Mini-site disaster?? freelance disaster?? Share your bad experiences here
Hey Guys,
I was just thinking about the bad experiences I've had in the past with freelancers or designers who screwed me around when given a task and trust me I've had some really golden ones.
Have you had any classic bad experience? it could be disastrous or funny or whatever. Please share here.
I am about to launch a mini-site design services and it will help me greatly to have a feel of things and will provide great info for readers of this thread about the things to keep in mind when hiring someone to do a job.
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I share mine here first :
This happened sometime ago. I was doing a clients website and basically transferring content onto a html/css based template and I was overloaded with work. Back then I didn't have a team working with me so I was a one man show.
The deadline was near and I knew there was no way I could do it in time for the client so I head over to scriptlance.com and posted a detailed task description including I will provide the content and I will also provide the template. The bidder has to simply put together everything and give it back to me. Maximum 2 hours work for anyone who knows what they doing.
I get a few bids and I choose a designer. I had a detailed conversation about the task and provided him with all the relevant content and 2 days and quite a few emails later it wasn't done.
I chose another bidder and here is what followed. He started working on it and received all the files from me. Apparently his internet connection was slow and his computer decided to restart on its own so 2 hrs [spent in downloading the zip files I sent him] were wasted.
Then he went offline on skype and after coming back online he said he had lost all the instructions so I had to give him everything again. Another 2 hrs later when he downloaded everything he requested that I leave feedback for him on scriptlance and apologized for the delay.
He convinced he'll do the work for free because of the delay but I had to leave a great feedback in return. I said I was ready to pay him and will only leave feedback once he completed the work but after a lot of convincing I gave in and left feedback for him and as soon as that happened he went offline and we had no contact for another 2 days.
Imagine how frustrated I was and manipulated I felt. I am a straightforward guy who loves helping others but when things like these happen I totally loose my faith in doing good [regain it later though as I can't help myself]
He came back on 2 days later and apparently it wasn't him and it was his brother who worked with him. My freelancer had had an accident and was in hospital which I felt really sorry for, but that had nothing to do with me or my work.
I had to go all over again and explain everything to his brother who was willing to do the work for me. Guess what happened? He disappeared for two days after taking the instructions.
I have lost my strength to relive the experience to cut it short and I expect you to be reading another 1000 words.
Long story short. Bad things happen and they happen at a very bad time. We should learn from our experiences and move on. Sh%t happens and you can't do nothing about it.
That doesn't mean we loose our faith in the good people out there and believe me there are tons of them but unfortunately they are keeping a low profile possibly because the best ones don't know how to market themselves or position themselves. Keep doing good but learn from your mistakes in the future.
I'd love to know your bad experiences when hiring someone so that everyone can learn from this thread.
Sorry for the long ramble ¬
Regards,
Maddi
I was just thinking about the bad experiences I've had in the past with freelancers or designers who screwed me around when given a task and trust me I've had some really golden ones.
Have you had any classic bad experience? it could be disastrous or funny or whatever. Please share here.
I am about to launch a mini-site design services and it will help me greatly to have a feel of things and will provide great info for readers of this thread about the things to keep in mind when hiring someone to do a job.
-----------
I share mine here first :
This happened sometime ago. I was doing a clients website and basically transferring content onto a html/css based template and I was overloaded with work. Back then I didn't have a team working with me so I was a one man show.
The deadline was near and I knew there was no way I could do it in time for the client so I head over to scriptlance.com and posted a detailed task description including I will provide the content and I will also provide the template. The bidder has to simply put together everything and give it back to me. Maximum 2 hours work for anyone who knows what they doing.
I get a few bids and I choose a designer. I had a detailed conversation about the task and provided him with all the relevant content and 2 days and quite a few emails later it wasn't done.
I chose another bidder and here is what followed. He started working on it and received all the files from me. Apparently his internet connection was slow and his computer decided to restart on its own so 2 hrs [spent in downloading the zip files I sent him] were wasted.
Then he went offline on skype and after coming back online he said he had lost all the instructions so I had to give him everything again. Another 2 hrs later when he downloaded everything he requested that I leave feedback for him on scriptlance and apologized for the delay.
He convinced he'll do the work for free because of the delay but I had to leave a great feedback in return. I said I was ready to pay him and will only leave feedback once he completed the work but after a lot of convincing I gave in and left feedback for him and as soon as that happened he went offline and we had no contact for another 2 days.
Imagine how frustrated I was and manipulated I felt. I am a straightforward guy who loves helping others but when things like these happen I totally loose my faith in doing good [regain it later though as I can't help myself]
He came back on 2 days later and apparently it wasn't him and it was his brother who worked with him. My freelancer had had an accident and was in hospital which I felt really sorry for, but that had nothing to do with me or my work.
I had to go all over again and explain everything to his brother who was willing to do the work for me. Guess what happened? He disappeared for two days after taking the instructions.
I have lost my strength to relive the experience to cut it short and I expect you to be reading another 1000 words.
Long story short. Bad things happen and they happen at a very bad time. We should learn from our experiences and move on. Sh%t happens and you can't do nothing about it.
That doesn't mean we loose our faith in the good people out there and believe me there are tons of them but unfortunately they are keeping a low profile possibly because the best ones don't know how to market themselves or position themselves. Keep doing good but learn from your mistakes in the future.
I'd love to know your bad experiences when hiring someone so that everyone can learn from this thread.
Sorry for the long ramble ¬
Regards,
Maddi