oper. They have promised to meet our deadlines and come with strong credentials. They use work orders and have an online system where the client can leave messages and monitor progress. I can only pray they will fulfill our expectations. I’ll keep you informed in a follow-up article as to how they worked out. But this article should serve as a warning to those who might wish to retain the services of a website designer. In summary, check their references, beware of the really small companies that are run by young people wearing shorts. Ask about outsourcing, guaranteed deadlines, how they bill, and check their portfolio. Arrange a meeting with the owner and don’t settle. There are tons of companies, near and far, that can meet your needs. And if one of them speaks Russian, run, don’t walk, to the nearI have two bad experiences with website developers, but I am learning from my mistakes. I feel it is my civic duty to pass on some of this wisdom so that others can benefit from my failures. Therefore, allow me to tell my tale and you be the judge. Like all sites, it began with a basic concept. We would build a site that contained all the data we needed including an e-commerce portion and, a few months later, we would watch the money flow in. What could be simpler? But who to choose? I began with the local Yellow Pages and migrated to the internet. After a few hours of research, I found a company with a nice portfolio, testimonials, and the services we required. We called and arranged for a meeting. Their “office” was in an executive suite and the owner explained that he used the meeting room as a convenience.

It should have been my first warning sign. My second was the way he was dressed. Hip-hop style shorts are a bit too casual for a business conference, but I tried to keep an open mind. He was young and very self-confident because he even explained how much he knew, and how obviously little I knew, about internet design and implementation. I showed him a layout for the front page and he actually scoffed at my first attempt at a web page design. Actually, I am a professional advertising designer and I used Adobe to produce exactly what I wanted. A week later, he sent over his version of the page which didn’t remotely resemble the original. He explained how much better his would be with lime green colors and all as I cringed. I patiently explained that I wanted the original and the battle lines were drawn as he grunted and reluctantly agreed. As the weeks passed on, the work was consistently late and not as ordered. Spelling mistakes abounded, even though I sent over spell-checked word documents. He explained they were too hard to read and had to be retyped (at $85 an hour, mind you). After 8 painful months during which time he totally skipped 3 weeks over Christmas for a business break when he did nothing, we decided we were finished dealing with his company.

We left on bitter terms and went looking for another developer. During the process, one company we interviewed noted that all the back-end PHP coding was in Russian. He explained how the Russians will work for $8 an hour and do a lot of off-site work. Yet we paid $85 an hour to the owner and he never told us about that scam. Yikes! Anyway, we picked another firm and it worked out for a while. That is until they began missing deadlines and then changing the layouts without permission. Sound familiar? At one point, they estimated a job would take 3 weeks and it stretched to 9 weeks. Like the first group, a week or two would fly by without any contact or explanation as to the delay. Emails went unreturned and excuses for missed deadlines piled up. Once again, it was time to reluctantly move on. The site wasn’t being attended to properly and we felt like we were being ignored. Even though we never missed a payment and were extremely patient, in the hopes that this company would work around the problems, we were treated badly.

So, to bring you up to date, after more interviews for a third time, we have hired a new developer. They have promised to meet our deadlines and come with strong credentials. They use work orders and have an online system where the client can leave messages and monitor progress. I can only pray they will fulfill our expectations. I’ll keep you informed in a follow-up article as to how they worked out. But this article should serve as a warning to those who might wish to retain the services of a website designer. In summary, check their references, beware of the really small companies that are run by young people wearing shorts. Ask about outsourcing, guaranteed deadlines, how they bill, and check their portfolio. Arrange a meeting with the owner and don’t settle. There are tons of companies, near and far, that can meet your needs. And if one of them speaks Russian, run, don’t walk, to the neare

venience.

It should have been my first warning sign. My second was the way he was dressed. Hip-hop style shorts are a bit too casual for a business conference, but I tried to keep an open mind. He was young and very self-confident because he even explained how much he knew, and how obviously little I knew, about internet design and implementation. I showed him a layout for the front page and he actually scoffed at my first attempt at a web page design. Actually, I am a professional advertising designer and I used Adobe to produce exactly what I wanted. A week later, he sent over his version of the page which didn’t remotely resemble the original. He explained how much better his would be with lime green colors and all as I cringed. I patiently explained that I wanted the original and the battle lines were drawn as he grunted and reluctantly agreed. As the weeks passed on, the work was consistently late and not as ordered. Spelling mistakes abounded, even though I sent over spell-checked word documents. He explained they were too hard to read and had to be retyped (at $85 an hour, mind you). After 8 painful months during which time he totally skipped 3 weeks over Christmas for a business break when he did nothing, we decided we were finished dealing with his company.

