Will Bed
I hear you Mackximus Minimus, but them not accepting your offer does not mean they would be REFUSING it, presenting a COUNTER OFFER would not be refusal... I'm just not sure how long that ball game would last...
My guess is you initially both agreed on the value of 1$... I just see it as if they never agreed that YOUR TIME is worth 1000$/h, it's hard to come up with that and not respect / change the terms of the initial contract...