I posted a message on the Requests board about five weeks ago. It was for a designer to redo my page, in exchange for me offering their services on my web hosting page.

He said he would have the complete redesign done in under two weeks.

It had been one week, then the New York incident occured, and he lived in New York, so there were delays, understandable....

So last THURSDAY, I sent him and email asking how it was going, and he said the template would be done by Monday. So on my webpage I made a quick page saying that the site is going to be undergoing redesign, and to come back shortly.

Monday, went by, and oh, wait, now its Saturday!!!

So this is the email I sent him, just wondering what people's thoughts are, and if I did the right thing....

"Approximately five weeks ago we made a verbal agreement that you would have my web page completely redesigned within two weeks. Then the incident with New York occurred, and that is very understandable that it would cause delays. Companies need to come together in this time of disaster, and help each other out, and I understand this.

Last week on Thursday I sent you an email checking how progress was coming. You said that the template would be available by Monday, it is now Saturday. Beginning last Saturday, I took my web page down saying that it would soon be up with a redesign, expecting it to be done Monday. It was not, and therefore I lost additional customers. I can not just let this slide. I have lost a considerable amount of money already from delays, and can afford it no longer.

In addition to this, it would be bad for me if I offer your services on my web page, and you can not meet a deadline that you, yourself, have set (10/08/01).

So, in conclusion, I will no longer be needing your services."

Comments are appreciated.

Well whether or not you choose to use the designer's services is of course up to you (though I admit I would have tried to get what was completed before sending the above note).

What I would find most beneficial with the above incident is the lesson about time frames. It is common for developers to say it'll be done "in a week" and it ends up taking two or more weeks. My personal rule of thumb is to double it and add half....

When you do find the developer, that hopefully will complete the task, do _not_ take down your web site for maintenance until you have the product in hand and ready to be put into place. I've learned over time that announcing something or moving forward with something that requires the services of another is well...silly actually. It's best, to save your own reputation, to wait until you actually have the end product before moving forward.

Originally posted by CobaltConn
Beginning last Saturday, I took my web page down saying that it would soon be up with a redesign, expecting it to be done Monday. It was not, and therefore I lost additional customers. I can not just let this slide. I have lost a considerable amount of money already from delays, and can afford it no longer.

Why did you do this, You could have left the old page running. Still getting new customers and just change the design when it was completely finished.
Why announce you're getting a new design??

I have had very few signups since I have started offering my services. The prices were extremely low, and because of this I figured that the reason I had no signups, was because I did not look very legit.

So, rather than people just completely blowing me off as a crap company, I decided to put that up there, so at least they would check back with me, when I did look legitimate.

Extremely low prices is not always the key to getting clients.

It takes time to build a customer DB, it may take longer than you think.

I found that out after getting only five clients in two months...but I'm hoping that a nice redesign of the site, and possibly an incentive to my clients to tell others about my services will help it grow.

Any other suggestions for building a client database?

Originally posted by CobaltConn
Any other suggestions for building a client database? http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22937