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Turfdoctor1
01-05-2009, 06:10 PM
I posted a similar thread in the website forum, and I appreciate the help that JD shared with me.

5 weeks ago, I hired a website designer, paid him half the cost upfront, and gave him a deadline of January 1st, at the absolute latest. I had 30,000 pieces of advertising going out in the form of door hangers, already printed with this new website address on them. The door hangers are a multi-business form, and therefore, I have no ability to stop the dispersement.

After paying him the money, he never even asked for the material i wanted on the site. Finally, after emailing and calling several times, he sent me a form of the info I needed. This took a week, and he never even sent a confirmation email telling me he received the information, even after 2 follow up emails.

Weeks go by, and I generally called or emailed about 2-3 times a week reminding him of the deadline, telling him how important it was, etc. Monday before Christmas, I sent a very to the point email saying that I had not seen any completed work and wanted to know the status. He called immediately to let me know it would be done by the end of the week.

The week after Christmas, still no work, I send another email, this time demanding that he respond to me in email so that I had a record of the correspondence. Again, he guaranteed the work to be finished by the end of the week. End of the week comes, still no work. I write another email, asking for an explanation. I call at least 15 times over the weekend. At this point I probably have 5-10K door hangers in circulation with a non-functioning website. Finally I get him to answer the phone last night, he guarantees the work is done, he just has to upload the files and it would be done by Monday morning.

Monday at noon, still no site. I call him. voice mail. call. voice mail. I called 8 times in a row, until he finally picked up. He said he had been busy and guaranteed it would be done by the end of the day.

Obviously I don't trust the guy. But, what do i do??? He has my money, he has my site information and could do anything he wanted to. I have a ton of advertisement out with a non-functioning website.

Should he be liable for the lost advertising, possibly lost work? Also, in the contract, I don't have rights to the code until paying the other 50% of the fees. I obviously don't want to do this, because the guy has lied to me no less than 10 times. What in the heck should I do.

Thanks fellas. sorry for long post.

ICS
01-05-2009, 07:42 PM
Sounds like my story word for word from a company that I used to build my website. The intials of the company are GRT, but I think they "operate" under a number of different names. That got all of my money upfront and delivered a semi functioning website 6 weeks after the "deadline" and as you we had thousands of mailers going out and did not have the website live for the first 5 days after the cards were hitting.

Turfdoctor1
01-05-2009, 08:14 PM
Sounds like my story word for word from a company that I used to build my website. The intials of the company are GRT, but I think they "operate" under a number of different names. That got all of my money upfront and delivered a semi functioning website 6 weeks after the "deadline" and as you we had thousands of mailers going out and did not have the website live for the first 5 days after the cards were hitting.

yikes. i don't know how people can operate this way. I guess website designers don't have some sort of governing body that regulates fair business practices?

your story does sound like mine, but my designer has initials sd4u

PROCUT1
01-05-2009, 08:37 PM
Something like that you shouldnt in the future pay anything up front.

There are no materials or out of pocket expenses involved.

Two Seasons
01-05-2009, 08:57 PM
A friend of mine had the exact same experience. By the way, he's out of business now!

As you know, there are alot of shisters that call themselves anything they want to via the internet these days, and as we become more and more a country of point and click "interfacers", without the human touch, this is the outcome.

I won't deal with any company that doesn't have a permanent business address and can't show me why I should do business with them. Plus references and a quick check of their business status via our state's web site (tax warrants, etc.).

Green Pastures
01-06-2009, 09:56 AM
;)

Did you have a contract with this guy?

Anything written down and signed by both parties?

Did you get a reciept for your payment?

Hope you learned your lesson.

Turfdoctor1
01-06-2009, 10:20 AM
;)

Did you have a contract with this guy?

Anything written down and signed by both parties?

Did you get a reciept for your payment?

Hope you learned your lesson.


what lesson is there to learn? trust no one? I didn't know a web designer. I talked to about 6-8 of them, and found this guy to be the most professional, etc.

i did nothing wrong. I checked the guy out, looked over his portfolio, spoke with him on the phone several times. What the heck was I supposed to do?

Yes, I have a contract. Yes, I have a receipt.

Earlier in the week there was a thread about why there is never discussion in the business management forum. Maybe it's because people offer hindsight instead of helpful information. I asked a question as to what people would do. If they believe he is liable for lost work, lost leads, etc. I get nothing but advice on how stupid I was to use this guy. If you don't have any opinions about what I asked, please just keep your useless opinions about me learning a lesson to yourself.

Green Pastures
01-06-2009, 12:00 PM
You posted your business on the internet.

All I did was ask some follow up questions.

I don't understand what you are looking to get out of this discussion on the web. It seems so OBVIOUS what you should do.

Do you just want to ***** about getting ripped off?

You have a contract.

What does it say? Get the guy to fulfill the contract according to the terms of the contract and move on with your life.

What the heck should you do?

First talk to him IN PERSON. E-mail and phone calls at this point are for the birds.

Secondly, you might want to Lawyer up.

You ask..."Should he be liable for the lost advertising, possibly lost work?"... well is that part of your contract with him? If not good luck with that, there is just no way to prove any hard numbers or percentages.

Man up and face this guy, he's ripping you off, what do you mean what the heck should I do?