Freelancer Nightmare- Please Help!

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Ehanson

I was using a freelancer to make a recreation of a client's site and got an email from them an hour ago saying they were finished. There was a link to the clients site with a very amaturish design, which looks nothing at all like the original and has replace their original design.

It might be my fault since there could be a language barrier (they're from the Phulipines) or something but I immediately email them back say to revert to their original design... which they still haven't done yet.

I need to rectify this ASAP. I'm not sure if they saved the original index.php or not. Should I email the client to proactively tell them about this? They're going to freak when they see their site.

BTW, I will pay someone to fix or instruct me how to if they know how. I really need an English speaker who knows what they're doing with FTP.

Ehanson,

I can help out.

Hit me up on PM or Skype.

God Bless,

Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS

Thanks

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Natausha

11 years ago

They should have backed up the site before they got started. In the future you should make sure the first thing that someone does for you is to back up the site before any changes are made.

I would not email the client, since the only thing you will be able to tell them is that there was a screw up and you're working on fixing it. If they contact you to ask about it, let them know that you are aware of the issue and are working to rectify it and assure them it will be fixed.

Considering the time right now they could have written you the email and immediately went to bed. Right now the best person to return the site to its original features is the person who changed it and hopefully backed it up, however I'm sure you'll find no shortage of developers here on the forum who'd be happy to help you if you check out the classifieds section.

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Kung Fu Backlinks

11 years ago

Webhosts like HostGator perform weekly backups that get overwritten each time, so... get on the phone and call the host asap to get the site rolled back to the most recent backup. If they backup again before you call, the backup will be of the ugly site and you'll be screwed.

Make sure you have sufficient account info so the host will listed to you.

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TurnKeyShane

11 years ago

If they are decent then they backed up the original files. As said its night in the Philippines. You should have their skype info as well. I would also suggest using FTP yourself in the future to back up the client files on your own computer if you haven't worked with a contractor before.

Also don't contact the client. Your just going to worry them. The worst case is you come in and put up an under construction page if they did not save the previous site while you sort out the problem.

If you can't get a hold of them by 8 or 9 tonight message me and let me know and I'll see what I can do to help you out. If they are not competent to finish the job I can help as well if needed.

Thanks

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cypherslock

11 years ago

An idea: use InfiniteWP - Manage Multiple WordPress Sites to back things up to dropbox (you'd have to buy a plugin but totally worth it). Best solution I've seen. That way if this happens again, you can quickly put the site back to original state.

Thanks
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abbot

Banned 11 years ago

This is your first lesson on outsourcing..unfortunately you learned the hard way.

One way to prevent this in the future:

Buy a dummy domain. Let them build the website using that domain. Once EVERYONE is happy with the work then switch it over to the designated domain.

Contact your hosting provider and hope that they offer automatic backups. If so, you're in luck. If not...It looks like you owe an explanation to your client.

Thanks
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rhj12345

11 years ago

Originally Posted by abbot

This is your first lesson on outsourcing..unfortunately you learned the hard way.

One way to prevent this in the future:

Buy a dummy domain. Let them build the website using that domain. Once EVERYONE is happy with the work then switch it over to the designated domain.

Contact your hosting provider and hope that they offer automatic backups. If so, you're in luck. If not...It looks like you owe an explanation to your client.

Save the $10. Just add a sub domain to the main domain. Build on that, and then move it over when ready.

Works every time!!

Rob

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kennytan

11 years ago

You can actually ask the host provider to get the full backup of the site and restore it from their server root level back the most recent records.

Is easy to seek that rather than finding a way to restore or revert the site back to the original design.

I believe, many site owner may or may not aware of the backup practices.

If you need help, send me a PM or add me on skype to have it done the quickly.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

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Nail Yener

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Ehanson

I was using a freelancer to make a recreation of a client's site and got an email from them an hour ago saying they were finished. There was a link to the clients site with a very amaturish design, which looks nothing at all like the original and has replace their original design.

It might be my fault since there could be a language barrier (they're from the Phulipines) or something but I immediately email them back say to revert to their original design... which they still haven't done yet.

I need to rectify this ASAP. I'm not sure if they saved the original index.php or not. Should I email the client to proactively tell them about this? They're going to freak when they see their site.

BTW, I will pay someone to fix or instruct me how to if they know how. I really need an English speaker who knows what they're doing with FTP.

Telling someone what you exactly want to be done, making them clearly understand what you have in your mind is a really difficult task especially when communicating with people in a language that is not their native language.

In web design/technical world, this is extra difficult because misunderstandings cause both party time, effort, resources and money considerably and it is not always easily reversible.

The first thing, and the most important one, that I make sure before even starting to work with an outsourcer is that the images in our heads are 100% same, every detail about the task is clearly laid out and all questions asked.

Thanks
1 reply

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Sys4 11 years ago

Wow! I realize at this point I'm preaching to the choir, but backup backup backup. Never use a live site as a development environment.

Suggestion: Ask a warrior to share your next outsource opportunity. Some will walk you through the process to be nice, some for a split. I'd insist a split, if I were you, to be nice.
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SYS4 - White Label Web Design
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- MarkJez 11 years ago
  
  Worse case scenario - if ALL the back-ups fail, and the original site has been deleted in its entirety and lost forever, then what you can do is to use the internet "time-machine" to effectively go back in time and view the site as it was originally whether it was last year or over 10 years ago.
  
  You can then copy over files etc. to the new site.
  
  See: Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
  
  It doesn't work with all sites and prefers static HTML pages, but it might just get you out of a nightmare situation
  
  I would be interested to know how you get on, so am following this thread.
  
  Mark J.
  UK
  
  Thanks
  
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RichBeck

11 years ago

Guys and Gals,

Don't worry.... I got Elliot quickly squared away yesterday.....

He is all set...

God Bless,

Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS

[ 2 ] Thanks
2 replies

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Sys4 11 years ago

Originally Posted by RichBeck

Guys and Gals,

Don't worry.... I got Elliot quickly squared away yesterday.....

He is all set...

God Bless,

Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS

Nice! Glad to see a fellow USAF (former here) member save the day. Thank you for your service.
- [ 1 ] Thanks
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- Ehanson 11 years ago
  
  Yes, thank you Richard for coming to my rescue yesterday. Eternally grateful and will defintely have you in mind for future projects
  
  Thanks to the other warriors and their advice. This first offline adventure has been an interesting learning experience.
  
  Thanks
  
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- RichBeck 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Sys4
  
  Nice! Glad to see a fellow USAF (former here) member save the day. Thank you for your service.
  
  You are welcome.... It was an honor... Serving with true heroes...
  
  Thank you for your service as well....
  
  God Bless,
  
  Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS
  
  [ 1 ] Thanks
  
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mojo1

11 years ago

Originally Posted by RichBeck

Guys and Gals,

Don't worry.... I got Elliot quickly squared away yesterday.....

He is all set...

You are a generous life saver.

Please say you offer your services as a fee to warriors. I would love to have information about your services.

I've recently begun to flip websites and would love to have a resource for same.

Thanks
1 reply

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RichBeck

11 years ago

Originally Posted by mojo1

You are a generous life saver.

Please say you offer your services as a fee to warriors. I would love to have information about your services.

I've recently begun to flip websites and would love to have a resource for same.

mojo1,

Yes! I certainly do!

For most of my career, I've been a Web Architect and provided Production Support. This is very familiar territory for me.

Catch up with me on Skype or PM and we can discuss all the details.

God Bless,

Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS

Thanks

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Freelancer Nightmare- Please Help!

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