Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
When the design was finished the first time around, they complained that the layout was too small in appearance. I asked their screen resolution, and they said it was 1200 x 800. I tried to explain that this was the reason it was so small.
After hours of explanations, I finally gave in and enlarged it for them, throwing it off on every other screen in the world.
They were pleased, and they began to add products to the shop. My first question is, can this be considered completed, as they are able to use it?
Today, they contacted me and admitted I was right about the resolution, and wanted me to fix it to where it was before. I said I would, but I must be paid on this round.
They agreed, but only wanted to pay for one hour of my time. Seeing as I had put three hours into enlarging it for them at no charge, I disagreed and requested I be compensated for all three hours it would take to change it back.
This was unacceptable to them, and they went as far as calling me a liar. This has gone round and round for weeks with them. They are completely unable to be pleased.
I realized at this point that it was time to tell them they were either going to pay what I charge to fix it, leave it as is, or if they wanted to scrap it all, they could ask for a refund based on the terms of the contract.
The orginal contract amount was $260, as I gave them a nice discount as a "friend of a friend", paid at signing. By this point, I had put in atleast 3 hours into configuring the software, 7 hours customizing the layout, and 3 more hours the first time I resized it all. 13 x 40 = 520. This is more than the original amount, so technically they would owe me an additional $260. Being a nice guy however, I offered to waive the extra charge if it could be handled in an easy manner.
Keep in mind that this site was only a few paragraphs on about 2 or 3 pages away from completion. In fact, the reason these were not finished was because he failed to provide the content to me by the date stated on the contract.
Now he's threatening to take me to court, saying he will sue for the $260 he paid me originally, plus any lost time from his business at $75 per hour.
I am pretty sure that he's unable to sue for lost time, considering there was no agreement on that to begin with. Also my contract says numerous times that I am unable to be held liable for any damages.
Is he just blowing smoke? or should I be worried?
I do full intend to seek advice from a lawyer, but if he's just bluffing, I'd like to leave it alone.
Also, what would you say are the chances of me actually being able to sue HIM for the remainder of the refund that he would owe me? Would I also be able to make him pay for all court costs and MY lost time, considering the contract actually states some to the effect?
Any comments, advice, reassurances, or thoughts of doom would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Never argue with a client. What you need to do is ask them what one of their typical clients would be like and then find someone who fits that role and get your client in front of one of their client's computers (or something as close as possible). It's kind like, there is nothing behind me and you can argue until your blue but if you pick them up and rotate them 90 degrees, they can see , ahh, the other half of the planet.
If they knew what they were doing they wouldn't need you right?
Now if THEY will be the only ones using the site and they will be using their screens thats fine. You need to make sure your communications as clear too!
You can also take advantage of stubborn stupidity. If you already told them NO THAT WONT WORK and they make you do it anyway and THEN they change their minds, have it in the contract that if they breech design/development principals that you CLEARLY warned them about then you reserve the right to charge big buck and extend the deadline as you see fit. If they ask why then you explain to them that you had clearly wanred them about a major design principal that they were breaking (that falls short of your standards of practice (which makes you seem more competent heh) and put it in a fancy way that they were stupid and wasted your time.
I'm not a buisness person but that is a generic situation you REALLY need to be prepared for both in mind and contract. :)
Sounds like the kind of hoser that you do not want as a client. They DEMANDED that you make it like X but you recommended Y. You spent the time building X as requested- done deal, over, kaching. Now that they want it built like Y, quote them a price for that. Don't argue or justify, just benevolently say that this is your price for the work, and he can hire you or not.
These people are jerking you around like that for a measly $250? They don't sound like the wisest people in the history of commerce!
Lesson learned: Spell it out in writing; take a proper deposit, and installments as stated goals are reached in the project. The ownership of your code or mods does NOT transfer to the client until the final installment is paid in full- in other words, their site might not work unless they pay their webmaster. ;) Make sure this is in future contracts.
I would consider it a lesson learned and move on.
nwulfert two things here - for one I KNOW you're not counting in all the time put into phone calls, discussions, arguing about this issue and the original resolution change, my general impression is that you're selling yourself short. By my math, $520 for 13 hours of work is probably more like 20 or 30 hours of real time, and that equates to starvation. :-)
The reason I make a point of this is this guy is getting a DEAL. Stand up for your worth and don't back down.
The second thing: is your recommendation against the huge screenres documented? If it is, this will fall in your favor in small claims court, call his bluff. "The customer is always right." So you followed his instructions and rather than admit his error he's trying to throw this in your court. Don't back down. It may create bad blood but you don't need this kind of business.
The thing you have to remember here is not that "they don't understand" or "it's hard to explain" - both of these are painfully true, but the important thing is they don't care. If the're going to let a couple hundred bucks get in the way of completing their project, this is THEIR call, not yours. We all want our projects to work, our customers to be happy, but don't allow that to color the bottom line. I say stick to your guns and aim high. :-)
This reminds me of a painful lesson I learned when my company fronted $50k to a recommended web development firm to speed up a project. That paid for several hundred hours of engineering time that unfortunately went towards a horrible project manager(who was later fired) and entry level programmers. We could have sued but instead chose to walk away and hired someone else qualified to do the job right. Lesson learned is I should have reviewed the contract more carefully and closely monitored their progress. This web firm had a chance to fix the problem. That did not happen, some local companies got wind of the ordeal and have since pulled out of much more lucrative contracts. In service industries a good reputation is priceless.
My advice would be to remain as calm and professional as possible, explain in writing your position, but be prepared for the likely outcome that your business relationship with these folks is over. do whatever you can to make sure you've held up your end of the bargain, but you don't have to work for free to correct mistakes made by the client.
You are the authority on this issue. Your client disregarded your recommendation. Any resulting billable hours from you or loss of sales from the poorly functioning website is solely their responsibility.
It is really sad how many people instantly jump on the "I'm going to sue you" bandwagon. It sounds like you have been professional throughout, and at this point would be entitled to cease working on the project altogether, and telling him to find another webmaster, even if the site needs further work. His behavior is abusive and lacks basic decency.
