What started off as something that was to be my pride and joy has turned into a disaster, this was supposed to be my new business website, and had funded it from savings I had from my current mediocre salary, the homepage is lacking content at the moment, but that isn't the problem.

 

The main feature of the homepage was supposed to be a flash map of my area (west midlands) where the user clicks on their area where a further larger detailed map appears with a simple calculation tool where they select some details from a limited amount of options, click a "generate quote" button and a price appears with a link to a booking screen where they enter further details which can be e mailed to me.

 

Other stuff which was supposed to be included are:

 

Animated flash banner

Paypal/google checkout integration

Submission to hosting company

Advice on setting up e mail accounts

 

The actual layout itself seems ok, apart from the many schoolboy errors seen throughout, the current design http://66.45.227.103/ambient/index.htm shows what I think is a reasonable layout, and a previous version http://64.22.86.138/~excelser/ambient/default.htm shows a terrible layout, with the map (a little) closer to what I had hoped for.

 

I gave both designers full map details, along with a good brief and access to further literature...sales leaflets, stationery design and a further brief which I paid for from a professional copy editor

 

So...I was hoping to get it finally up and running on this site, I have limited knowledge in this field and was toying with the idea of running a competition to get it resolved....although to be honest I have to be very careful of what I spend now.

 

To say any ideas/suggestions and ideas on costs would be appreciated would be a vast understatement!

 

If you like i can supply further info as I've accumulated stacks of the stuff!

 

Bryan

I'm sorry, could you explain a little more what the problem is?

 

If you have paid two designers already, they should be fixing your problem (I'm not sure what it is... poor quality work?). Most designers don't consider a job complete until the client is happy with it. If you aren't happy, and you haven't gotten what you've paid for you should be taking this up with the current designer(s).

 

I'm just a little confused as to what the problem is? I have never had a client be happy with the first revision, it would be a miracle but after a few iterations and consultations we always manage to get somewhere we are all happy with.

I have to agree with Ms Eris on this one.

 

Your post is a little unclear..

Ok, the current design was to include the map, which was to include all the major areas in the west mids area, this was supplied by myself, the postcodes were included, but again were also somehow changed, I supplied some information as to how I seen the calculator functioning, and although I'm not sure if more information is required, none has been asked for though, the main thing is that this has been going on for several weeks and I have had to prompt them to see if they need further clarification, I've replied to all e mails immediately and sometimes have gone over a week without hearing anything.

 

I have various correspondence stored but have just given a brief background...and that was long enough!

 

The company is based in India and although there own website in no way suggested so, I suspect a language barrier problem.

 

And believe me, I have taken the problems up with them! I really just need this completed now as I fear this could drag out for ages.

 

By all means, anything else you need to know regarding the history, just ask

 

Bryan

Whats the chances, just in the last few minutes the current designer has inserted the town names, ok the spelling needs corrected but this is the first changes they have made for over 2 weeks, they've had the details for 4 weeks.

 

I sent them an e mail a few days ago and they didn't tell me they were doing this or anything new, I just noticed it when I was checking my original post, so if you like you can see how they get on, you might understand where I'm coming from!

 

If you managed to see the site before the changes....what do you think??

 

Bryan

Well... the code of the new design is a disaster...table layout, no effective use of CSS. The menu under 'knowledge base' breaks badly. I assume by looking at the source code that the page was done in frontpage...:S not a good reference tbh.

I would also change the online quote link to 'get a quote' because it doesnt offer an online code rather a form that you can submit to request a quote.

 

 

contact page is useless...if they xxx out the contact info why bother putting on it at all? Use a contact form.

 

on the postivie side...the layout works for me. A cleaner code canoptimise it better for search engines and accessibility.

Bry,

 

Did they send you any form of contract to sign regarding this work?

The layout and general look and feel is ok, but, as Acrylic points out, the actual coding of the site is terrible and most definitely not compliant with current standards.

 

The home page doesn't even have a DOCTYPE!!

The company is based in India and although there own website in no way suggested so, I suspect a language barrier problem.

 

...

Bry,

 

Did they send you any form of contract to sign regarding this work?

The layout and general look and feel is ok, but, as Acrylic points out, the actual coding of the site is terrible and most definitely not compliant with current standards.

 

The home page doesn't even have a DOCTYPE!!

