Frustrated with designer

Try to hire seperately between web designer and web programmer. I know there are some good people out there who could do both ( design and code ), but it is very rare

Take this to the "script lance type of site" that you hired him from and follow what's stated in the site's resolution process.

Other options are to drag this out in a small claims court (if that's even geographically feasible), or chalk it up as a learning experience to better vet your providers and/or the service that you hire through.

I can do the HTML if U want

One word: shilling. That's how.

I see it all the time. Morons copy and paste some random job description that they probably didn't even read. Sometimes it's the whole job; other times just a random paragraph.

Then they set the budget at some crazy-ridiculous (high) amount.

(Sidenote: for most freelance networks, anything over about $20 is considered a crazy-ridiculous bid. I'm talking about $2500 etc.)

The automated bids come in.

The human-automaton bids come in.

Their buddy's bid comes in. (Or they bid on their project with a shill account of their own).

They accept the job and write glowing feedback for a job that never happened.

Now... VERY IMPORTANT: I have no hard facts whatsoever on that little scenario above. It is pure speculation from my cynical mind.

But I have no other explanation for why those clearly fradulent jobs are posted with those kinds of budgets and why total ass-hats can have great feedback.


Now... what do you do? Not sure. But here are some questions:

* How much responsibility for this debacle do you have take responsibility for? Did you agree on a very clear -- and written -- Scope of Works before starting?

* Did you do proper due diligence on this guy before awarding him the job?

* Did you go for the lowest-bidder and cross your fingers it would be okay (or think ka-ching! This outsourcing thing is the bomb! Tim Ferris is right. Awesome! I really can rule the world for a dollar day!)

I'm not assuming too much there, I don't think, but I'm inclined to think that if you were a sophisticated and experienced user of freelance networks, this probably wouldn't have happened.

Don't get me wrong, I've been in the same situation. I've been burned. I've had to deal with people who were clearly incompetent. And so on.

But usually it came down to my being naive, tight-fisted, or lax. Those traits are a recipe for disaster on freelance networks where anyone can claim they can do anything.

If you have a clear agreement of what you wanted before work started, then say to him

Look this is not what I hired you to do. We agreed you would do X, Y and Z. You haven't done that. You've done A, B & X.

So, I'll need you to fix that, please. To a satisfactory level, obviously.

I'm sorry, but if X, Y & Z aren't done to a satisfactory level within XXhrs, I will freeze this job and take it to the [name of network] dispute resolution centre to get a refund on any milestones paid and assign the job to someone else.

Then immediately log a ticket with dispute resolution because there's about a 95% chance that you'll be sacking this guy so you'll want to get the ball rolling ASAP. Don't ask to cancel the job because that would be unfair -- not what you told him. But put the wheels in motion and alert support to the situation. They may be able to help.

All the best with it!

Freelance sites are full of scammers, spammers and incompetent morons. My advice is to find someone local and pay them a fair fee. No absolute guarantee of great work, of course, and there are great people to be found on the freelance networks. But they are so so so so so so so the minority that the amount of time, money and stress is just no longer worth it in my opinion.

For example, if your time is worth, say, fifty bucks an hour and you spent 10 hours screening applications, doing background checks, looking at portfolios, etc. for people who far-flung corners of the globe who may or may not actually be able to deliver and could have "borrowed" their entire portfolio from someone else... well, there's $500 of your time.

Then you spend another 10 hours managing some idiot who can't follow directions. You're up to a grand of your time. Or more.

Just so you can "save" the $350 a local pro would have charged you?

Plus, with the local guy or gal, you'd know exactly who you're dealing with and the chance of having to worry about copyright infringement in your work is pretty low.

And, you're much more likely to get after-sales support either for free or a reasonable rate. That may not be the case with your outsourcer.

Again, no guarantee that your local pro can follow instructions, either. But they probably understand English a whole lot better than most people on freelance networks, which is big step in the right direction of making sure you're minimising communication breakdowns.

Anyway... I hope you work it out!

Hi Dave,

That's one of the main reason why hiring a freelancer is not advisable. I always suggest to look for a reputable firm with a proven track record of dependability and proficiency in offering business and leased office staffing & management services.