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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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Re: insulting website requests
wondered what others here might do…
Like stuart, if I’m at all uncertain or have no previous history with the client, I develop on a subdomain of my own domain and transfer to the client domain follows in exchange for payment. It doesn’t solve all manner of other problems, e.g. scope creep, but it does address those ‘grey area’ no contract cases without being heavy-handed.
TXP Builders – finely-crafted code, design and txp
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Re: insulting website requests
We used to bill jobs on completion, and never ran into a no-payer, but had a few times when a grand business plan deflated by the time work was done.
Ever since we went to the 50/50 plan (Half up front) We haven’t had any problems. We also require clients on total redesigns to host with us to simplify admin an increase control. We sell the hosting with a prepay for a year discount.
Another thing we do to discourage a long drawn out endings is that the initial contract says, job is complete when the site is functional, and not when populated with real content. That encourages clients to do their part and supply content.
All this puts the onus on the client to be serious about getting work done and paying. And you’d be surprised how clients seem to accept this all as “par for the course”
Anyway, thoughts?
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Re: insulting website requests
This was a one-off for us. Normally its all agreed up-front – payments and all, but this time was a special thing. Normally I develop locally, then upload files later, but in this case there were a lot of problems with the Multi-Lingual Pack, which had to be tested and worked on the final server because of the MLP problems with various MySQL/PHP setups.
Anyway – the client has not used the site yet, and does not answer my emails. Think I will wait a bit, then take the site down.
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Re: insulting website requests
There are a number of scripts out there that offer MySpace type functions. Better adopt a tried and tested solution when there is practically no budget.
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Re: insulting website requests
robin746 wrote:
…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.
Amen to that. I can’t believe how ridiculous some of the requests on those sites are. If the nation you live in isn’t one of the poorest 5 on the planet there’s no way you can compete.
—Paula
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Re: insulting website requests
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.
Or since it is a simple one page website for the complex that you live in, volunteering a few hours a month would not set up back and give back to your community. That is a bit prickish. Or a little politeness and saying you have no time to work on it. your HOA could always raise the monthly rate and pay a pro for it.
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Re: insulting website requests
I’ll do it for $150 … lol !
nuff-respec ::: dannyb
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Re: insulting website requests
Thats what i call a torture client. I tell them im too busy.
its a bad hen that wont scratch itself.
photogallery
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