Problems with Web developer Part 2.

[CarlosRealOnline]

I personally wouldn't use any of those anymore, there are others that are much better and cost less.

Anyway, you shouldn't be paying for that because he can quite easily reuse them on his next website that he does for somebody. He will have a 1 site licence for expression engine, so if your site isn't live he can use it on another one.

Some advice for the future though: £1000 is VERY cheap for an ecommerce solution, so I would look to increase your budget if possible.

 

[Silk Media]

Has he provided any evidence that he actually bought this software in the first place?

 

[Quirkyboy]

Believe it or not, this palava is still ongoing.

I would be grateful if someone could give me some constructive criticism about the functionality of my website: quirkyboymusic.co.uk.
I am not asking for any input on the design etc just the layout, functionality and whether it's actually near ready to use.
Bear in mind most of the text, product info and pics has still to be uploaded.

 

[ryedale]

I've just read through all this thread, are you still battling on with the same guy ?

Realistically, it's nothing special sorry

Most of the designers on here could have knocked up something better in a couple of days

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Ermm, honesty, you could have knocked that up in a few days, and used something like OpenCart, PRestashop ect, and be trading.

 

[Quirkyboy]

I've just read through all this thread, are you still battling on with the same guy ?

Realistically, it's nothing special sorry

Most of the designers on here could have knocked up something better in a couple of days

I know it's not that great, that's why I attempted to terminate our agreement and try someone else. However it seems I am stuck with my lot now and it's a case of trying to make the best of a bad situation and get at the very least a functioning site that will do me until I can afford to get a new website.

 

[Josh_Farmer]

I know it's not that great, that's why I attempted to terminate our agreement and try someone else. However it seems I am stuck with my lot now and it's a case of trying to make the best of a bad situation and get at the very least a functioning site that will do me until I can afford to get a new website.

How much have you paid out right now?

 

[ryedale]

I don't really see that you are tied in if there is no contract?

Does his price include training, hosting, ongoing support?

I'd be wary that he's going to try and hit you with a raft of extra charges if you ever do get finished

 

[Quirkyboy]

How much have you paid out right now?

£900.

 

[Quirkyboy]

I don't really see that you are tied in if there is no contract?

Does his price include training, hosting, ongoing support?

I'd be wary that he's going to try and hit you with a raft of extra charges if you ever do get finished

Price includes all of the above.
He is asking for a final payment of £100 before he finishes the site but I am very weary of paying anything until it is finished to my satisfaction.

I am trying to get the site layout and functionality finalised so that I can do the rest on my own and so I don't need to use him as his communication is terrible, everything takes bloody ages.

 

[Quirkyboy]

I have decided to be 100% honest and inform the web designer that I'm not happy with what he has provided or his poor service and communication.
I would appreciate further critiques of the quirkyboymusic.co.uk so that I can go armed with facts from professionals who know what to expect from an e-commerce website.

 

[fisicx]

Reviews are only for full members so any suggestion or comments you get will be deleted.

However...

That's a really poor design using a not very popular shopping cart. Is the $299 for the cart included in the £900 you are expecting to pay?

I could put a site like that together in less than a week.

 

[ryedale]

I'd ask him for a full breakdown of costs, how long he has spent on each bit and what has been involved.

 

[zigojacko]

I echo the above. What's been delivered to you falls a long way short of the price you've paid and it is unfinished (look at the product pages) so certainly unable to shift to production stage at present. You'd probably be best hiring someone else just to finish the job.

 

[Quirkyboy]

Having been occupied with other things over the last few months I had to leave this on the backburner.
Took a look at the site yesterday only to find it no longer existed. It's now showing: "Unable to resolve domain name / Error Code 105."
My domain name is active and doesn't expire until October 2015. The site was hosted by the designer.
I'm a bit of a technophobe regarding the technical aspects of websites and my designer wasn't very clear in explaining to me. Prior to the website disappearing the intention was to see if anyone else on the forum would be able to sort out the mess that had been done to date.
Can someone advise on how to proceed ?

 

[ryedale]

Sorry to hear you are still having problems

The nameservers for the domain are ns1.inigowebdesign.co.uk. and ns2.inigowebdesign.co.uk

I assume inigowebdesign that was the company who designed it?

