Website, bought design got template

[Julies bookkeeping]

Hi

I had a telephone call from a sales man saying they can design and everything else associated with a website for just under £200.

Great I thought, the more he was saying the more I wanted it. A great website 5 pages, they design, load etc I do not have to do anything.

I received empty pages which had to be filled with my business info, not exactly what I thought I had paid for. anyway I eventually got round to getting a mate to help and we filled it in, put the links etc on and sent it off.

I never heard anymore from them, I kept checking my website but it never changed. I called them and they said they have not received it.

They re sent another envelope with 5 sheets for me to fill in again.

I was not impressed at all I did not want a do it yourself template.

A few calls and letters later, saying this is not what I paid for and I want a refund. No I was told they have spent a lot of time in the admin and design, sorry I have to laugh they have not designed anything for my website or changed my domain over to themselves. All they have done is sent 2 envelopes with 5 sheets of templates on a4 paper.

Do I have any recourse? am I allowed to name them?

 

[Calibre Designs]

Sorry to hear that!

If you are having no luck with it then give me a call. I'll PM you my number.

Thanks

Kay

 

[Aspect Investments]

If you paid with your credit card claim your money back.

 

[Julies bookkeeping]

Thanks I will look into that, though not sure if I will be able to as I did authorise it.

 

[DavidT]

Sorry to hear that. Did anything ever get put online?

Are they a big or well known business? Do they specialise in Bookkeepers, Accountants... or just in cheap packages/templates?

I can understand them needing a little info on you and your business - of course so that it is built for you, but I guess it included no assistance with the copywriting?

If you think about £200 in the UK... how many days work can a company there offer for it to be profitable? The main reason I can see a company subsidising the initial costs would be on the basis of establishing an ongoing relationship.

David Toohey
The Accountants Circle
Accountancy & Bookkeeping Forums | Accountant & Bookkeeper Blogs | Accounting Templates | Business Start-Up Package

 

[deniser]

I find it very strange in this day and age that you are asked to write on sheets of paper at all.

Can't you email them the information? They then at least wouldn't have to type it up but could copy and paste it, then edit it.

 

[jon.dc]

They may have contacted others on here and should not be in business offering such crap.

 

[GreatSEO]

Templates are great if all you want is a reference to your business but you are better off getting one from 123-reg or 1and1 or someone like that as it will only cost you £3-00 per year www.pnsvaleting.co.uk is exactly that and we rank in the search engines all for £3 lol.

However if you buy cheap you buy twice so they say. If you are looking for a cheaper solution it may be better to wait a little longer and spend a little more to ensure that you get a half decent site that can portray your business in the correct way.

Just my 2p. I hope you get your problems sorted

Regards

Dave

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Web designers, how fun they are to work with.

I have used several web designers since I opened my first business 6 years ago. The best thing you can do is use a good template site and keep webdesigners out of it all together.

We use a company called www.websitetonight.com it is part of go daddy. We have just built our first website, it took about 5 hours all in all, it is here www.brookfieldnetworking.co.uk

We can change anything whenever we want. We don't need to have any technical expereince, just a good idea on how a site should function. We pay £2.50 a month for this site!

Matt

 

[Bizicycle]

Did you have to sign up to a minimum contract for that site MK? It is very basic and not going to catch much attention but at those prices a 'do exactly what it says on the tin' site could be handy for me at the moment.

 

[Julies bookkeeping]

Thank you for your replies.

I have not received anything back.

They have not done anything for me, except send me envelopes.

I have my website at the moment with 123, for what I pay them they are very good, I wanted a more professional looking site.

I agree for more information from me they could have sent a template by email etc.

The first time I spoke to them complaining they were saying they have spent a lot of time getting me a domain, this has not been done at all, I already have the domain which I did tell them at the beginning.

They are Webworks Internet. They do have a brilliant sales man though he talks a load of bull.

If I do get my money back I have already said to a member of this board I would like him to do it for me. He will also hopefully help with my marketing. I just need to build the business up a bit more first.

 

[Dawg]

Go for a charge back and get a refund via your card. This will annoy them, which only seems reasonable.
Their own site is crap for a web design business, and having a technical help line at £1 a minute is a bit cowboy. I also wonder if Google and Barclays know that they are claimed as "partners"? (Should that be pardners?)