We left on bitter terms and went looking for another developer. During the process, one company we interviewed noted that all the back-end PHP coding was in Russian. He explained how the Russians will work for $8 an hour and do a lot of off-site work. Yet we paid $85 an hour to the owner and he never told us about that scam. Yikes! Anyway, we picked another firm and it worked out for a while. That is until they began missing deadlines and then changing the layouts without permission. Sound familiar? At one point, they estimated a job would take 3 weeks and it stretched to 9 weeks. Like the first group, a week or two would fly by without any contact or explanation as to the delay. Emails went unreturned and excuses for missed deadlines piled up. Once again, it was time to reluctantly move on. The site wasn’t being attended to properly and we felt like we were being ignored. Even though we never missed a payment and were extremely patient, in the hopes that this company would work around the problems, we were treated badly.

So, to bring you up to date, after more interviews for a third time, we have hired a new developer. They have promised to meet our deadlines and come with strong credentials. They use work orders and have an online system where the client can leave messages and monitor progress. I can only pray they will fulfill our expectations. I’ll keep you informed in a follow-up article as to how they worked out. But this article should serve as a warning to those who might wish to retain the services of a website designer. In summary, check their references, beware of the really small companies that are run by young people wearing shorts. Ask about outsourcing, guaranteed deadlines, how they bill, and check their portfolio. Arrange a meeting with the owner and don’t settle. There are tons of companies, near and far, that can meet your needs. And if one of them speaks Russian, run, don’t walk, to the near

lines were drawn as he grunted and reluctantly agreed. As the weeks passed on, the work was consistently late and not as ordered. Spelling mistakes abounded, even though I sent over spell-checked word documents. He explained they were too hard to read and had to be retyped (at $85 an hour, mind you). After 8 painful months during which time he totally skipped 3 weeks over Christmas for a business break when he did nothing, we decided we were finished dealing with his company.

We left on bitter terms and went looking for another developer. During the process, one company we interviewed noted that all the back-end PHP coding was in Russian. He explained how the Russians will work for $8 an hour and do a lot of off-site work. Yet we paid $85 an hour to the owner and he never told us about that scam. Yikes! Anyway, we picked another firm and it worked out for a while. That is until they began missing deadlines and then changing the layouts without permission. Sound familiar? At one point, they estimated a job would take 3 weeks and it stretched to 9 weeks. Like the first group, a week or two would fly by without any contact or explanation as to the delay. Emails went unreturned and excuses for missed deadlines piled up. Once again, it was time to reluctantly move on. The site wasn’t being attended to properly and we felt like we were being ignored. Even though we never missed a payment and were extremely patient, in the hopes that this company would work around the problems, we were treated badly.

So, to bring you up to date, after more interviews for a third time, we have hired a new developer. They have promised to meet our deadlines and come with strong credentials. They use work orders and have an online system where the client can leave messages and monitor progress. I can only pray they will fulfill our expectations. I’ll keep you informed in a follow-up article as to how they worked out. But this article should serve as a warning to those who might wish to retain the services of a website designer. In summary, check their references, beware of the really small companies that are run by young people wearing shorts. Ask about outsourcing, guaranteed deadlines, how they bill, and check their portfolio. Arrange a meeting with the owner and don’t settle. There are tons of companies, near and far, that can meet your needs. And if one of them speaks Russian, run, don’t walk, to the near

Yikes! Anyway, we picked another firm and it worked out for a while. That is until they began missing deadlines and then changing the layouts without permission. Sound familiar? At one point, they estimated a job would take 3 weeks and it stretched to 9 weeks. Like the first group, a week or two would fly by without any contact or explanation as to the delay. Emails went unreturned and excuses for missed deadlines piled up. Once again, it was time to reluctantly move on. The site wasn’t being attended to properly and we felt like we were being ignored. Even though we never missed a payment and were extremely patient, in the hopes that this company would work around the problems, we were treated badly.

So, to bring you up to date, after more interviews for a third time, we have hired a new developer. They have promised to meet our deadlines and come with strong credentials. They use work orders and have an online system where the client can leave messages and monitor progress. I can only pray they will fulfill our expectations. I’ll keep you informed in a follow-up article as to how they worked out. But this article should serve as a warning to those who might wish to retain the services of a website designer. In summary, check their references, beware of the really small companies that are run by young people wearing shorts. Ask about outsourcing, guaranteed deadlines, how they bill, and check their portfolio. Arrange a meeting with the owner and don’t settle. There are tons of companies, near and far, that can meet your needs. And if one of them speaks Russian, run, don’t walk, to the near

oper. They have promised to meet our deadlines and come with strong credentials. They use work orders and have an online system where the client can leave messages and monitor progress. I can only pray they will fulfill our expectations. I’ll keep you informed in a follow-up article as to how they worked out. But this article should serve as a warning to those who might wish to retain the services of a website designer. In summary, check their references, beware of the really small companies that are run by young people wearing shorts. Ask about outsourcing, guaranteed deadlines, how they bill, and check their portfolio. Arrange a meeting with the owner and don’t settle. There are tons of companies, near and far, that can meet your needs. And if one of them speaks Russian, run, don’t walk, to the nearest exit.