Long story shortish:
I run an online business and needed a site redesign. After getting bids from several companies in the area I went with the company that claimed they could do what I needed at a competitive rate. As the months dragged on I realized they were not going to deliver on half of their promises and that I was going to get a watered down version of what we had agreed upon, so yesterday I had a meeting with the owner where I terminated my relationship with them even though I was walking away from my 50% deposit of $3000.

On the way out the door the owner not only threatened to sue for the other half but threatened to open my website anyway under a different name and become my competition. I looked him in the eyes and said "Thanks for confirming that this was the right decision for me to make. What kind of ethics is that??" and walked out the door shaking my head.

What an entrepreneurial douche-bag!! I will never let money do that to me.

If you want something done right, do it your god damn self. Lesson learned.

yeah, that's pretty shitty.

I would have only kept 20% of yr deposit. :(

Measure twice, cut once.

I'll do it for free, but only because you've already touched MY heart.

<3 giggle giggle <3

And that only works if you measure the right thing. You can measure the wrong thing all you want and still have problems!

It often seems like the most successful business is the middle man who is in the midst of the most.

Ne'er a truer vocation spoken in jest.

that's a shitty experience but the "lesson" you claim to have learned is fucking wrong and you sound kind of retarded, like your first and oh so mysterious post.

if you draw stupid lessons from life all the time no wonder you get suckered and swindled by incompetent fuckers.

the lesson should be to learn to draw a proper fucking contract (or get a lawyer to do it) and to learn how to find people you can trust. if you try doing everything yourself you won't be able to do it all and therefore you're an entrepreneurial dunce.

you walked away with your deposit back, so you fared better than most. but still, what did your contract specify?

of course the other guy is a complete fucking douche, first he gives you your money back and then he makes empty threats to sue you (retarded), but this doesn't make you any less dumb in your dealings-- just saying. blaming money for this asshole-- stupid shit, stupid conclusion.

now go find a good web designer and see if you can get personal recommendations instead of bids from total strangers.

one of the problems with this field is that in a race to undercut the competition a lot of people sell themselves short and then they can't deliver. it's worth paying for quality. lack of money causes more evil than money-- i.e., poor budgeting on your contractor's part, or you wanted a lot for very little.

also, why did it take months, and didn't you have some deadlines specified in the contract?

go take some classes.


--

ps-- edited for clarity. sorry your project got delayed, and i understand your outrage, but your proclamations are laughable.

The moral of the story here is a fool and his money are soon parted.

This is correct. I should have hired a lawyer to draw up a proper contract. But I trust lawyers even less than web design companies (talk about money and the evil).


No, I lost my deposit of $3000. You misread.


No, I'm gonna redesign it my damn self.

True dat.

holy shit i did misread or maybe you edited--- you mean to say you dropped your $3K without a fight? you gave someone $3K advance without a contract? you poor poor fucker you. really. i'd be ashamed of making such confessions, but let it be a cautionary tale for others. you should call it "today i came face to face with my own stupidity". for fucks sakes!!!

lawyers: i hired one once to write me up a standard contract which i've modified many times to suit different clients. best $150 ever spent. never had to use it.

as a last recourse, for your next shituation, there are independent contractor agreements galore on the interwebs--including noncompete clauses-- but first i suggest you contact your local SBA for some advice on the matter. they teach classes on running your own business. jeezus, $3K in the water, just like that. i would have kicked the fucker in the balls.

then again, maybe you're an unreasonable client and we haven't heard his side of the story. if you're unreasonable enough to give someone $3K without a contract then you could be unreasonable enough to ask for the moon and not be happy with it when someone brings it to you. but who knows.

re: redesigning your website-- good luck with that and i hope you don't shoot yourself in the foot by doing a shitty job. sounds like you no longer have the money to pay for a professional job anyway. i suggest you read zeldman's "designing with web standards" before you embark in your adventure. the 3rd edition was just out last year. it will save you many headaches.

may "BOB" have mercy on you.

ps- oh, and i almost forgot, jakob nielsen--before you start doind some shitty baroque & confusing design, study fucking nielsen *especially* if your aim is to make money.

Yup, I walked away from 3K because I knew it would cost about that to even try to get it back. I'm cutting my loses. It still feels like a relief to break contact with the damn company.


No, I gave someone 3K with a shitty contract and too much faith.


Considering that the employee that got fired over my account just called and said he would be in my corner if there is litigation involved... I would say I'm a pretty reasonable client. I found him on facebook. ;)


Thanks for the tips. Yup. I'm pretty much broke after all this. My current e-commerce host has a decent selection of templates to tweak, I'll start there. The reason I hired the web design company was for the unique customized code they were supposed to produce.


haha, thanks.