"I can make that change, what copy would you like to go there. This was not previously discussed, therefore a standard placeholder text was used."
And if the copy on the page was not in scope, you can also add:
"Creating the copy of the page was not in scope, would you like me to quote that now?"
Also what does your contract state? From the limited information, it sounds highly likely this was an excuse for them to back out, but they may have no grounds for doing so.
There was no contract yet as it was only a prototype. Should I charge clients for a prototype, the next time they ask?
I'm also thinking, judging from what they said on LinkedIn, that they're just giving that excuse to back out or use my prototype to get someone else to develop the prototype. I know it's my fault for not giving a contract before starting to work and I learned my lesson.
Also, I changed the lorem ipsum to hipster ipsum to show that english texts. Is it that hard for clients to picture those placeholders as a place for their own content?
As I'm writing this, I really think that they wanted to see content related to what they do so they could steal it and have someone else develop it. Or they said that they would back out to try to make me desperate for work and agree to how much they want to pay. You know, "clients".
My advice is to treat every hour spent as billable. Even when learning about a client's project, that still takes time. Now you may not get payment upfront or win the project, but quotes / estimates should take that into account.
My response would have been:
"I can make that change, what copy would you like to go there. This was not previously discussed, therefore a standard placeholder text was used."
And if the copy on the page was not in scope, you can also add:
"Creating the copy of the page was not in scope, would you like me to quote that now?"
Also what does your contract state? From the limited information, it sounds highly likely this was an excuse for them to back out, but they may have no grounds for doing so.
There was no contract yet as it was only a prototype. Should I charge clients for a prototype, the next time they ask?
I'm also thinking, judging from what they said on LinkedIn, that they're just giving that excuse to back out or use my prototype to get someone else to develop the prototype. I know it's my fault for not giving a contract before starting to work and I learned my lesson.
Also, I changed the lorem ipsum to hipster ipsum to show that english texts. Is it that hard for clients to picture those placeholders as a place for their own content?
As I'm writing this, I really think that they wanted to see content related to what they do so they could steal it and have someone else develop it. Or they said that they would back out to try to make me desperate for work and agree to how much they want to pay. You know, "clients".
Yea work is work.
My advice is to treat every hour spent as billable. Even when learning about a client's project, that still takes time. Now you may not get payment upfront or win the project, but quotes / estimates should take that into account.
Thanks!