The nameservers hold the information about where the site is hosted and they aren't returning any information at all when asked about it which would suggest the hosting account for it has been deleted entirely hence why the browsers are showing no information returned even though the domain is in date

 

[Alan]

Have you got control over your domain name, i.e. is it registered in your name with your email address, and ideally you can login to 123-reg or wherever and access it? (Google Whois if you are unsure )

Secondly, don't be so cheap next time. £1,000 is nothing, so if you are serious about your business set yourself a serious budget. If you are not serious and its just a hobby / sideline, sell on Shopify, e-bay or whatever.

 

[Quirkyboy]

That is indeed the name of the web designer. Is there anything I can do to confirm your theory ?
I have emailed the web designer to see if he can offer some information on its disappearance.
Was I wrong to presume that provided I kept the domain name active the website would remain dormant until I had time to ammend it ?

 

[ryedale]

Well if he has control of the hosting, he could terminate it whenever he chose.

http://www.intodns.com/quirkyboymusic.co.uk

If you scroll to the bottom of that page, you'll see the bottom error for www - that means there is no information available about where the site is hosted. I suspect he is running his own nameservers on the same server where sites are hosted which would suggest that it is no longer there

However, it could be that something entirely innocent has gone wrong or a mistake has been made . see what he comes back with

 

[Quirkyboy]

What would be the most likely reason to terminate ? I haven't had any communications with the web designer since May 2014. Relations were less than amicable at that point so I intended it to be our last until I tried to find someone else to sort this out. Wouldn't he have an obligation to advise me of any changes to the website ?

 

[Alan]

(Partially) reading the thread, I assume you didn't pay him anything more and 'broke off' relationships. So I am hardly surprised 9 months later the site is gone.

 

[ryedale]

We'd always contact a client and let them know if their site was going to be removed eg for non payment and give them every chance to move it elsewhere if they didn't want to renew

Even when removing a site, we always take a back up copy

Are you sure he has the latest contact details for you and any mails from him haven't gone into spam etc.

 

[Alan]

Most web designers would consider a 'non response' from a client of over 2 weeks to be that that client has defected and unlikely to continue to be engaged.

Having read back, you have paid £900. I guess you are going to have to make contact and see if he has any copies, but I wouldn't hold out much hope.

I'm guessing this guy is no longer in the web business, as his prices were unrealistic and his products substandard.

 

[ryedale]

Dunno about two weeks.. I've just had one resurface from 2011 and ask if we can carry on with a project they mothballed!

 

[Alan]

And what did you say? I hope it was, yes we can restart the project and the restart fee (due to having to get back up to speed) is £xxxx

 

[Quirkyboy]

I had actually forgotten that he had requested the balance of £100. From my point of view it seemed unacceptable to pay a further £100 for something I wasn't happy with and had caused me years of stress particularly after the pain and stupidity of parting with £900. However if he had reminded me of the consequence I may have had my hand forced.

Trawling through my mail account I now realise I was informed in one of his last emails about paying the balance of £100 and then I could do as I wanted with it. Even taking this into account shouldn't I have been emailed immediately prior to the site being terminated. As I say the last time we communicated was May 2014 and I had completely forgotten ?

I may have made some errors regarding this sorry saga but they have been through ignorance and naivety and to say I have found the whole experience expensive, incredibly stressful & unpleasant would be an understatement. Please tell me this isn't typical of the web design industry as a whole.

 

[ryedale]

Like any industry , there are good and bad firms

Look at reviews online of a firm and talk to existing customers

But we're not all bad

 

[ryedale]

And what did you say? I hope it was, yes we can restart the project and the restart fee (due to having to get back up to speed) is £xxxx

I did.. Not to mention they have Vat to pay on it now as well !

 

[Alan]

Please tell me this isn't typical of the web design industry as a whole.

Unfortunately this is typical in all unregulated industries.

Cowboy builders, anyone with a van can call themselves a builder and come and rip you off. The other day a so called 'locksmith' installed a £70 DEC intercom for my 85 year old dad and charged him £350 for the 20 minutes. It happens.

Anyone can call themselves a Web Designer, or an SEO, and unfortunately many people that have had minimal experience do, so there is a lot of it around. I can't think of a name for these that wouldn't insult some very good web designers, lets call then 'novices'.

