As Web site designers, We hear from a lot of Web site owners with stories about how they have had bad experiences with other Web site developers. As much as we love getting new clients, we don’t really like that they had these bad expereinces before working with us. We’ve been collecting some stories from Web site owners, and having them share what happened, and what they learned from the negative experience.
Many of the stories share a similar them: they hired an individual person and it didn’t work out. Hiring a firm like Curvine costs more, but it increases chances that the project will go smoothly.
Profile #1: Jill Nussinow, TheVeggieQueen.com
The story: “I searched for someone to work on my site by asking around. A fairly high profile person in the publishing world had the person who I hired do his site. I figured that if he was good enough for that guy, then he must be good enough for me. The WG (web guy) and I had a few conversations and he had great ideas. I told him what I wanted done and he sent me an agreement. One of the main things that I wanted was a content management system so that I could update my site myself. I signed the agreement and paid the requested 50% for the project. The work began and within a couple of weeks, nothing more happened. He emailed me that he was on vacation. So I patiently waited. Part of the project was done. I asked when he’d get to the rest. He did a couple more little things and then stopped returning phone calls and emails. He left the project incomplete.”
The lesson: “What I learned: no matter what you’re told, don’t believe the big guys or the people that you get as references. Check out the person’s work well, and be sure that there is good communication. To this day, I have no idea what happened. This guy knows that I won’t be recommending him.”
Profile #2: Jacob Morgan, Social Media Consultant
The Story: “One of my blog readers told me he would help redesign my site for only $500 which I thought was a good price so I agreed. I started receiving a few templates for things and things seemed like they were going in the right direction. There were changes I wanted to done and a direction that I wanted the designer to go in. However he refused to talk with me via phone so all of the communication had to be done via chat and email which can be quite convoluted when discussing design. To make a long story short the project took 3 months to complete after I threatened a law suit. We went back and forth with design elements and still, he refused to speak with me via telephone, in fact he ended up passing me off to some random middle man that had apparently just joined his team. The designer told me he hated me, that I was exploiting him, and that he was disgusted with me. I later found out that he had also manipulated a few other people and that my situation was not unique, fortunately I paid a lot less than the others. My site design was completed but is still not 100%. I actually have one of the weirdest experiences out of anyone I know. The guy was into all sorts of weird mayan calendars and spiritual things and would bring all of this up into our design conversations, was quite odd.”
The Lesson: Jacob provided some great tips, which we’ve printed below.
- If a price is too good to be true it usually is
- Make sure your designer will speak with you via the telephone
- Get some previous references of clients
- Don’t let your emotions get in the way of business, my designer went off on random tangents dealing with spirituality and mayan calendars (before he told me he hated me) but I always had to stay on track, the guy was a bit nuts in my opinion.
- Don’t ever pay the whole fee up front (I didn’t)
Profile #3: Deb Barrett, Window Dressings, Inc.
The story: “My relationship with my webmaster turned sour after a 4 year relationship . She built the site and maintained. In the summer of 2008 we entered into a refresh project to reflect a change in focus of my company and get ready for an e commerce product launch. I supplied all the content as well as layouts, etc and she was to code it numerous emails later, several face to face meetings and total frustration we ended our relationship- by an email telling me she wasn’t going to charge me for the work she had already done and she didn’t have time to look at the project for several months. Basically she got in over her head and didn’t know how to gracefully tell me or figure it out. I have since send out several RFPs to finish the project and all the developers have told me the site was so screwed up it would cost thousands to fix. This is a project that was originally quoted at $400. needless to say, almost 1 year later I am hoping to launch the products next month.”
The lesson: “Don’t assume that your supplier /developer is well versed or has the skill set you need. Yes, she knew code and built the original site but web development has change dramatically in 4 years and she didn’t keep up. She didn’t know how to embed my blog on the my home page. I googled it and sent her the instructions. I guess you get what you pay for. What started out as a good relationship- you help me and I’ll help you turned sour and you get sticker shock when the experts tell you what its going to really cost. Though I am a total novice at web development and I am one of those people who knows just enough to be dangerous; I learned that with time and the power of wordpress and google and the complete generosity of those communities I built the site myself! I am only having to pay for a customization tweaking!”
Profile #4 Mark Goodman, Advanced Wellness Specialists
The story: “We had a web designer who came in and he gave us a great presentation. Boasted about good success. Even had a recommendation from one of our clients. We gave him one third of the quote down. He went off and did what looked like a knock off of one of his previous sites. Worse than that, he announced that he did not like the name of our company, so he changed the name of the company. He was extremely proud of the fact and said that he had vetted the name change and site among his group of peers. All of whom agreed with him. We fired him.”
The Lesson: “What we learned is that we need to be responsible for our content. And to believe in ourselves.”
