Code Validate- $15

In my personal openion, $15 is not a big amount either for programmers or for project posters, disclosing such kind of issues over Digital Point will increase chances of doubts between New programmers and project posters regarding crediblity and relaiblity of people on this forum.

It is something that needs to be discussed off the board and sort out in the most professional manner.

 

Indeed yes. I agree with you.

He was really professional on MSN and I actually liked his attitude. I had no idea he would give me a negative iTrade and fight over $15. I know it is not about the money, and I am aware of the fact that my project has took his time. But, he should have not accepted it at first place. Or, he should have backed out in between, he blocked me on MSN just before the last message he sent me which is in the chatlog I posted above.

I am still willing to pay him $15, hell, I promise him that I will pay him more if he gets the work done properly. I had no idea he would back out and then give me a negative iTrade.

I request moderators to remove my negative iTrader, I am willing to give enough proof.

Thank you DP

regards,
Zafar Ahmed

 

Zafar Ahmed is not a scammer. this is enough for it. if the programmer wants the money, complete the job and post here. the we can monitor it and let the mods close this thread as "Solved"

 

I believe PHPWebDeveloper has done more than enough to warrant his $15 payment for the hours of work he has put into this trying to please you. If you didn't want the -iTrader... and your really wanted to him to do more work for you... you should of just paid up.

 

Hi,

I think you have not read what I wrote earlier.

I am willing to pay him now or even an upfront amount BUT only when he gives me proper work.

I have a small question for you:

Will you pay someone who has not done the work properly? I am even willing to pay him more!

 

I read most of it

This whole deal is a "He said/ He said" situation. He says it validated... you say it doesn't. (He could not validate by URL as you expected since he was not given access) We don't have all the facts needed to judge who may be right or wrong here.

PHPWebDeveloper took on this --- in your words --- "It's only small" job for $15... trusting you that this was not going to be too difficult. Things got more complicated than anticipated (this also happens in other business, IE, auto repair, construction) and everything changed after some code issue arose changing this deal from the simple "fix" to a complete code rewrite... which he still attempted to do for you.

I am just saying, that if you were that concerned over itrader... He has done his more than his share for that small $15 payment... which would of maybe given him faith that you were holding your end of this deal... and perhaps... he would not have just given up on finishing this for you.

 

Maybe you should of researched into the work involved abit more before you took this on. $15? Thats one and a half hours pay, I would not take on 10 pages without looking at them first.

Oh well hope you both learnt lessons.

 

I guess the coder thought it to be easy money .
and then after realizing that he messed up with his homeworks and calculations , had to bail out like a chicken with the 15$ lol .. .pretty sad though .
But why grumble ? why not admit that he could not fix it in the 1st place ?
It was foolish of him to sit and work overtime for 15$ ...

 

After reading carefully your points of view,
I see very clearly the problems, since I was in both shoes,
both from the coder part, and from the buyer part.

Hope I clear this very common issue with all who read the thread.

Both of you are the cause of the problem, a little more is PHPWebDeveloper.

I hope by this post, I can help others establish the process of accepting,
communicating, and delivering a project the right way.

From Zafar's point of view

Zafar it was partially your fault, because:

• you didn't give a clear specification (you only requested validation of the pages)
• you should have researched references for your coder, about being a good communicator, a "professional" coder, a reliable person(to give more work).
  An expert doesn't accept jobs at the $xx range. An expert has a book about the things he does, a website, etc ...
• you should know(I think you know) that coding and fixing xhtml/css code takes time, it's not a 2h job.
  You should have explained this to your client more clearly.
• PHPWebDeveloper is your coder, you placed the work request, not your client, thus by you should have payed at the time of completion
• you asked more work, that you know will require more time (thus by more money to your coder), like:
  • after validation, you requested making the site cross-browser compatible
  • you requested custom work on the pages
• when you received and checked that files(10 files) are validated, you should have payed(not you will pay or pay more)
• as being a reasonable person, you understood that will take more time, however you failed to pay. I do believe that PHPWebDeveloper were more
  then devoted to the project(for example: stayed up at night until 4PM) and completed it to your initial specification
• you didn't specify, that this is a rush job and you hidden the fact that you are already late with your client
• and most importantly you should have given bigger trust in your coder

Some tips:

• you should have hidden all details of the agreement between you and your clients, this is not important for the coder
• you shouldn't have discussed this publicly, this may result in loosing your client, losing trust in you, your services and PHPWebDeveloper, and his services
• I advise reading more about on Project management.

