3 ms·

No right answer to this, it very much depends on where you're at. At the very least, note down the calls you do on invoicing and write "no charge" by them so th

No right answer to this, it very much depends on where you're at. At the very least, note down the calls you do on invoicing and write "no charge" by them so the client understands what they're getting. If the client is a good client overall, absolutely refuses to pay for calls, but it's an unreasonable time sink for you - you can always just raise your billable rate a little bit to compensate, to $85 or whatever. People get funny about paying for certain things and not other things. Like, someone might absolutely insist that you pay the postage and printing costs for documents and reports you make up for them which is a trivial number, but then they don't flinch at a 20% rate increase. Strange world. Just go with the flow on it, everything is negotiable. Try not to stuck on a little detail if a person's got a dead set policy on it, there's usually another way to get everyone what they want as long as it's generally a good deal for both sides.

jv22222 16y ago
But lets say a client refuses to pay for five hours of phone time, that in the end, brings value to the clients business... isn't that a little bit fishy? Why should the dev have to sink the $375 cost? Just curious as to your thoughts.
- lionhearted 16y ago
  > Why should the dev have to sink the $375 cost? You don't have to. Let's say you're doing 20 hours of billable work at $75. That's $1500. Now let's say a client adamantly refuses to pay for any of the time you spend on the phone with them, even though that's normally billable work for you. That means you're spending 25 hours and would like to be compensated $1875. Instead of fighting and insisting you get paid for calls you could instead just quote a rate of $95 per hour for billable work, include free phone calls, and make your rate. It's not logical, but some people would be happier to pay a higher rate with some freebies thrown in. If being billed that way makes them happier and you make what you're looking to make, that's a fine way to go about it.

jv22222 16y ago

But lets say a client refuses to pay for five hours of phone time, that in the end, brings value to the clients business... isn't that a little bit fishy? Why should the dev have to sink the $375 cost? Just curious as to your thoughts.

lionhearted 16y ago
> Why should the dev have to sink the $375 cost? You don't have to. Let's say you're doing 20 hours of billable work at $75. That's $1500. Now let's say a client adamantly refuses to pay for any of the time you spend on the phone with them, even though that's normally billable work for you. That means you're spending 25 hours and would like to be compensated $1875. Instead of fighting and insisting you get paid for calls you could instead just quote a rate of $95 per hour for billable work, include free phone calls, and make your rate. It's not logical, but some people would be happier to pay a higher rate with some freebies thrown in. If being billed that way makes them happier and you make what you're looking to make, that's a fine way to go about it.