Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
I just wondered if you could give an old lady some advice.
I recruited two freelancers who have a company to redevelop my website back in June and paid the full price up front out of good will. They said it will take one month, the site is quite complex as it has login areas and previous customer data needs to be copied over from Excel sheets. They have done a great job and finished the site apart from one small section and copying the data over which they said they will do while they switch the domain name.
They say they will work on the site but nothing ever happens and they don't contact me for weeks. I send really nice emails to them thanking them for the hard work and begging them to get the site live, explaining we are loosing thousands but they still don't respond.
This has been "almost finished" for the past two months. I am going crazy now as my business is loosing tons of money compared to last year as we are only busy in Aug/Sept due to our business being a holiday adventure business based in France, and 100% of customers find us and book online.
The programming and design work is great but they just don't respond to me or finish the website. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do?
The contract I have with them does not say a live date but they sent me the date by email prior to me paying for the website, as I trusted they would do a good job on time. I am also worried that when they switch the domain name over to the new host my site will be down for ages as they still have the unfinished job of copying my customer data. Please can anyone give me some advice? Thanks so much in advance, Marge.
The contract I have with them does not say a live date but they sent me the date by email prior to me paying for the website,
In most parts of the world, as you paid up front on the basis of that email, it forms part of the contract.
Check with a lawyer. If you are losing that kind of money, then you need to make this a dispute, not just a 'polite' email.
First be sure you have the website within your control, then change the access codes, and have your lawyer send them a firm letter.
Then get someone else to finish the site and bill them for the costs.
Next time, don't pay it all upfront - that's only for people you've used before, isn't it :)
PS I am not a lawyer, etc., etc., - and you need a lawyer
They are not going to finish the site.
If you are losing a lot of money, hire someone else to finish the the site and then get a lawyer.
I've said before in the forums - you're a businessperson now; you need to learn all about running a business - especially when it comes to securing payment and working with freelance contractors.
I do not thing this is true. Both good and bad freelancers are everywhere, even in the same street you live.
Always the initial identification of a good developer or a development company is not easy. Its as hard as to a developer who is finding for work.
Now you need to do this, as you say you are loosing much money, you need to spend money to find good people who can complete the work. Its again hard, But there is no easy solution.
