Graphic Design trouble

Hello I'm new here and this is more a general problem that I would love to have some advice on and to vent from my tiny head before it explodes/implodes.

Basically I have been working voluntary for a company from home doing graphic/web design, they send me assignments over Skype and I get on my merry way and complete them to the best of my ability. Worryingly though about half of the designs aren't being taken on and the clients are then moving on to other companies and I twigged why - my people aren't taking any details at all on what the clients desire so I then spend hours on work for it to be nothing at all like they envisioned.

Also I don't get to do much actual designing myself. They send me a "reference" site to work with and I go from there. A little while later I send back something similar only to be told "No, this is wrong. Refer to the site we sent you." So what they really mean is COPY THIS EXACTLY. Any time I inject a little variety in there I get crushed for being wrong...and this isn't even the client talking, it's the bosses of mine. Fair play if a client wants something changed, I have no problem with that as it's how designs evolve.

Anyway, as of the start of Jan they decided to pay me per project (a slight come down from the part time money they promised me before) but we have had only one client and it was another of these vague blank canvas jobs where I'm told to copy a site so I doubt any money will come out of this.

Any one else had a similar problem? Granted all this work goes into my portfolio but it's getting a bit silly now.

Cheers people.