The web designer from hell

I have a real problem:

I sent a "reputable" web designer 30% down to start a project (they only took checks and m/o and wires). The project was supposed to start oh -- 3 weeks ago. At each and every turn they give me "another reason" why they cant start, have the mocks to me or some other BS reason.

These people are in California and I of course live in the midwest. I only have about 900.00 out to them, but they are telling me that it is non-refundable due to the contract stipulating: "deposits are non-refundable". Although in the actual contract it is worded as a " Advance ".

It amazes me that people like this still exist and remain in business. Is there a website or a place where customers can go and leave feedback on actual web designers? I have a feeling if I would have found something on them, that I would not be doing business with them. The really sad thing about this contract is that I am stuck paying it, even though last time I looked this was called fraud.

So what do you do, spend 400.00 flying out there, another 100.00 on a hotel and probably 100.00 on a rental car? Oh, then there is the filing fee for small claims court which I assume you don't get back.

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum, I looked for something more "suited".

Thanks for listening to my rant....I am at a loss for solutions.

For starters, some courts would see 'advance' and 'deposit' as different, some the same. So that's a gamble there.

I would check and re-check the contract for what it states the webmaster must do, what his obligations are. If he violated any of his obligations, he's breached the contract and cannot hold you to it.

Also, in small claims, you can try listing the costs of filing, transporation, lost wages, etc. incurred due to the necessity of filing the suit and try to get all that back. If you win the case, you might.

Tif,

What are you looking for here? is there anything that any of us can do for you? Are you looking for a new design company?

900 as 30% damn what are they building for you?

eat the 900 as it will cost you more in delays in the future and look for some other company that comes with referals, hosting and do your home work ...find those sites in the search engines before you contract.

Read your pm tiffany.

You know, this is the one place I trust. I trust the people within this community so this is the first place I turned. The only other person I can call for advice is my attorney, who charges as soon as she picks up the phone ><
I didnt know if someone else had ever experienced something like this or if there was a place I was unaware of that would have reviews of web designers. I have looked and looked.
Basically all they were doing is building out 9 pages. 4 of those pages were for dynamically generated content, so I needed some custom icons and things. The other 4 pages were template pages basically, as we were going to lay the content into the pages.

Where to go and what to do now.

Did you read mick's PM?
Go on do tell… What did de say, what did he say, tell me, tell me...
raz

Yeah! I wanna know to! Come'on kiss and tell!!!!!

If I tell you, I am going to have to kill you. It is top secret SEO stuffs!

Hi Tiffany,

I can completely sympathize with your situation. I was duped by a local web company here in Las Vegas for an obscene amount of money. Well, obscene is relative amount, but for me it was obscene. I ended up just bitting the bullet and found a new web designer. Armed with new knowledge, I was able to make a more sound decision. Actually, I found him overseas, and he has always gone above and beyond the call of duty for me. The advantage of being overseas was the cost was significantly less than what I had previously spent, mainly due to the conversion rate. I have since worked out an agreement with him that I represent his company here in the US, which is a new endeavor for me, but would happy to cut myself out of the loop, so you can save a few bucks. If you find you are still in search of a designer, feel free to let me know. I believe you can PM me for details. Sorry, still new to this forum, so I don't know what my restrictions are...=)

If you decide to cut your losses and look for a new designer, I've got a recommendation:

www.templatemonster.com

Their templates are absolutely stunning, but I tend to like a more simple design so the last few websites I've done I just email them and get something original created. Usually a fully designed homepage and a template or two based off that design. I haven't spent more than $1,000 on a design project with them yet and I've gotten some absolutely beautiful stuff. If you decide to go with a ready-made template it'll be dirt cheap.

I guess you just go to your bank and say you never recieved what you paid for and do a chargeback, very easy to do.

Not when you write a check.

http://www.craigslist.org/ is a good place to start looking for web designers. Get someone local, check their portfolio and call their past clients. Do that and you'll cut your risk factor and improve your satisfaction factor substantially.

Unless you have a good reference from someone you know don't start sending money to people you hardly know who are on the other side of the country...or world for that matter.

Tiffany,
You can file a suit against them in small claims court. for less than $100 you can file and have them served.

Who is the design firm? There are certainly ways to make it much more expensive than $900 for them to keep your money.

Tif,
For all my site content and such, I just go to RentaCoder.com and post a request for what I want to be done. They have rating system on the people, plus you don't pay until you are satisfied, and they have a very good arbitrage/resolution system in place.
Plus, you can find really good people really cheap.
Hope this helps, Max