| Home | Register | FAQ | Members List | Search | Today's Posts | Mark Forums Read |
04-05-2006, 23:24
|
#1 (permalink) |
|
Ya'll Niggas No Who I Is
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 33
|
Got stiffed by a client
Well there was a thread here last night by a guy who said he needed help tonight and would be willing to pay. Me knowing that this would probly be a good learning experience decided to see if i could help. So i contacted him via aim and asked what he needed help with, to see if I was even capable of doing it for him. Well what he told me he needed help with was easy. He needed revisions to his banner and for me to setup a 2frame .html document with one being a site and the other ebing a banner. I know frames are outdated and all this so I told him but he didnt care and that was pretty much the extent of my html knowledge so idecided to help. So he sent me his .psd file of his banner, it was garbage. I redid it to his specifications and he said he liked it. then i setup up the .html document for him. I asked him how much he would pay me for this. He asked me what a fair price was, I told him 30$ and he said ok. He asked me how he should send me the money and i said paypal. he didnt have a paypal account so i said i would send him the files and and he would pay me tommorow when he setup his paypal account. Dumbass me sent him the files and he never said another word to me. Hes online right now and wont respond to my im's. What should i do? i know its only 30$ but im only 18 and any money helps at this point. Plus i spent 2 hours with this guy revising his banner and setting up his .html file. Is there anything i can do or should i just say fuck it and drop it? (Fuck this is the longest thread ive ever made, i feel winded and need a smoke) |
|
|
|
|
05-05-2006, 00:30
|
#2 (permalink) |
|
This is it - ground zero.
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Paper St.
Posts: 4,200
  |
I hope the smoke was a good one...that's a helluva paragraph. My advice is to take it as a lesson learned and feel lucky you weren't stiffed for more money. $30 is a lot to lose at your age, but add a few zeros and think how horrible that would be. Also, DON'T do work for random people who contact you via IM or a forum. Have a look around this forum for threads about contracts. There are plenty of them. Utilize the links in those thread and get yourself a good contract. Also, ALWAYS get more than just an e-mail address or IM name from a person -- do your best to exchange as much information as possible. If someone is sketchy about giving you their business information when you are going to perform a service for them, it's likely a situation you'll want to avoid. Finally, give the bloke a chance to respond. Don't hound him...he may be away from his computer and/or working on setting up the PayPal account (it does take time to get verified, etc., and he could be confused that he doesn't need to be verified to send you money). However, if he doesn't pay you, it's a damn shame he's too cheap to fork over $30. Laugh it off, have another smoke...live & learn. fun: HGC v.4 | last.fm: DT | me | oi! f*ck u roto: ...via meebo!
New to interweb design? Your friends at dt can help. |
|
|
|
05-05-2006, 04:24
|
#3 (permalink) |
|
Sir digby chicken caesar
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 3,981
|
In future a simple way to get around this problem might be to show him the finished work at 50% size... so he (or any future client) sees a tiny thumbnail of the work, and at that point they have to pay for the final result. |
|
|
|
05-05-2006, 13:30
|
#4 (permalink) | |
|
Ya'll Niggas No Who I Is
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 33
|
Quote:
Well see heres the thing. He posted in this forum that he needed helop and posted his msn email. I contacted him and got the specifications on what he wanted me to do. We talked for a good 30 mins before i even got started on the project. The project was really simple, one banner and a 2 frame layout. No problems there. When i said i was he done i asked him how much would he pay me. He said, IDK wats a fair price and i said 30$ and he was ok with it. He asked how is he going to pay me and i said paypal. He didnt have one so just said i would send him the files and he could setup a paypal account tommorow and just contact me when he does. So late last night about 24 hours later he signs on. I asked him if he setup the account and he didnt respond. I kept trying to contact him for 2 hours, with no reply. Finally (like the dumbass i am) i "threaten" him with a legal suit even thought i knew i wouldnt becasue its only 30$. well finally 30 mins later he says how upset he is i threaten him and that i should have my lawyer contact his. Then he blocked me and i was like FUCK. So yeh, he is a memeber of these forums, if an administrator could do something to help i would appreciate it or anyone else for that matter.  |
|
|
|
|
05-05-2006, 14:23
|
#6 (permalink) |
|
Shitcasket™
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Brighton
Posts: 3,566
 |
The reality is that payment can take anything between 30-90 days. Without a signature confirming an agreement for the work to commence you don't have a leg to stand on legally. Which is probably why rush jobs for first-time clients get passed on to forum members? |
|
|
 |
