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Outsource Horror Stories

by Lauryn
9 replies
...I'm a little bored as I churn away at work today. Wanted to know if anyone has any crazy, funny or even terribly shocking horror stories when it comes to outsourcing for your internet marketing business.

Please add what lessons you learned about outsourcing and/or how the problem was resolved as well.
#horror #outsource #stories
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Perry
    The big lesson that i've learned in the past is that you get what you pay for. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you find those diamonds in the rough that are willing to work for peanuts and give great results, but more times than not it ends up as more of a headache than anything.

    The key to success I use for finding the right person is asking a lot of questions before hiring and having a PRECISE plan for them to follow once hired.

    Thanks,

    Kevin
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    Owner and Operator of 6StarMedia.com - A website design and marketing firm
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    • Profile picture of the author Lauryn
      Originally Posted by The Godfather View Post

      The big lesson that i've learned in the past is that you get what you pay for. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you find those diamonds in the rough that are willing to work for peanuts and give great results, but more times than not it ends up as more of a headache than anything.

      The key to success I use for finding the right person is asking a lot of questions before hiring and having a PRECISE plan for them to follow once hired.

      Thanks,

      Kevin
      Thanks Kevin,

      I agree.

      The only horror stories I've had are mild to what I've heard. oDesk workers frequently pick up work and stop contacting you, some just lie repeatedly when they forget to have work in on time... and the one that really irritated me was when I hired someone to translate posts and they translated and reposted the each post like 3 different times. It was a headache to deal with.

      I know someone who caught their writer plagiarizing content and fired them. The person left really crazy feedback lol.
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      I Go Hard = "Slanguage" for putting forth a lot of effort.

      Don't be an arse and try to flip something you clearly have no knowledge of against me.

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      • Profile picture of the author manahei
        Originally Posted by Lauryn View Post

        Thanks Kevin,

        I agree.

        The only horror stories I've had are mild to what I've heard. oDesk workers frequently pick up work and stop contacting you, some just lie repeatedly when they forget to have work in on time... and the one that really irritated me was when I hired someone to translate posts and they translated and reposted the each post like 3 different times. It was a headache to deal with.

        I know someone who caught their writer plagiarizing content and fired them. The person left really crazy feedback lol.
        Sadly oDesk has many great people but enough garbage to sour the experience. Elance on the other hand has a plethora of slackers, but their dispute process is brilliant; protects the buyer.
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    • Profile picture of the author Matt Morgan
      Originally Posted by The Godfather View Post

      The big lesson that i've learned in the past is that you get what you pay for.
      Yes you get what you pay for. I have sometimes found rarely or even luckily you get some gold gems for some cheap prices.

      When you do you want to lock on to them, and keep rewarding them with incentive payments.
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  • Profile picture of the author manahei
    Originally Posted by Lauryn View Post

    ...I'm a little bored as I churn away at work today. Wanted to know if anyone has any crazy, funny or even terribly shocking horror stories when it comes to outsourcing for your internet marketing business.

    Please add what lessons you learned about outsourcing and/or how the problem was resolved as well.
    Lauryn! I read this and try to push idea of knees pushing back but alas, take it from me, cynical ex-dot com guru that braved the world or Ukrainians and Kolkotans for 5 years before spraying the proverbial hose at all of them! And oh, BTW, most USA based tech firms SUCK too. So local or far you must GET PERSONAL with your talent. I literally visited firms in India, Estonia, Poland, and Russia on big jobs to express how serious we were - wow! What a wake up. Lies, lies, lies. From my experience Russians and Polish are the most honest and hard working out of USA.

    Oh, use SKYPE. Otherwise you are NOT serious. Up in ya, m
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  • Profile picture of the author Jim Phillips
    Hi Lauryn,

    I remember outsourcing my first C++ window based software project to a freelance firm in the Ukraine. There was such a language problem. I knew exactly what I wanted developed but trying to get them to understand was very interesting. It was a great learning experience showing them by using screenshots how I wanted the wizard interface to work.

    After many long early morning sessions and about 2 months later I had a pretty impressive fully functional software. It only cost me around $500.00 in US dollars. But my time spent in getting this project finished cost me many more thousands of dollars.

    Also during that same time I was outsourcing a php project to a firm in India. The php project was a real trip. It had a MySQL database tied into it with a membership area and many unique features. It was built from the bottom up. Debugging it to get a usable finished product was amazing to say the least. You have got to have a good sense of humor.

    I would say besides the language barrier and the different time zones... the hardest thing was not knowing anything about C++, php or MySQL.

    The moral of this is don't bite off more than you can chew at one time. Plus if there is a will... there is a way.

    Best Regards,

    Jim
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    "Life is like a merry-go-round. What goes around, comes around."

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    • Profile picture of the author Lauryn
      Originally Posted by manahei View Post

      And oh, BTW, most USA based tech firms SUCK too. So local or far you must GET PERSONAL with your talent. I literally visited firms in India, Estonia, Poland, and Russia on big jobs to express how serious we were - wow! What a wake up. Lies, lies, lies. From my experience Russians and Polish are the most honest and hard working out of USA.

      Oh, use SKYPE. Otherwise you are NOT serious. Up in ya, m
      I agree with that. I've had a few outsourcers. Mostly writing. Since then I've been studying the art of copy.

      Originally Posted by Jim Phillips View Post

      Hi Lauryn,

      I remember outsourcing my first C++ window based software project to a freelance firm in the Ukraine. There was such a language problem. I knew exactly what I wanted developed but trying to get them to understand was very interesting. It was a great learning experience showing them by using screenshots how I wanted the wizard interface to work.

      After many long early morning sessions and about 2 months later I had a pretty impressive fully functional software. It only cost me around $500.00 in US dollars. But my time spent in getting this project finished cost me many more thousands of dollars.

      Also during that same time I was outsourcing a php project to a firm in India. The php project was a real trip. It had a MySQL database tied into it with a membership area and many unique features. It was built from the bottom up. Debugging it to get a usable finished product was amazing to say the least. You have got to have a good sense of humor.

      I would say besides the language barrier and the different time zones... the hardest thing was not knowing anything about C++, php or MySQL.

      The moral of this is don't bite off more than you can chew at one time. Plus if there is a will... there is a way.

      Best Regards,

      Jim
      Yes - the language barriers are quite a hurdle. I simply love it when I have specific instructions as to how to respond to my requests and nobody follows them. :rolleyes: Other than that when you can tell they are really trying but it's still not fully connecting, it does get interesting because you don't want to give up. I haven't had a complex programming project yet, but I can imagine the hassle it could be if you add lack of knowledge about C++ lol!
      Signature

      I Go Hard = "Slanguage" for putting forth a lot of effort.

      Don't be an arse and try to flip something you clearly have no knowledge of against me.

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  • Profile picture of the author Brenden Clerget
    Got 20 articles once that were supposed to be on weight supplements and instead I got 20 articles on prenatal care or some crap and they weren't even really anything you could read.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lauryn
    Ohhhh that sucks! Did you have them correct it?
    Signature

    I Go Hard = "Slanguage" for putting forth a lot of effort.

    Don't be an arse and try to flip something you clearly have no knowledge of against me.

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