Paid Half of $5,500 and almost 4 months later No Site

[SteveGerencser]

Let us know how they are doing.. One of the things many programmers and detail guys don't do very well at is the customer service side of things.. So in cases like this I always try to assume it's all good, they just don't want to show something not quite ready yet.. That's why when William and I JV on a project I tend to handle the CS side of things and let him keep his head down and code..

And their scheduling issues really aren't your problem when it goes on for months.. Definitely another case of smaller milestones being a good idea..

1. payment to start
2. payment for layout and framework
3. payment for functionality
4. payment for design
5. payment for done

are the general steps.. They can be smaller as the complexity goes up..

[chrisJumbo]

Lesson that you are learning, give too much up front and they take their time. We had a similar problem with our redesign. Some of the delays were on my end so I didn't push too hard. But after going about 90-Days beyond my delay issues, they still hadn't finished the site (and ours really isn't that complex :O) ). However, it was a payment plan and they already had all of the money. After a few more and more direct emails (their own contract had a satisfaction guarantee) things worked out.

Moral: They would have pushed us a lot harder if they were waiting to get paid. I would never pay 50% for a project upfront and next time our milestones will have to be met before they get the successive payments.

I hope it turns out. It probably will. As Steve noted, programmers aren't often people persons and customer service may not be their gift.
cd :O)

[Registered]

Here's his reply for my request to check out the functionality of the site..... " I need your IP address when u have time so u can see the site "

I feel crazy asking but Is this something you'd expect to hear back?

[deepsand]

Here's his reply for my request to check out the functionality of the site..... " I need your IP address when u have time so u can see the site "

I feel crazy asking but Is this something you'd expect to hear back?

Theoretically needed depending on the method he uses to provide you with access.

[SteveGerencser]

I would wager he's building it on in internal network and he needs to add a firewall exception to let you in to see it.. Nothing wrong with that..

[Tech Manager]

When working with a developer I always recommend getting some verifiable references. You should also get full agreement on the scope of the project and then set specific goals and dates for completion of those goals. DO you have a contract defining when the website should be complete?

[Registered]

Well in my case, what he showed me was the opposite as described above. The design and appearance is better than the functionality at this point. Looks like to me there's a lot of work to be done. Missing a lot of tools including the financial videos that update daily, missing the portfolio tool which to my understanding is a big undertaking in it's self and missing a lot more so I don't know what to say to the guy at this point. He sent it to me 2-3 days ago and I haven't replied or even know if I should.

[williamc]

If they are missing that much of what should have been done 3 months ago, then it is likely going to be another 3+ months before you ever get a workable product, based on you said above only, I would think it is high time to see about maybe cutting your losses.

[Registered]

We're down to the last few things it seems. Our agreement in email was that the site be put on my server, I check it out and have some people critique it. Now he's saying he's not going to do that, that I have to register where he has the demo and that's it. If I approve it and pay then he moves it to my server. I don't like that because I can't use some of the tools on the demo I wanted to use to check it out and because it's not our agreement. Plus at this point I've lost a lot of trust in him.

The next thing is that the demo site is being crawled by the search engines and indexed. I don't like that either. I'm afraid it's going to cause a duplicate content problem. Because it's a different domain name than what mine is going to be but the same site. I know the last programmer/developer had the demo setup to where the search engines couldn't index it so there would be no duplicate content problems.

From what I can see at this point the forum isn't added on but is on my server and there's no site map or about us page.

He had said that it's setup to where I can easily add pages and unique content but hasn't gotten into explaining how that works yet.

If there's any programmers/site developers on here that would be willing to look at it and see what you think, I can send you a Pm of the current demo url.

[williamc]

Be happy to.