Client Horror Stories

Jodi Koch Peterman, CEO of Elizabeth Erin Designs, interior designer, and host of the Designing in 5D podcast, shares a client horror story that somehow manages to include a runaway cabinet vendor, a $26,000 glazing mistake, furniture dumped into the ocean, mold, miscommunication, and a project that lasted nearly two years.

 

What began as an exciting whole-house remodel quickly became a perfect storm of problems. The client wanted a dramatic transformation, including a massive "Barbie Dreamhouse" closet and a luxury spa-like feel throughout the home. But delays getting an engineer, escalating design choices, a budget that ballooned far beyond expectations, and repeated communication breakdowns began to put everyone under increasing pressure.

 

Then things got even stranger. Cabinets were supposedly destroyed by a tornado. Another set of cabinets arrived in the wrong color because two clients' orders had been mixed up. A cabinet vendor disappeared after taking the money—and was eventually jailed. During COVID, one furniture shipment was even dumped into the ocean because of closed ports. Meanwhile, the client was dealing with mold at her temporary home, and Jodi found herself caught in the middle of an increasingly fractured relationship between the client and contractor.

 

As the project spiraled, Jodi became increasingly involved, sometimes working for months without additional compensation. She even showed up with a sage stick to "sage" the client, the house, and the dog in an attempt to clear the negativity surrounding the project.

 

But the biggest lessons came afterward. Jodi realized how important it is to establish expectations, communication, boundaries, and budgets from the beginning—and turned the experience into the foundation for her own Designing in 5D process and concierge-level approach to working with clients.

 

 

Morgan Friedman
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Today, Our Beloved Host, Morgan Friedman, is joined by Paul Sweeney, Founder of Pretium Solutions, Chartered Accountant, Business Growth Specialist, and host of The Business Behind Your Business. Paul shares a Client Horror Story about what happens when excitement, urgency, and trust take the place of contracts, structure, and basic business discipline. What begins as a promising opportunity quickly spirals into a company where employees have different promises, two people think they're the CEO, lawyers are brought in to clean up avoidable problems, and Paul himself goes months without getting paid.

 

The company had a huge opportunity in front of it: investors, a product in development, plans to become a public company, and plenty of people eager to make things happen. But in the rush to move forward, basic processes were skipped. Contracts weren't signed. Promises weren't documented. Employees were hired before the product was ready. And eventually, Paul realized the company had promised far more than it could possibly afford.

 

As the problems pile up, Paul finds himself caught in the middle of a fractured company, with disagreements over money, responsibilities, leadership, and who was actually in charge. At one point, two different people believed they were the CEO. Meanwhile, Paul was being asked to solve the company's financial problems while still waiting to be paid himself.

 

What makes the story particularly striking is that Paul was 42 when all of this happened—and advising others on exactly these kinds of business issues. Looking back, he recognizes how a long-standing relationship, the excitement of a major opportunity, and his own transition between businesses caused him to ignore safeguards he normally would have recommended to anyone else.

 

 

Morgan Friedman
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Some client relationships start with red flags so bright you'd think they were impossible to miss. And yet—when you're young, hungry, and genuinely excited about what you do—it's easy to mistake chaos for ambition.

 

Twenty years ago, Chris Simental, Co-Founder of Ripe Media & Tech Strategist,  was introduced to a client through a mutual acquaintance. The pitch sounded exciting on paper: build a dynamic ecommerce platform that would serve as a cultural hub for visual art, fashion, music, and film. A one-stop digital destination for creatives. The kind of project that makes a portfolio sing.

 

What they didn't know yet was that the vision far outpaced the client's understanding of what building that vision actually required.

 

The client—a family of four—came in with enormous expectations and very little grasp of how the digital world worked. From the very first meeting, the demands were overwhelming, and not always rooted in reality. One request stood out above the rest: they wanted their audience to be able to sell art without needing a computer or a camera. No digital footprint. No uploads. No friction.

 

It was a creative brief that defied the basic logic of ecommerce. How do you sell something that doesn't exist online? Chris and his team did what good builders do—they pushed forward, tried to bridge the gap between expectation and execution, and delivered an initial website they were ready to stand behind.

 

Then came the soft launch.

 

In the world of web development, a soft launch is standard practice. You release, you gather real user data, bugs surface, you fix them. It's not a failure—it's the process. Chris knew this. His team knew this. What he didn't anticipate was that the client did not.

 

Days after the launch, an angry email landed in their inbox. The client was furious. Momentum had been lost, they claimed. Users were disappointed. The bugs—normal, expected, fixable bugs—had apparently derailed everything. The tone was accusatory, the frustration outsized, and the response completely disproportionate to where they actually were in the development cycle.

 

It felt personal in a way that didn't quite add up.

 

And then, eventually, it all made sense.