So get your dosh back, get someone nice to do it*, and treat this as a learning curve. Good luck.

*MK seems to have a slightly jaundiced attitude to web designers. This is OK. Some people are jaundiced about printers, some about the music biz. But as any fule know a Dawg is a man's best friend.

 

[Boris]

try this fella in future www.50quidwebsites.com

or co.uk

just done two from me and yep charged £50 each

 

[fairestcape]

My advice to everyone is to avoid so-called web developers who charge "per page" - eg: "We build you a website at only £xxx per page". Modern websites are dynamically driven content-managed systems, where the "pages" are compiled on-the-fly, depending on what the visitors are requesting. They are designed to deliver a unique experience to each user, based on information (content residing in a database) and transactional requests from the users.

These days, it's not about what websites ARE, but what they DO.

First questions to ask - before you engage anyone's services - is "What do I want my website to DO? What must it ACHIEVE for me, and for my customers?"

The major part of your answer should be: "My website must help grow my business and make me more money by attracting and keeping loyal customers!"

Then, when you start shopping around, ask the "web developer" how they intend helping you make more money from the website they plan to build, and how this will be tracked and audited.

Long before they open up Dreamweaver or Photoshop, a good web developer will start by asking you LOADS of questions about your business, including:-

• What do you sell, and how are you selling it right now?
• Who and where is your market?
• How do you currently do business with this market?
• What are your competitors doing, and how are you positioned in your market sector?
• What is your current advertising, marketing and promotional strategy, and what methods and techniques do you use here?
• Does your product/service lend itself to e-commerce?
• Will your customers buy from you / engage your services via a website? (And if so, how must the site be configured to enable this process to happen efficiently and effectively).
• What have you budgeted for website development, and what are your expected returns from the website?
• What is your (your organisation's) capacity to manage the website content and to administer trading activity coming through the site. (Will you, or your staff need training in how to manage and administer the site?)
• How will the site integrate with your current (traditional) business methodologies, advertising campaigns and revenue streams?

... etc, etc

If a web developer doesn't ask these questions - and meet with you to critically evaluate the answers BEFORE they start dev work, then it's very clear that they are not interested in your business, and probably don't have the capacity to construct a web presence that can measurably contribute to your bottom line.

Anyone who quotes for websites on a "per page" basis, is likely to be a newly-qualified design or media studies student who has no knowledge of commerce in the internet age, and who believes that fancy graphics are a sufficient smokescreen for general incompetence and naivety.

The world's most successful internet business, worth many billions of pounds (Google Search), has (at the core of its user interface) but one simple graphic, an input field and a submit button. It's not about what Google LOOKS LIKE, but what it DOES.

You should apply the same policy to your website.

 

[Julies bookkeeping]

Thanks for your post.

I think this forum is very good and I wish I found this forum before I paid out the money to this company.

I shall certainly take it as a learning curve, but is there anything I can do to get my money back.

Not sure about the charge back route as I did authorise it.

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Hi

You can purchase the website for a little as one month. If you click on www.websitetonight.com then all the prices are there.

Our site is basic but it does the job. I have spent thousands on website development in the past, and what I have learnt is to keep things simple. Make each page easy to read, make the site easy to navigate, try to use video and audio and make it nice to look at.

Matt

 

[MikeBzr]

I think saying 'keep web designers out of the equation altogether' is a little backward thinking; its like saying people should avoid printing companies and just use their own little inkjet. As with any profession, due diligence is important in order to make sure you know what you're getting and the company you're dealing with is professional.

Every industry has its cowboys, and its unfair to tar those who actually do provide a good quality professional service with the same brush.

 

[Poppy Design]

Hi there

Did you a signed order confirmation from them detailing what you are getting for your money?
If so and if they did not provide what they stated they would I would think they would need to refund you? though if you post this in the Legal section I am sure an expert can advise better.

Did you pay them upfront? (always a bad idea - pay a deposit and the rest on completion for future).

Still a bad experience for you - poor you - not all professional web designers are like that I can promise!

Hope you get sorted.

Joanne

 

[Optegris]

The expressions "If it sounds too good to be true it normally is" and "Pay peanuts, get a monkey" spring immmediately to mind...