What do I do?

11 years ago

Originally Posted by alexandersmith

Hey Warriors, let me start by filling you in on a bit of background info.

Around a year ago I took a business loan out from the UK government to fund an idea I had for a business. It's basically a recruitment website for students.

I found a freelancer to complete the site for £3500, which was a fair price.

We agreed a 50:50 deal, so I paid half money upfront, and the agreement was I would pay the remaining 50% on completion of the website.

He runs a registered company here in the UK.

One year on, and my journey through hell is only deepening. He has now not got in contact for over 2 weeks, and the site is still only around 50% complete. What are my options here? The kids a joke, it's been like this all year. I guess he's lucky that I'm quite a passive person and not very intimidating because he's been mugging me around all year!

What options do I have? He lives about an hour away from me, so I can go and literally knock on his door, but what is that going to achieve?

I also know that his parents own a clinic about an hour away from me (He's 24), so I was thinking as a last resort I could go down there, apologise for having to come to them but explain that it's my last resort and hope that they can help mediate the situation to be resolved.

I obviously cannot go legal as I have no funds to pay for this, and I'm sure he doesn't either if he was made to pay money back.

Anyone had experience with this?

Thanks!

Alex

Sent you a PM, let me know

Thanks

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Alexa Smith

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by alexandersmith

I obviously cannot go legal as I have no funds to pay for this

You don't necessarily need any.

You can write (and send by recorded delivery) a letter setting out your position succinctly, demanding either the full completion of the work within 7 days or a refund in full for his voiding of the contract?

If that fails, you can serve a Small Claims Court summons on him. They're designed to be user-friendly, for people without lawyers.

You can also perhaps go to something like the "law surgery" at University of Sussex, and get free help from a final-year law student to fill in the paperwork and prepare any documents you need? There are also some other ways of getting half-an-hour's free legal advice from practising solicitors, and this may be all you need.

I think it's a more "proper" remedy than turning up unannounced, and I don't think trying to involve his parents is such a good idea? I'm assuming that he's over 18 and legally responsible and able to form a contract?! (If not, that would be different and approaching his parents might be both advisable and necessary - I don't know!).

It may even be that serving a Small Claims Court ssummons will immediately produce a re-payment of what's owed? Worth a try?

Thanks

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Jack Gordon

11 years ago

You just paid for a semester of higher education.

Even if you could browbeat him into finishing the project somehow, do you really want to keep working with him?

If you have access to the work he has done, terminate your relationship with him and take it elsewhere to be completed.

If not, inform him that you will be terminating your relationship with him, and that you will require the half of the project he has completed, and he can keep the half of the fee he has been paid.

Then, go to one of the many freelancing websites out there and find somebody with a good portfolio and good reviews to complete it.

Thanks
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Alexa Smith

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jack Gordon

If not, inform him that you will be terminating your relationship with him, and that you will require the half of the project he has completed, and he can keep the half of the fee he has been paid.

Respectfully, I don't necessarily agree with this. This could easily be an instance of "half the work" not being worth "half the money". I'm no lawyer, but I think it's extremely unlikely that a British Small Claims Court would order a "quantum meruit" on these facts (which is essentially what this suggests, I think?).

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Jack Gordon

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Respectfully, I don't necessarily agree with this. This could easily be an instance of "half the work" not being worth "half the money". I'm no lawyer, but I think it's extremely unlikely that a British Small Claims Court would order a "quantum meruit" on these facts (which is essentially what this suggests, I think?).

Yeah, my angle was less legal advice, and more about getting him out of that relationship as cleanly as possible so he can get the project back on track.

It sounds like the contractor is on the same page, which is a very positive development.

OP, when it is time to reassign the project, I trust you will be much more diligent in making a wise choice.

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William Martin

11 years ago

I am sorry to hear that story.

It is of no help to you now but I would never embark on a project of this size without agreeing multiple stage payments when specified milestones have been reached.

If you have no money to take legal action and he probably has no money to refund you, your options are limited.

Clearly, the best option is to try to start a dialogue about completing the website. I assume he would like to get the final payment so you need to find out why he has apparently 'downed tools'.

Depending on his reasons, maybe there is a way forward.

However, if he has prevaricated for a year already, the signs are not good.

The only other suggestion I have is to threaten to take him to the small claims court and hope that scares him (or his parents) enough to do something about it.

If you have access to the existing source code, you can get someone else to complete the job but that is going to cost you money.

In future, I recommend only employing outsourcers through legitimate outsourcing agencies where references and escrow payments are available.

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alexandersmith

11 years ago

Thanks for the advice everyone.

