Client Horror Stories

There’s nothing crazier than Andy Reinhold’s client horror story, and you’re gonna want to listen.

A few years ago, Andy, founder of Studio Spark, was working in the tech division of a major consulting firm, maintaining outdated government software. With each change in administration, the system grew harder to decipher—so much so that they had to track down long-retired employees just to understand the codebase.

Andy and his team manually reviewed over a million lines of legacy code to help determine who qualified for Social Security checks. For three weeks, everything ran smoothly—until it didn’t.

One day, Andy received a call warning him of a serious issue with the SSI system—and, strangely, to avoid watching the news. Naturally, he did the opposite. Headlines revealed a holiday disaster: people were receiving significantly reduced Social Security checks right before Christmas. While the team scrambled and successfully patched the issue within a week, the cause remained a mystery.

It wasn’t until after the holidays that they discovered the culprit: a single missing character buried deep in the code.

Tune in to hear how one tiny oversight led to a nationwide ripple effect—and how this experience reshaped Andy’s understanding of accountability, precision, and career purpose.

Morgan Friedman

Andy's Company Website

In today’s episode, Matthieu Mehuys, Co-Founder of Paulownia Landscape Architects, shares a client horror story that most professionals hope they never have to face.

Matthieu’s love for plants began at just three years old. That passion led him to study landscape architecture, explore the depths of the Amazon rainforest, and master the art of cultivating breathtaking gardens. But it wasn’t until a life-threatening encounter with dengue fever that he had a wake-up call—one that pushed him to start his own business.

In his very first year, a wealthy client from Germany reached out with a lucrative garden renovation project. Sensing a major opportunity, Matthieu took it—and even brought in a trusted contractor from Belgium, who made a 12-hour journey for the job. But chaos struck on day one: another contractor, still working on the home’s façade, threw everything off schedule. Despite completing the garden, the situation spiraled into disaster when the client sued for damages.

What went wrong—and what did Matthieu learn from the ordeal? Tune in to hear how he weathered the storm, the lessons he took away, and how it reshaped his approach to future clients and projects.

Morgan Friedman

Matthieu's Company Website

Matthieu's Award-Winning Book

Matthieu's Podcast

Matthieu's LinkedIn

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Matthieu's Company Instagram

Matthieu's Facebook

Matthieu's TikTok

Have you ever worked with people who insisted they knew best—even when they clearly didn’t? In early 2017, when blockchain was the buzzword of the moment, Tamara Adlin of Adlin, Inc. was referred by an investor to help a rising startup build smart contracts, enabling smoother collaboration for developers.

At first, things looked promising. Tamara brought strong, strategic ideas to the table. But instead of focusing on foundational planning, the team wanted to do everything all at once—charging ahead without stopping to think things through. As a seasoned expert, Tamara tried to guide them by slowing things down to ultimately speed up progress.

But tensions rose when the founders asked her to "label the elevator buttons" before the building’s foundation was even poured. The misalignment was too great, and eventually, both sides decided to part ways.

Tamara now shares stories like this—and the insights they offer—on her podcast, Corporate Underpants, where she helps strip down what really goes wrong in business.

There’s a lot more to this story—and it just might make you question how much anyone really knows in fast-moving industries. Tune in to this episode to hear Tamara’s lessons on expertise, ego, and building things that actually last.

Morgan Friedman

Tamara's Website

Tamara's LinkedIn

Running a business often means putting out fires—but some fires should never have been lit in the first place. In today’s client horror story, Melinda Spaulding, Author of "Finding Insight", shares a frustrating tale from her early years that highlights just how chaotic procurement can get.

Everything had been going smoothly with one client—contracts were signed, terms agreed upon, and work was underway. But out of nowhere, a representative from the company called Melinda's business line one evening with alarming news: they were canceling the contract because "we shouldn't have agreed on the billing terms in the first place."

With everyone else aligned and the original agreement in place, Melinda was blindsided. Panic set in. What would happen next? Days of uncertainty followed until a new contract arrived—only for her to realize that the purchase order reflected the original billing terms all along.

So what was the point of this wild goose chase? What did it teach her about corporate miscommunication, emotional resilience, and trusting your gut?

Listen to the episode to hear how Melinda turned this chaos into clarity—and what you can learn from the fire that never should've started.

Morgan Friedman

Melinda's Website

Melinda's LinkedIn

In this episode, Sheila Butler, Founder & Chief Marketing Officer of Butler Marketing Group, FL LLC, tells us about the time when she forged a partnership to launch 20,000 hotel rooms. What was once thought to be a huge and successful project turned out to be underwhelming and disappointing for everyone involved.

Due to tech issues, overwriting part of their database did not go as planned. Instead of advertising each room as a luxury stay, they were shown as regular rooms—boring, right? Likewise, it didn’t help that the moment they launched their product, COVID happened and the lockdown started.

While they banked on the fact that things would pick up soon and they could leverage coupons and such, they failed to see that their chosen payment platform didn’t cater to all the countries they were targeting.

Tune in to know more about Sheila's experience!

Morgan Friedman

Sheila's Website

Sheila's LinkedIn

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