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insulting website requests
I need a music entertainment website to promote and market new artist.
-designed in flash
-unlimited pages
-i would like the concept to be like a myspace and youtube combined, if thats even possible.
-i would like ppl to be able to make their own page
-an instant messanger service
-an online store on the site
-internet search avalibilty
-chat roomi have a limited budget of $300. i am open to negotiation though if my details are completed.
PM me with the time it will take you to do it and the budget.
Thank you
just unbelievable!!!
this wasn’t a specific request to me, but i definitely get similar ones with even lower budgets than that. i’m just a jerk and choose to ignore these proposals. but just out of curiousity, how do you guys inform completely unknowledgeable clients like this?
Last edited by iblastoff (2007-10-03 14:56:14)
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#2 2007-10-03 15:45:29
- rui
- Member
- From: Espinho, Portugal
- Registered: 2005-04-28
- Posts: 65
Re: insulting website requests
iblastoff wrote:
(…)
just unbelievable!!!
this wasn’t a specific request to me, but i definitely get similar ones with even lower budgets than that. i’m just a jerk and choose to ignore these proposals. but just out of curiousity, how do you guys inform completely unknowledgeable clients like this?
____________________
I don’t…
I just ignore those proposals. It’s a question of (my) mental health!
All the Best,
Rui
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Re: insulting website requests
“If you want to pay with peanuts, hire monkeys!”
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Re: insulting website requests
Yep, probably not worth responding to, but if you have to respond…
I’d say something like “I focus on building collaborative relationships with clients to build sites that they are happy working with long-term. A budget in this range would not be able to accommodate any consulting or custom design, which are pre-requisites for successful sites.”
Then politely point them to some really sucky services… the more garish the better. Tell them that you’d be delighted to help them in the future if they have a bugdet and are able to commit to the long term success of their Web site.
That usually works for me. And some do come back later.
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Re: insulting website requests
maniqui wrote:
“If you want to pay with peanuts, hire monkeys!”
I’ll use this one:)
Yiannis
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NeMe | hblack.art | EMAP | A Sea change | Toolkit of Care
I do my best editing after I click on the submit button.
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Re: insulting website requests
OK, so what do you do when you start a site for a client, agree a sum, then when the site is virtually finished the client no longer answers emails requesting payment? Take down the site? Send a rude email? Tempted to do both ;-)
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Re: insulting website requests
I saw that request. In fact there’s lots like it on the various freelance sites, along with a sufficient number of replies from companies willing to provide absolutely everything for no money that I doubt I am on the same planet as them.
For that reason I have completely given up on said sites. If anyone knows of a freelance site that isn’t a rip-off joint, let me know. For that matter, if someone knows how I can get some textpattern work, let me know that too!
As for clients running away, the best course of action is always to head this off at the pass: half up-front half on delivery seems to be a normative option. Back when I wrote custom software full-time we’d first get paid to write the full spec, on a fixed-price basis. This spec would then be used to determine how much the whole job would cost. If the client wanted to walk away then they’d just bought themselves a spec and likely at a cut-rate price… our loss. But by then most were committed to the relationship.
Of course most prospects would say “You want us to pay you before you tell us what you’re going to provide?” Better to lose those sorts of clients early in the process. But it’s tough being that disciplined.
robin
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#9 2007-10-05 10:37:37
- Mary
- Sock Enthusiast
- Registered: 2004-06-27
- Posts: 6,236
Re: insulting website requests
Oh yeah, “make me the world and charge me nothing” is typical. The simple response is, “What you want cannot be done for anything like $300.” Then say what you could do for $300. They usually don’t answer after that. :)
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#10 2007-10-05 16:17:08
- kevinpotts
- Member
- From: Ghost Coast
- Registered: 2004-12-07
- Posts: 370
Re: insulting website requests
I agree with Mary. I always give a firm but polite “you’re kidding me” e-mail.
Kevin
(graphicpush)
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Re: insulting website requests
In my case the site is up and ready. The owner has not paid, and since he is a friend of a friend, we did not get payment in advance. I don’t really care much about it, and would be happy to take the site down, but wondered what others here might do…
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#12 2007-10-05 19:39:55
- Neko
- Member
- Registered: 2004-03-18
- Posts: 458
Re: insulting website requests
I wouldn’t take anything down, especially if you have contracts of some sort and he might have the brilliant idea to sue you for some reason (site was not operable, loss of money, contacts). You know, there’s crazy people out there.
I’d try to call and speak to him directly, if he refuses to clear the situation in person/by phone, I’d ask my lawyer to send a XX days notice for breaking the agreement and then, eventually, if money’s not yet arrived, take the whole thing down. The goal in cases like these is always getting the money in your pocket, forget about pride and attitude. :)
Last edited by Neko (2007-10-05 20:37:13)
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Re: insulting website requests
As a legal point, it is a good idea to include a phrase like the following in your proposal, contract, and at the bottom of your invoice: “Any transferral of copyright and/or reproduction rights are granted only upon full and timely payment of the invoice.”
This gives you another legal leg to stand on should you have to “take it down” due to non-payment.
But in this case, you say you “don’t really care much about it” and it’s a “friend of a friend.” If it was this friendship that originally convinced you their credit was good enough to not require a deposit, you should have no hesitation to tell your friend, “hey, just so you know, your buddy is not someone you want to get in the hole with financially. They won’t pay me. I know they’re a friend of yours, so I’m not going to take the site down like I normally would, but I thought you should know.”
Then sit back and see what happens.
TextPattern user since 04/04/04
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Re: insulting website requests
One way of getting around your problem jstubbs is not to give them a “live” site on their domain. Do the design on your own domain so that they can look but not touch. When it is done and they are happy they pay you and then you transfer it to their domain. Until then it is your property and suing is not a winnable option for them.
As for wanting everything for nothing, my local housing association happens to be in the same block I live in. When they heard that I could do websites I was asked into the office. They showed me their existing site which only cost them £50.00 ($100). Now admittedly it was a single page but I didn’t think it was worth the £50 they had spent on it. They wondered if I might be interested in doing something for them. I suggested that I wouldn’t get out of bed for £50 and haven’t been pestered since.
Last edited by thebombsite (2007-10-05 21:00:34)
Stuart
In a Time of Universal Deceit
Telling the Truth is Revolutionary.
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Re: insulting website requests
Ignoring or educating are the best possible responses. I don’t get many of these types of emails, but I think that is more a factor of me not being a full fledged contract coder.
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