I know and old saying: time is money, more time is more money.
If you don't agree on this, I consider reading more about this
on various project management blogs.


Zafar work is completed, when the work is done according to specification.
Secondly, work is also completed when you and the coder both agree on completion.
Asking more work requests more work, means a new project (or additional work to the current one)

I see the work is completed according to specification
(if PHPWebDeveloper shows that the files validated with the w3c validator,
both XHTML and Css, without encoding problems, with online validation).

Zafar you should learn more about being a better project manager,
and most importantly a better provider for your clients also.

I would never update my client on project status(also on time it takes),
after a sub-contractor said it's done(or said will be done in x hours).
Instead I would have checked myself, and update the client accordingly.

On the other side

PHPWebDeveloper you are more to be blamed for the whole thing.
Why? Because you should have checked more carefully what you have accepted: the project files, the number of errors, quality of coding, etc ...
before accepting the project, not after accepting it.

You should have only given approximates(approximate time of completion),
and should have checked more carefully what you have accepted and only then give estimates(time+price).

PHPWebDeveloper some of your faults were:

• after accepting the projects and rechecking it you didn't have the gut's to tell the client that it might take longer, and request more money based on the new estimate.
  For example: you should have requested payment by the hour, with a hourly rate.
  Your client would have used someone else or would have understood.
• you didn't ask down payment(50% for any payment) to start.
  This was to ensure Zafir is serious and for you not to get stressed and assurance that you will get payed on completion.
  (I assume this is because of the lack of experience)
• you should have checked if Zafar is a serious client with various ways, if you are not sure
• you did a work for Zafar, not Zafar's client, the agreement between Zafar and Zafar's client, should be no interest to you
• Zafar is your client, if he said it's a small job, you can't assume that it is, because he's not a coder
  (I assume, because if he were, he could have solved the issues)
• you should have been more professional, not only with Zafar, but with all your clients, no matter what happens.
• threatening a client with layers(when you have no proof for anything) doesn't help you in any way.(Maybe your pride) Even if you hire a lawyer,
  you will pay more to the lawyer, waste your time, etc just to heal your pride? (Think calmly about it if it's worth it)
• if you have more projects, you should have managed your time better, loosing a client that pays
  $xx, it's especially not good for you, losing a client with $xxx and $xx budget is the worst scenario.
  You shouldn't have accepted this project, if you can't talk about it on IM(meaning no time for it),
  you should have requested and email explaining and requesting everything
  (project files, ftp details, etc ...), thus by minimizing time needed to completion
• being honest about a project, gives a clear path to project completion not only for you but for your client also

Some tips:

• I don't assume that your name is PHPWebDeveloper(you should have introduces yourself, as in real life),
  for the client to see that you are to be trusted(not a scammer, etc ...)
• you should have worked from 8am to 16pm, as a real person, don't stay up at night(or all night), and
  find out that the next morning you are very tired to work(thus by waisting 2 days)
• don't take it personally when the client is taking about your code, your code and you are 2 different things
• in my opinion iTrader is not a way to classify the work quality, it's only a way to see if you are a serious person or not
• to learn more about project management you can read the articles on
  FreelanceSwitch

PHPWebDeveloper if you are self sufficient,
I don't think $15 will help you in any way, better stick to larger projects,
they pay more and you can better support yourself. You sold yourself
cheap and payed the price.
Don't underestimate your values and give a lower price, just to say,
"I have completed this project also" or "I have an 1 iTrader, wow".

Most importantly on project completion

I do believe that Zafari and PHPWebDeveloper are not scammers.
They both lack experience, and knowledge about project development.
From my own experience, asking for down payment, being more honest
and keeping a professional attitude, should have lead to a
successfully completed project and more work from Zafar.

I recommend deleting the negative iTrader's from both, after PHPWebDeveloper shows the validated code
and Zafar have completed payment.

Hope I helped you both and also contributed to the community here at DigitalPoint.

 

Its a great post Webice.
You discussed the system wonderfully.
Thanks for these great tips.

 

Sincere congrats for your input, Webice! It is a realistic and honest overview.

 

Yeah thats just fantastic +1 rep

 

Zafar scammed me for the same job! Stay away!!!

 

I for one, trust Zafar and his ITrader is 8 while the other dude's is -1. Not to mention that Zafar has a lot more activity here.

Zafar man, the dude had 4 posts and you trusted him on a job? Damn Z, you getting old? lol j/k

 

That is the biggest mistake I did, I'll be more careful now

mjmorrell - do I even know you? I don't even know you.