Potential client's dropping the ball on scheduling, should I go over her head to the executive director?

[u/jrsucculent]

Client keeps missing scheduled times and now guilt-tripping me about it, how would you handle this?

Any related stories or professional dos and don'ts for freelancers working with mid-sized companies are appreciated.

I'm a freelance designer working with a potential client on a new project. We were trying to schedule a call with their executive director to review my proposal. I sent over my calendar link with available times. Instead of using it, she asked if an 8 am call would work, without saying which timezone, we're in different ones, so I wasn't sure if she meant 8 am her time or mine. When I didn't hear back, I let her know I'd be logging off soon and if we didn't connect, we'd find another time.

Then at 4a-ish the next morning, she messages saying she's sorry she missed my message and asking if I could still make it work. A couple hours later she sends over a new brief to review. Then a few hours after that, before I'd even seen any of it, she sends another message saying she's giving this one more shot, like I'm the one who's been unresponsive. It's still early in the am.

I want to stay professional and not burn the lead, but the vague scheduling and the guilt-trippy tone are throwing me off. This is a bigger opportunity than my usual projects, I've invested hours for the first job brief; researching the company and writing the proposal. She'd already mentioned wanting me to meet with the executive director directly, whose contact info I can find on their website. Would it be reasonable to reach out to the ED (or their assistant) directly at this point, or is that overstepping since she's technically my main point of contact? How would you handle something like this?

[u/RocketSeven]

do not go over her head yet. reply in the existing thread with two time slots including both time zones and say you will pause the proposal until one is confirmed, because bypassing her turns a scheduling problem into a political one

[u/Designer_Twist4699]

These aren’t the client’s you want, move on.