Seriously angry with customer
Discussion
I've spent the last 2 years bending over backwards to accomodate their web requirements for all three of their sites. This morning I logged on to do my usual check of sites and there is a different site up there which has been designed using all my ideas/contributions from the last 2 years which they've continuosly claimed they didn't need.
Having looked at the WHOIS info they have used the consultant who is a friend of the Marketing manager.
Great thats £5k expected revenue can be written off then.
I'm not going to write how I feel about the marketing manager specifically - I might break the swear filter...
Having looked at the WHOIS info they have used the consultant who is a friend of the Marketing manager.
Great thats £5k expected revenue can be written off then.
I'm not going to write how I feel about the marketing manager specifically - I might break the swear filter...
Happens all the time - it's called nepotism. Happens to my company a lot 
We did a fantastic website a while back for one of our clients. We've just found out it's won some awards too. Fantastic. So who do they go to when they need some more stuff doing? The marketing manager's new clueless boyfriend. And it's absolutely sh!te - I've seen better design by programmers, and that's saying something 
Makes you wonder why you bother sometimes...
We did a fantastic website a while back for one of our clients. We've just found out it's won some awards too. Fantastic. So who do they go to when they need some more stuff doing? The marketing manager's new clueless boyfriend. And it's absolutely sh!te
- I've seen better design by programmers, and that's saying something Makes you wonder why you bother sometimes...
I've spent the last 2 years bending over backwards to accomodate their web requirements for all three of their sites. This morning I logged on to do my usual check of sites and there is a different site up there which has been designed using all my ideas/contributions from the last 2 years which they've continuosly claimed they didn't need.
Having looked at the WHOIS info they have used the consultant who is a friend of the Marketing manager.
Great thats £5k expected revenue can be written off then.
I'm not going to write how I feel about the marketing manager specifically - I might break the swear filter...
Only solutions is to make sure proposals you put forward to clients/prospects are labelled as being copyright, and all rights reserved. You may then have a case for breach of copyright/IPR.
judas said:Makes you wonder why you bother sometimes...
Thats the other problem - I'm seriously getting hacked off with work at the moment. This doesn't help. If I didn't have family members on the payroll (legitimately) I'd probably be looking around for something else now. I'm at my happiest coding and designing not running a business and arguing about proposals with customers.
I'm proud of the fact I treat all my customers as friends - it means we can be honest about the issues our companies face.
If these guys had wanted to use someone else thats fine - annoying but fine - its the fact they didn't even have the decency to tell me.
This is one of the things I see a lot of companies doing which sometimes leaves them open to abuse. When we started our company it was very much "we're your friends" attitude towards to our clients, and time after time we'd get taken for granted. Now we're very much "we're friendly, but we aint your friends".
alunr said:I'm proud of the fact I treat all my customers as friends - it means we can be honest about the issues our companies face.
Beind friends with customers is good, but means they will treat you like friends, i.e. going to the cinema with someone else rather then you sometimes. Being friendly is fine but at the end of the day you've got to let them know this is business. If you want to make money you've got to be balls to the wall
Gecko said it best in Wall Street. "If you need a friend, get a dog."
>> Edited by Hates_ on Thursday 10th April 14:36
Gentlemen's agreements in business are a thing of the past. We too have learned this the hard way. Do you have a set of written terms and conditions etc specific to your needs (especially concerning IP ownership etc) that you include with all proposals? If not, I'd suggest getting a set drawn up asap and make sure they go out with EVERYTHING. That way, when the client tries to screw you over something further down the line (and this will always happen) you can tell them where to get off.
Sounds like we're in the same line of work. E-mail me through my profile if you want to cover anything specific in detail.
Pete
>> Edited by judas on Thursday 10th April 14:59
Sounds like we're in the same line of work. E-mail me through my profile if you want to cover anything specific in detail.
Pete
>> Edited by judas on Thursday 10th April 14:59
Alunr - why not bring in a manager to "run" the business for you?
We'r a family business, admitedly 300 employees (no not all family infact there are just 2 of us) and 200m turnover, and although one of the hardest things to admit is you need help we wouldn't have survived without it. It means that people can get on with the things they do best whilst remaining in overall control of the company direction and ethos.
We'r a family business, admitedly 300 employees (no not all family infact there are just 2 of us) and 200m turnover, and although one of the hardest things to admit is you need help we wouldn't have survived without it. It means that people can get on with the things they do best whilst remaining in overall control of the company direction and ethos.
I've spent the last 2 years bending over backwards to accomodate their web requirements for all three of their sites. This morning I logged on to do my usual check of sites and there is a different site up there which has been designed using all my ideas/contributions from the last 2 years which they've continuosly claimed they didn't need.
Having looked at the WHOIS info they have used the consultant who is a friend of the Marketing manager.
Great thats £5k expected revenue can be written off then.
I'm not going to write how I feel about the marketing manager specifically - I might break the swear filter...
Alun - If any of your ideas are documented, why not attach them to a big fat invoice with reference to the said site and see what they have to say.
They may not pay it, but it may make them think. It may even make you feel better.
Paul
Having worked with egotistical clients who make your life hell in other companies, I started my business with one rule: We only work with nice people. You'd be surprised at how many of them there are.
It means that we aren't as big as we could be if we were prepared to work with pillocks, but the up side is it also means that a) I look forward to calls from clients and b) I get the satifaction of firing the buggers if they turn out not to be nice!
It means that we aren't as big as we could be if we were prepared to work with pillocks, but the up side is it also means that a) I look forward to calls from clients and b) I get the satifaction of firing the buggers if they turn out not to be nice!
This happened to my friend who designed and put up my sites. I advised him in future to copyright all sites and work going towards making a site and to make sure that all sites were only released onto the web when the customer had paid up.
He working with a new form of contract whereby monies are payable as the work is done,i.e. some payments must be made during the work in progress... This appears to work as he has had no problems any more.
He working with a new form of contract whereby monies are payable as the work is done,i.e. some payments must be made during the work in progress... This appears to work as he has had no problems any more.
Just to clarify, you have copyright in your work as soon as it becomes tangible, ie no longer an idea. It is protected automatically by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
However, you may have problem in terms of misunderstanding or proof if you don't lay things out in simple terms - ie 'if you nick my ideas I will sue you, and here are my ideas with a nice big copyright symbol by them'.
However, you may have problem in terms of misunderstanding or proof if you don't lay things out in simple terms - ie 'if you nick my ideas I will sue you, and here are my ideas with a nice big copyright symbol by them'.
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