 

I have no contract, this was my first website so am obviously inexperienced, the company were sourced by simply visiting various web design companies online.

 

To be honest, I just want this back on track now and thought this site might be the best solution, but where do I begin? write another brief and post it? on which forum?

 

Thanks for looking

 

Bryan

I have no contract, this was my first website so am obviously inexperienced, the company were sourced by simply visiting various web design companies online.

 

To be honest, I just want this back on track now and thought this site might be the best solution, but where do I begin? write another brief and post it? on which forum?

 

Thanks for looking

 

Bryan

 

Eek! Tip #1 - Always get a contract. It covers both you and the web designer and should cover what is going to be delivered, how, when and how much you are going to be charged.

 

To get this back on track, you have two options, as I see it.

 

1. Carry on with your current suppliers, BUT get them to submit a contract detailing everything that they are going to deliver. You should also demand that the finished site adheres to web standards. This will ensure that your site is accessbile to the widest audience of users possible and will help ensure that it will not "break".

 

2. Submit a brief to the Looking to Hire... section on this forum. There are many excellant designers on here and I'm sure that you'll be able to get your project back on track. The downside to this, of course, is that you'll have to pay again.

 

Hope it all works out for you.

The company is based in India

I was reading and reading and reading trying to suss out why you should be having these problems and then it hit me.

Sorry but I have to ask - What is the one reason why you chose to go to a company not even in the UK let alone in your area?

I was reading and reading and reading trying to suss out why you should be having these problems and then it hit me.

Sorry but I have to ask - What is the one reason why you chose to go to a company not even in the UK let alone in your area?

 

A fair question, and I was waiting for someone to ask, I have done a ridiculous amount of research into my new business (18 months worth) and have tried to anticipate everything (impossible) from this I learnt that India was one of the world leaders in software/web design, this was from wikipedia and other sources, the price I have paid so far would be similar to what I would have paid in the UK, I just thought I would get more for my budget, and as the world is a lot smaller these days, any research into my business could be done online, wherever they were based.

 

The bottom line is I made a mistake, and I'm not in any way trying to hide it, with hindsight I should have gone with a UK company, although it still didn't have to be in my local area.

 

Hope this answers your question

 

By the way, I am taking this all in and will take it into account when giving the new brief, so thanks.

 

Bryan

I guess the best outcome would be for them to complete the work up to standard within an agreed timeframe. If you spelt out what you require with some reasonable completion dates, do you think they'd be likely to take notice if they thought you may not pay them any remaining amount if they didn't comply?

 

Otherwise, there's not much else you can do, unfortunately.. it's probably not practical to go after them legally. The cost of pursuing legal action in another country is likely to be more than the cost of the original site.

 

First thing I'd do is to download the site as it is now (including any database files if needed) so that you have a copy of everything. If negotiations break down, you'll at least be able to take those files to someone local to finish off (rather than start again from scratch). Legally, that's probably not totally above board, but you may feel that you have justification depending on how much you've already paid. Technically, they could probably take you to court over it if they feel otherwise, but I reckon that'd be unlikely (for the same reasons that it wouldn't be worth your while suing them). It's an option, anyway.

 

ps - your own design looks better than theirs.. that bloke on their site has such a slappable smile..

The reason that I asked the question was, hopefully, so that you would answer as you did and hopefully others would learn from your mistake.

The reason that I suggested a local (or even UK) company was simply so that if you had problems like these it would be easier to visit and talk to them direct.

 

If I was you I would simply cut my losses, download everything, change all passwords and get someone else in to sort it out.

The main thing is you are the client and you should have whatever you have asked for.

Don't pay them a penny more.

Ok, am gonna sleep on it tonight and more than likely place a post for some assistance in getting it back on track, and yes, my initial thoughts were a studded baseball bat for that guy you were referring to.

 

If I stick the full brief on a pdf file, an idea of what I should expect to pay would be appreciated also, thanks everyone.

 

Bryan

If I stick the full brief on a pdf file, an idea of what I should expect to pay would be appreciated also, thanks everyone.

 

Depends on quite a few things so it'd be easier to answer after seeing the brief. You can always ask people to email you with quotes once they've seen what's involved.

Just a quick note to thank everyone for the feedback, and if anyone is interested I've posted a thread on looking to hire, to hopefuly get it up and running.

 

Thanks again

 

Bryan