pay.

Anyway, I hope they pay you without a whole lot of fuss.