This is the first time I’ve ever felt compelled to write an open letter about a client, but the experience warrants it. It’s a cautionary story for freelancers, developers, and agency owners -especially those who work with budget-conscious clients.
Several months ago, I began a site build for Zakaria Yasin of ExJet. Midway through the project, he filed a chargeback with Stripe. As many freelancers know, Stripe chargebacks are notoriously difficult to win, even with a signed agreement, documented communications, and proof of work.
I lost the dispute, as expected, and Stripe responded by placing all my incoming payments on hold, despite having successfully completed more than 4,000+ transactions on that same account.
You read that right – before this, I’ve worked with 4,000+ clients who have never had an issue with my products or work on this one Stripe account (this figure grows with other Stripe accounts for other products I own).
Zack Yasin later insisted the chargeback was a mistake. I decided to continue coding and delivered far more work than what was originally agreed upon, because I genuinely wanted to make the project successful.
What followed were months of slow, drip-fed edits from him. Even after the project scope had ballooned and my effective hourly rate had dropped to around $1-2 an hour (the cost of the project in total was just $2,000), I remained patient.
Eventually, I communicated clearly: I would complete one final round of edits before I needed compensating for additional time I worked on the project. I didn’t put any limits on the edits, and after setting a firm end date, I spent another 3-4 hours making the final changes he requested.
Immediately after, I kid you not, he requested more edits, despite acknowledging and agreeing that the previous round would be the last.
Throughout this whole ordeal, he repeatedly threatened to file another chargeback, fully aware that he would likely win again because of how U.S banks and credit cards work (most freelancers know it is difficult to win charge backs, even with plenty of evidence). This became a coercive cycle: more demands, more threats.
Today, after yet another chargeback threat, I finally told him to proceed with the chargeback and I removed the work I had completed from my servers. At some point, protecting your business becomes more important than pleasing a client who weaponises chargebacks as leverage.
The Lessons
- Never ignore red flags
- Never continue working after a chargeback
- Never let a client drip-feed scope creep indefinitely
- And I personally will never work with budget clients again — cheap work always becomes the most expensive
I share this openly so other freelancers and developers can avoid similar situations. Protect your time, protect your business, and don’t let anyone hold the threat of a chargeback over your head.
Chris
P.S – I never wanted to write this open letter:
