Veterans and Questions

Hello All, just a little note to vent out and remind you of how things work in the real world versus online and why when asked to work on a site we all do things a certain way now.

Like all the other veterans on Unity who stick around to help out the newbies, from time to time we get asked to work on a site for someone.  Myself, like all the others, depending on how were asked, the type of site and the type of person will with accept or decline this offer.  It often depends also on what you want done and how much time we have to devote to a new project.  I got one of these requests last week.

Now, the individual who was doing the asking seemed sincere and asked for 4 items to be done.  I gave him a reasonable price (it was under $50) and he agreed, saying he could pay the next day.  Well, I against my better experience and judgement went ahead and did the work.  By morning everything was done and he hits me with he needs a little more done and without thinking about it I give him a price for 2 larger items and begin to work on those.  With the first one done and the 2nd half done he sends me an e-mail filled with items that I have not agreed to do as if I am expected to do these items. 

Well, needless to say I put the brakes on his site real fast.  Keep in mind, none of these latest items were anywhere near being quick items, mods don't even exist for most of them, but they are doable.  So I give him a call and we discuss what is going on.  He denies agreeing to pay me for the first set of items, which I jogged his memory with a copy of the e-mail on and then says the latest list was just informational. 

I inquire about the money that was supposed to be paid and he attempted to evade the topic again.  By the end of the call he agrees to pay me and then disappears. 

Now, within this phone call he stated he had worked with 4 other people (this site appeared completely unmodified when I looked at it and we can all tell base dolphin sites) and how horrible all of them were.  Straight up, this set off the bells and lights in my mind.  If someone keeps having the same problem then it's a good idea to look at the common denominator which in this case was the client.  I don't believe we have this many (5 including myself) people who are willing to work on sites that one person could find all 5 of them and not find a decent one. 

Now, this also reminded me that in the past when I need something from someone else I have always paid for it first, and I have always had those I've charged pay me first in the past.  This time I was being nice and allowing leeway on the payment as there was a deadline when they wanted their site up. 

Now, for all of you who are new to Dolphin and wandering why this is being posted, it is a perfect example of why we all charge up front for the work that we do.  The majority of the people who participate in these forums are honest, hardworking individuals and we pride ourselves on making Dolphin simply as great as it can possibly be.  It is one of the most pliable pieces of software on the market and is limited only by our imaginations and Date of Birth Fields :))!  However, when we attempt to be nice to individuals we are more often than not finding ourselves accused of not doing what we said we would do, ripping people off or at best case simply not getting paid for the work that we do. 

This is the reason that most of us demand payment up front for our services and require things to be in writing in regards to what we are doing.  The next time that you think an idividual you want to work on your site is demanding things up front before they will begin to work, please keep this in mind.  We are not at anyones beck and call, we are professionals with other committments besides your site, we have families, we have normal jobs in addition to the freelance coding we do for you, we have obligations that we must meet and most of all, we do not work for free, we are not here to be insulted and we do not tolerate being taken advantage of. 

I'm done venting for now.