what to do when coders have let me down!!!!!

[designedbyme]

I had to take out my frustration somewhere so I’m afraid it’s going to be here! I’m learning the ways of css and html, which I’m starting to grasp, but I don’t feel completely confident in my abilities quite yet.

So I hired a psd to html coder to create a wordpress theme for me complete with a complex iQuery section which is well beyond me to achieve ! I was promised the job to be completed within two weeks but now it’s been six. I don’t want to cancel the job because I am well beyond the deadline and don’t have time to find someone new!!! I don’t know what to do!!!! Does every service like this ask to be paid upfront????

This is the first time I have ever outsourced for help with a design job! I have to admit I’m pretty upset! I feel like an idiot because I have a very bad feeling about the whole thing. I feel like I’ve been taken for a fool!!! My emails are often ignored and explanations are vague!! I was so excited about having my first website up but now the whole experience has left me pretty damn upset and feeling a little ill.

[davesgonebananas]

If you went with a reputable name in the industry (e.g. psd2html, w3markup) then you should register an official complaint with them, perhaps leave some negative feedback on their blog, etc.

If you went with the cheapest Indian on elance.com then, you got what you paid for.

[Rob MacKay]

Firstly and most importantly I think, this is a lesson for you to learn from. Yes it is irritating, and so on, but you can now take something away which will help you lots later.

I agree with the comments above though as well..

How did you find this person? Did you pay much for it? Not many people take full payment up front – normally its a percentage. Personally I ask for 50% depending on the job size – or regular payments on set dates…

[designedbyme]

Thank you everyone for all your replies!!!!! I didn’t actually expect anyone to do so!!! I was so angry and upset and needed to vent my frustrations!

Funny though how some assumed I went for a cheap offshore option! Far from it! I take pride in my work!!! I hate it when people try to scrounge for the best ‘deal’ then complain when it doesn’t look right or work!!! Hoping this doesn’t sound pompous but it’s insulting to both parties when someone wants a "deal". It undervalues one person and makes the other look like a cheapo.

I requested a wordpress cms style theme so supplied the coder with a home page and product page .psd layout. No blog needed.
I paid $650 and, because I live in Australia I wanted to deal with someone within the same time zone so if there was a problem it would be solved straight away without waiting for the others day to start! So I sought out an australian company certainly not someone from india!!!!!!

I have an honors degree in graphic design (just wanted to mention that in case you all thought I am a complete idiot) but haven’t been in the industry for a few years (became a pro athlete) which meant I lost a lot of contacts (overseas or doing something else) so didn’t have anyone I could ask to recommend someone! I found their website by googling but in my defense it looked and sounded very reputable!!

Still damn angry about the time wasted waiting around for nothing but, a lesson has been learnt so now it’s back to learning css and html!!!!!

Thanks again for the all replies!

Evelyn

[Rob MacKay]

Well then you definitely can not blame yourself :) You just hit one of the bad bumps in the road… You can always make your findings well known – and I know we can help spread the news lol If you wrote a blog post on the said event (if you have your own site) I can spread it around the people I know on twitter, it might get back to this company and it would not be good publicity.

Unless you signed an agreement or have consumer laws like we have in the UK – I don’t know what else we can do :)

[designedbyme]

Lesson No. Two. I must not write on forums when upset! Half my sentences don’t make sense!!!!!

Thanks Robskiwarrior! :D I’m going to see what happens over the next two weeks before I start naming names!!
So very tempting but there may be a very good reason for the terribly long and frustrating delay!

[Rob MacKay]

"designedbyme" wrote:

…there may be a very good reason for the terribly long and frustrating delay!

I hope so… lol :) Let us know what happens.

[designedbyme]

UPDATE!

Finally received a refund! Very relieved!
Out of curiosity I asked what on earth happened, the reply… (remember I waited six weeks and was continually promised delivery the next day whenever I asked for an update)…
"The amount of time I would have spent putting in hacks meant a lot more work than quoted for so I would have made a loss on the project through the time spent on it."

Had I been told this when I first sent through the job I would have paid more or altered the design but instead I was made to wait for a job which hadn’t even been started.

Unbelievable!

[Rob MacKay]

you should feed that back to them :-)

[designedbyme]

Thanks Rob and Josh!!!

As I said before, had to vent my frustration somewhere!!

I have parted with a few words towards the company involved but in a way they actually did me a favour!
In my frustration I bought a bundle of books on css,html and jQuery from Sitepoint, downloaded all of Chris’s tutorial
and ‘bit the bullet’ . I’m now learning how to do my own front end development! I’ll never be a whizz but I have to admit that it’s actually not all that bad doing it myself! For anything advanced I’ll be seeking someone to help me out but the basics will be designedbyme!! Must have been on my mind when I named myself!!!

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