Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Running a Web Hosting Business : What Happens When You're Overcharged

[johnder]

So you establish a relationship with a web design company, and you give them free reign over a project, say a design of your web site. You agree on the hourly terms, what needs to be done, and that's it.

Two weeks later, you check up on the work, and find that the web designer is billing you unimaginable hours, providing you with a log that clearly wreaks of exaggerated time spent on work that could have been done in a fewer number of hours. Say they bill you with 30 hours worth of work, and you feel the work could have been done in 10 hours or less.

Now you're stuck with an overpriced bill, and the web designer is demanding you to pay.

What do you do?


JP

[Amdac]

I lot of time in web design comes from planning and setup. Websites always take longer to design than they seem based on appearance.

In terms of web design, it's always best to get an estimate before you start. Have them come up with a rough idea of how long it would take and go from there.

[ITWeb LLC]

JP,

It all depends on the terms of your work. If you have a loose arrangement, then you can walk away. If your arrangement is based on your acceptance of the product, then you can also walk away if you do not agree with the deliverables.

As a designer this is a risk you take. The customer is always right. I try to get some money up front so that both parties are committed to the development / design effort. Otherwise, it is too easy to adandon the effort and be left with nothing but wasted time.

[Amdac]

Originally posted by ITWeb LLC
The customer is always right.

The customer isn't right if it goes to collections or court. If there's a contract in place, it has to be paid for assuming they've met their terms and conditions.

[johnder]

Thanks for your insight, ITWeb.

From a legal perspective, even though nothing was signed, and there was no verbal agreement to the amount, can this company or individual take me to court?


JP

[johnder]

Amdac -- if I take the deliverables, but do not agree to the hours, and the other party remains insistent on the number of hours spent and is not willing to negotiate under those terms, what action is left for me to consider?

*** Me not agree to the hours AFTER an extended period of receiving the receivables, i.e. "oh, by the way, here's the bill" -- not expecting it to be so much due to miscommunication or lack thereof. ***


JP

[Amdac]

Originally posted by johnder
Amdac -- if I take the deliverables, but do not agree to the hours, and the other party remains insistent on the number of hours spent and is not willing to negotiate under those terms, what action is left for me to consider?


JP

You'd have to check their terms as well as any contracts in place. You should always obtain estimates before making such arrangements.

They're the only ones that know how many hours were actually spent on it. Depending how much money is involved, they may be willing to take you to court. Web design can be quite expensive if you're dealing with a professional company.

Is the site they designed for you at par with their existing portfolio?

[johnder]

They have a web site, but do not have a portfolio. Looking at the log, there are points where it is blatantly obvious that hours are not being spent effectively, i.e. half an hour updating pages and checking links on a five page web site, or one hour spent browsing through stock photos to choose the right one.


JP

[johnder]

And to top it all off -- no, we did not have a formal contract in place. It was all verbal, and the only thing agreed upon was the per hour rate.


JP

[Amdac]

Originally posted by johnder
They have a web site, but do not have a portfolio. Looking at the log, there are points where it is blatantly obvious that hours are not being spent effectively, i.e. half an hour updating pages and checking links on a five page web site, or one hour spent browsing through stock photos to choose the right one.


JP

I actually spent about 3 hours choosing the stock photo on my site.

Web design is similar to lawyer fees, they'll bill you for everything right down to the stamp used to mail the invoice.

Can you PM me the URL of the company? I'm curious to see theirs terms, etc.

BTW, it's amazing how many companies I've found here within 10 mins of me.

[johnder]

Their web site has no terms -- it's not even completed. It's one of those slapped together things that's under construction, launching in xx but is still publicly available.

To top it all off, this person was, in a sense, a colleague of mine who I felt I was doing a favour for in giving them work for their newly started company.


JP

[Amdac]

If they have no terms, no contracts, no logged agreements of any kind, I'd consider you fairly safe.

[johnder]

I guess now it's a matter of dodging bullets. =) Thanks for your advice.


JP

[Primal Blue]

Originally posted by johnder
one hour spent browsing through stock photos to choose the right one.

Wow, now theres a line item I've never seen.

Did they include 15 minutes thinking about the design while they were in the shower?

[Amdac]

Originally posted by Primal Blue
Wow, now theres a line item I've never seen.

Did they include 15 minutes thinking about the design while they were in the shower?

Web design from a professional company usually includes all time spent on the site, whether it's preperation for the site or the actual code/image development itself. It's very common to be billed for selection of images used on the site, as well as layout planning, etc. When I design my own sites, I spend up to 10 hours planning the appearance and back-end structure of the site before I start producing a thing. Out of my 18 sites, development time has ranged from 20 - 150 hours per site (not including 2 unsold turnkey sites).

30 hours for a site isn't a lot.