 

As the relationship unraveled, a startling detail emerged: the business wasn't really about art, fashion, music, or film at all. The entire venture had been constructed as a vehicle—a means for the client to transfer business ownership to his son and secure a US citizenship in the process. The cultural platform was never the point. Chris and his team had spent months pouring their expertise into a project whose real purpose had never been disclosed to them.

 

In today's episode, Chris Simental breaks down exactly what went wrong, what he wished he'd caught earlier, and what every creative professional needs to know about vetting clients before the contract is signed.

 

Because sometimes the nightmare isn't in the code. It's in the fine print nobody showed you.

 

Morgan Friedman
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Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of workplace sexual harassment and burnout. Listener discretion is advised.

 

Sira Laurel didn't enter the workforce with a safety net. She graduated in 2008—right as the financial crisis swallowed jobs whole and turned ambition into a survival test. 

 

But Sira wasn't the type to wait for the storm to pass. She landed a role as a benefits advisor for postoperative equipment at a medical company, and from day one, she showed up differently. She learned fast, built trust faster, and quietly became indispensable.

 

Her sales team noticed. Her leadership team noticed. In a company full of moving parts and competing agendas, Sira had earned something rare—genuine respect from the people at the top. That visibility came with a promotion to management, a seat at a bigger table, and the kind of momentum that makes you believe the climb is finally worth it.

 

But momentum, when it's built on unstable ground, has a way of exhausting you before it ever breaks you.

 

Not everyone celebrated her rise. Whispers started in the back office. Resentment built in corners she couldn't always see. Sira was managing upward, managing sideways, and managing the quiet hostility beneath the surface—all at once. The weight of proving herself never quite lifted. It just changed shape. And without her realizing it, the very drive that made her exceptional was also burning her from the inside out.

 

Then one day, something shifted beyond just the exhaustion.

 

It wasn't a memo or a meeting. It was a feeling—a sudden chill in the air that she couldn't explain. The mentor who had championed her, the executive she'd trusted, seemed different. Distant. Guarded. It wasn't long before the reason surfaced: his wife had discovered he was having an affair. The personal had crashed violently into the professional, and Sira was standing in the wreckage without having caused any of it.

 

They tried to move forward. To compartmentalize. To keep things professional. And for a time, they did.

 

But something had broken—and what grew in its place added an unbearable new layer to an already heavy load.

 

Over time, the executive's behavior toward Sira shifted in ways that crossed every line that should never be crossed. What began as professional mentorship devolved into sexual harassment. The man who once advocated for her career began weaponizing his power against her instead. And Sira—already running on empty, already stretched thin by years of fighting to belong—was now forced to carry something no job description ever prepares you for.

 

The burnout wasn't just professional anymore. It was total.

 

Her story is not unique. That's exactly why it needs to be told.

 

In today's episode, Sira Laurel—now CEO and Executive Advisor of North of Normal—opens up about the compounding weight of workplace burnout, the slow erosion that happens when you give everything to a career that doesn't always protect you in return, and the line that was finally crossed. She shares what happened, how she survived it, and what she wants every professional to know about recognizing your limits, protecting your peace, and fighting for the dignity you deserve in every workspace you walk into.

 

This conversation is heavy. It is honest. And it is necessary.

 

Because no amount of hustle, no promotion, no professional relationship should ever cost someone their health—or their safety.

 

 

Morgan Friedman
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Today, we're joined by Lance Cayko—serial entrepreneur, award-winning architect, and co-founder of F9 Productions. He's here to share a client horror story that starts as a straightforward business deal and unravels into something far more sinister.

 

Years ago, Lance met a couple who had relocated from the south to Colorado. The wife, an interior designer, came with beautifully crafted drawings of their dream home. Impressed by her talent, Lance actually encouraged them to skip his architectural services altogether and simply hire an engineer—a gesture of genuine respect for her work.

 

That could have been the end of it. But years later, the husband resurfaced with a new project—and a new fiancée. The work began smoothly enough, but two-thirds of the way through, the invoices started going unpaid, communication went cold, and strange emails began trickling in. The reason soon became clear: the client had started construction himself without waiting for the building permit. Lance had seen enough. He sent a final email rescinding all involvement and walked away.

 

Then the fiancée called. She was devastated—and completely in the dark. Over coffee, she revealed that her partner had drained her accounts entirely. She pressed charges, and he fled the state.

 

The story didn't end there. After the dust settled and her home was completed through another firm, Lance came across a mugshot of his former client—charged with multiple counts of fraud. Driven by curiosity, he reached out to the man's first wife. What she shared over coffee confirmed everything: the man had been living a double life from the moment he arrived in Colorado.

 

Some clients aren't just difficult. Some are dangerous. Listen to hear the full story.

 

 

Morgan Friedman
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