It is just like my dad, he shouldn't have taken the checkatrade rating of the Locksmith on face value, he should have checked out his address (turns out to be an empty flat, no shop) and checked a few independent references and ideally actually used someone that was referred to him rather than random.

One of the big problems with the industry, is small businesses thinking that websites are a commodity - "just give me a standard e-commerce site please" "I just need a simple site" - and that there is so much price competition at the 'novice' end - mainly as they don't understand the effort involved and value of expertise, that the buyers get sucked into price rather than value. (one reason we (and many other) stopped putting prices on our website)

Some of the industry will take the time to 'educate' clients into what they actually need, however at the 'novice' end they either don't have the experience or are desperate to make a sale.

 

[Quirkyboy]

Thanks very much llocally & VTS for your advice and assistance so far. I wish I had found this site before I started down this long, stressful & depressing road.

I received an email from the web designer yesterday informing me that the web files have been "removed from his server" as "the account was well past its annual billing date". He advises that he "still has the files on disk".

At this point I'm not sure how to proceed. I can ill afford to pay a further £100 for a website that I don't really like, may be unsalvageable and is not fit for purpose.

I am gradually coming to the conclusion that I may have to accept the financial loss however I would have liked advice from some other designers on whether it was worth ammending the existing site or simply starting afresh.

 

[ryedale]

Is he saying £100 to put the site back online or for him to give you the files

If you can get the files off him, I'll be happy to put them back online for you (no charge) while you evaluate your options/review the site

 

[Quirkyboy]

I think it will be to get the files.

 

[Alan]

I didn't see the site in development, but Fisicx comment was it was rubbish and I trust him totally.

I think save your £100 and start again.

First work out if you really need an e-commerce site of your own, read my blog post on what to think about here -> http://locally.uk/2013/08/how-to-start-an-online-shop/

If you still want to go with your own site, then find a trusted developer and get a site built with either
- WordPress / Woocommerce
or
- OpenCart

As your budget is too low for a proper design process, you will need to drive things yourself. Pick a 'responsive' theme from Themeforest (e-commerce) and don't ask the developer for any customisations or nice ideas, take what it does as it is, just an installation and help setting it up. Make sure the developer you have worked with the e-commerce solution of your choice before and contact at least one reference.

If you are prepared to do most of the leg work and your expectations are not too high, you shoudl be able to get going and have a half decent solution.

 

[Quirkyboy]

Once again thanks for your advice llocally. I will check out the link and consider what you suggest.

Interestingly I just received the following email from the web designer this morning:

Please note that the next time you wish to send me personal abuse 'anonymously' through the contact form on my website it would be advisable to use a proxy or VPN so I am unable to match your ip address.
The logs and message have been recorded.
Please do not contact me again via any medium as I will no longer respond.
Regards,

I am bamboozled by what is going on as I can state categorically that his allegation is totally untrue and I did no such thing although I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it when things were particularly stressful.

 

[ryedale]

I really would just walk away now and put it down to a bad and costly experience and learn from it

Sorry that you've been messed about this way as it does give others in the industry a bad name

 

[Paul Murray]

I really would just walk away now and put it down to a bad and costly experience and learn from it

Sorry that you've been messed about this way as it does give others in the industry a bad name

Exactly, he's clearly not professional, both in attitude and experience, and frankly shouldn't be charging for the work he's providing.

It's such a shame you were messed about, and although £1000 is low for a bespoke e-commerce solution, nobody wants to pay that much for something that is useless. People like this give the industry a very bad name, and makes it harder for legitimate designers and developers to run a small business. Personally I'd have advised you to simply refuse to pay him past the deposit and let him try to claim the money back from the SCC. And that's speaking as a designer myself!

Without a contract in place that says who's paying how much, when and for what, and what happens if problems arise, then things get messy. Contracts protect both parties, and I'd be weary of working with anyone who refuses to use them, whether they're a client or designer.

 

[fisicx]

The only problem is he now has nothing - the site has been removed and It's likely that any content has been lost as well. And even if they did have a backup they can't give to another developer as the platform wasn't properly supported.

 

[DavidHoul52]

Really, £1000 for a relatively complex website is peanuts.