The reason I suggested going to his parents is because he still lives at home with them, and one would hope they would hold a degree of control over him in a situation like this.

I am just at my wits ends, a project that has taken a year should have taken a few months, and I'm now in debt without having a steady income.

Of course, any business is a gamble, but I'm taking on a lot of freelancing work now just to get by, and this is not how I planned things out!

Thanks again for your thoughts,

Alex

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alexandersmith

11 years ago

Update:

Completely out of the blue, I literally JUST received this email from him.

"Hi Alex

The only way this is going to be completed, is if I finish off the functionality that needs to be finished and you get someone else to finish off making design and layout changes with the £1K that is left over. This is not working for either of us and unfortunately we are now at a point that this is the only option for me.

I can work on this today, tomo and Friday and get this done by the end of the week and in the meantime you can source someone to make the layout and design changes - £1K is a fair amount for that work.

Sorry its got to that point but its really the only option now.

Let me know

J"

What are your thoughts?

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William Martin

11 years ago

Originally Posted by alexandersmith

Update:

Completely out of the blue, I literally JUST received this email from him.

"Hi Alex

The only way this is going to be completed, is if I finish off the functionality that needs to be finished and you get someone else to finish off making design and layout changes with the £1K that is left over. This is not working for either of us and unfortunately we are now at a point that this is the only option for me.

I can work on this today, tomo and Friday and get this done by the end of the week and in the meantime you can source someone to make the layout and design changes - £1K is a fair amount for that work.

Sorry its got to that point but its really the only option now.

Let me know

J"

What are your thoughts?

Maybe he reads the Warrior Forum!

I would take him up on this assuming that you agree about the value of the work he will have done.

You could say you agree in principle but would need to see the code he delivers before signing-off.

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Alexa Smith Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by William Martin

Maybe he reads the Warrior Forum!

If it's the person I suspected from the "family reference" it might be (who also writes Kindle books???), that's actually quite likely.
- Thanks
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alexandersmith

11 years ago

Once again thanks for your input.

Bit of a coincidence that he decided to reply just after posting this thread.

I don't think he's a member of the WF though.

The only thing that make me hesitant to accept his offer, is that we did sign a contract saying he would fully complete the site. It just seems to me he's looking for an easy way out.

Why should he not complete the project just because he has poor time management?

Perhaps this is my ego talking and not wanting to be seen as him getting one up, but I think I do make a fair point. It just seems like he's looking for an easy way out.

I do of course, have to weigh that up with the fact that if I refuse it may be many more months of turmoil.

Alex

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Jack Gordon

11 years ago

Alexander,

I am going to be blunt with you here.

The fact that you, in the position you are in now, are even considering forcing him to finish the project on principal and/or spite...

... tells me you are not serious about this project as a business opportunity.

Forget about this loser, pronto. He is a cancer on your business, and he just handed you the perfect exit opportunity. Take it, and don't look back.

It will likely cost you more than you budgeted to get this project done. That is life. And business. Learn from it, and for goodness sake, grow a pair.

When someone is threatening your business, you have to stand up for yourself and protect your interests. If you don't, certainly nobody else will.

If this all sounds too hard, then entrepreneurship is not for you. It certainly is not for everybody.

Wake up. Opportunity is all around us, but you have to have the guts and the fortitude to grab it and bend it to your vision.

Thanks
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alexandersmith

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jack Gordon

Alexander,

I am going to be blunt with you here.

The fact that you, in the position you are in now, are even considering forcing him to finish the project on principal and/or spite...

... tells me you are not serious about this project as a business opportunity.

Forget about this loser, pronto. He is a cancer on your business, and he just handed you the perfect exit opportunity. Take it, and don't look back.

It will likely cost you more than you budgeted to get this project done. That is life. And business. Learn from it, and for goodness sake, grow a pair.

When someone is threatening your business, you have to stand up for yourself and protect your interests. If you don't, certainly nobody else will.

If this all sounds too hard, then entrepreneurship is not for you. It certainly is not for everybody.

Wake up. Opportunity is all around us, but you have to have the guts and the fortitude to grab it and bend it to your vision.

Thanks for your input.

I take all your comments on board, and I've decided I'm going to accept his offer.

I think it's also largely the fact that he is the one with the experience of how the site works, and if anything goes wrong down the line with the site, I'd rather he was still working on it rather than someone else.

That being said, I understand that to get this off the ground, I'm going to have to change things up.

Thanks for your advice,

Alex

Thanks

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JensSteyaert

11 years ago

I think he's has read this post and is afraid this may have consequences (which it should to be honest).

Just try to work it out together so the work gets done eventually, and after that move on...