Client wants me to pay the milestones he already approved

[vicky2316]

Hi! So I have a ghostwriting gig and I have a client who asked me to write a 50k-word book. We have 6 milestones. We are already in 5th milestone and that's when he said, he doesn't like it. (So we have written 40k words at that time. I told him that we can just cancel the 5th milestone so he can find a new writer to finish it. He said, that if I cancel the order, I should pay for everything, from the 1st to the 5th milestone. The problem is, this is like a business of mine so I have writers under me. I've already paid the writer because the previous milestones were APPROVED. So now, I can't give back the money. So he asked me to write an entirely new manuscript. Which I did. I've written 30k words and then he said again, he doesn't like it. Now, he's asking me to write an outline this time. I feel like I am being scammed and being exploited. What should I do? If I click cancel the order, I think he will not accept my request. And he might give me bad reviews. Can I complain or tell Fiverr about it? The worst part is the client is a Fiverr Business. Help me!

[melanielm]

If the buyer approved the milestones, you cannot cancel them now. They're done and accepted. You can cancel a current and any future milestones. 

This absolutely sounds like they're trying to get work for free. Stop writing new manuscripts for free. They've accepted your work up until now. I'd suggest asking them exactly what is the issue with what you've written so far and suggest an editing extra to rewrite some of it. This would be an extra custom order.

You could ask Fiverr or your Seller Plus manager for guidance (the latter would be more appropriate for this type of request, if you are a SP member), and to cancel current and future milestones.