Some People Don't Understand Time Is Money
I am continually amazed by people who contact you for a specific job online and then try to interpret the job AFTER an agreement. For instance, they write saying they want something done, we will use a car as an object example for this purpose. Continuing, they may ask if I can paint the car red? I will write back saying yes we will paint it red. Then they may ask how much it costs. Let's say it costs $10 and I tell them so. OK, so you begin the job and paint the car red, a red they chose. Then when you are finished they say how good it looks but then also say something like can you put gloss on that? Can you add a new front suspension? Can you add tint to the windows. Then you explain well yes I can do all that but NOT for $10. Come on, you know all you asked for was your car painted red, don't try to slip in more. I have experienced a lot of attempts to do this over the years and so I ask many specific questions and get them to confirm it BEFORE I start any job. I had one client bold enough to tell me I did not understand her wishes even though I specifically spelled out what we knew she wanted and she agreed or confirmed it. She says I did not understand because she tried to add additional work AFTER the agreed terms of the job.
JB, I so agree with you, but I can relate to this from a different angle. Today, at a certain bank, a customer had waited for three hours to get service. This person is self employed, and time spent away from work is money lost. When he reaches to the Customer Service Representative, she says in a nonchalant manner that the transaction cannot be done. He subsequently approached another department of the SAME bank to get the SAME job done, which was done in less than fifteen minutes. While I agree that most transactions can be done over the phone and internet, some transactions such as collecting a credit card, bank card or closing an account or opening a new account warrants going to the bank physically at some point. I dont understand in this day and age, why people cannot take their jobs seriously, especially if their job is service oriented and their livelihood and survival depends on it. People need to understand that time is money for some people especially business owners
I had someone try something similar again today.
This one person claims they are a site designer for a movie star. The site they have looks very made up, not something I would want representing myself if I were a movie star. Anyway, they wanted to hire us to do some work for them. They ask for many quotes which we give them. After many Emails backwards and forwards its time to pay. They get the payment details and everything and then suddenly pops this one on me - they ask if I will work for free on the current project and future projects in return for a link on the movie star's site. This is what I replied:
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Sorry, but we are not a fly by night business. We have terms and do all work based on a cash for work basis. Most of our clients are actually happy to have our name on their site because it shows they chose quality designers. Maybe you can find other designers in the thread you placed if you cannot afford our services. Thanks. |