Jul 07 2008
A Very Terrible Web Design Service
I have been helping a non-technical friend on their web site renewal matters. Their web site has been hosted by a reputable web design firm in Malaysia.
The web design firm had developed my friend’s company web site for a few thousands ringgit. Every year, my friend has to renew their domain name, hosting and web site with them for over RM1,000. Her domain name has also been registered under the email address of the web design firm.
However, my friend was not satisfied with their service but had no choice because she had no control nor access over his domain name and web site. She ended up paying hefty amount to the provider every year without gaining any real benefits in return.
Now her yearly term with the web design firm expired and the web site got suspended. I came in to help her talk to the web design firm. We sent an official letter to them to reclaim the domain name, ensure they give us a copy of the web site and the web site is submitted to search engines as promised.
However, dealing with them has not be a pleasant experience. They refused to do anything unless we first pay them the renewal fee. Moreover, the way they treat the customer is regrettably terrible. They can even criticize and badmouth my friend when talking to me.
The relationship seems to be beyond repair. Even if my friend renewed with them, they are bound to bump into problems in the future. I think she better switch to a new provider.
First, the web design firm should not have registered the domain name under their own email address, at least not without informing my friend about it. Being able to manage domain expiry for the customer is not a very good excuse. Doing so gives them a leverage to hijack my friend’s domain name and web site.
Second, their customer service is one of the worst I have come across in the industry. They should treat customer well, speak gently, respect the customer, even if sometimes the customer can be wrong. Had the way they talked been nicer, we could have reconsidered their service.
Third, the quality of the web site developed by them is not at par with their reputation in the industry. It is also not well optimized for search engine marketing. No wonder my friend got very little traffic and enquiries over the years.
Fourth, they said they would give a copy of the web site in images only, and that if we get others to do the web site, we will have to redo it. Oh my goodness, do they meant they would only give us screen shots of the web site without the source code to make changes? What has the customer paid them thousands of ringgit for?
Fifth, the domain name and web site had been paid up by my friend and should belong to her. These should be given to her years ago, not “upon customer request only” as claimed by them.
Sixth, by requiring my friend to renew with them first in order to give her back what is hers and what should have been given much earlier, they are hijacking her web site.
I feel so disappointed for we have such a web design firm in the industry. Perhaps there are also other customers being victimized in the marketplace. Have you come across such cases before?
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That does sound terrible. I’m pretty sure the company your friend signed up with wasn’t honest with her/him through out the dealing.
I don’t think it’s bad if the web design firm registers the domain name under their details. However, it’s unethical to refuse surrendering of the domain name because the client hasn’t paid renewal and gives weird excuses to get the money.
My ordeal would be in the form of a client who took our files, used it (and still is) and refuses to pay the remainder with the lamest excuse - we have found your service unsatisfactory.
If it is unsatisfactory, don’t use our work for crying out loud. -.-”
The Malaysia industry is such a pain dealing with unprofessional and unappreciative people.
Thanks Danny for feedback
I have come across many designers who not only registered customers’ domains under their email address, but also under their names as well! In my friend’s case, we still managed to get back the domain when we bring MYNIC into picture. But how about other customers who absolutely don’t own their domains? There are those who just want to lock customers in.
And there are also customers who refuse the pay the balance. That’s unfortunate, especially after designers have done so much work. But I guess they are not many as they do depend on designers for their web sites.
And many designers also don’t spell out the terms in writing at start of project, and have no redress when something goes wrong.
What is your experience to tackle such cases?
From my experience working with medium-large organizations, if I asked them to sign our formal T&C document they’d tell me they’d need to have a look at it first. Kinda like I need my lawyer to verify this kinda thing. LOL!
MNCs understand the whole T&C but medium-large markets in Malaysia don’t like handling documents. So the implementation of it isn’t very strict in the company I’m running at the moment. However, I believe it should still be a healthy practice therefore we’re going to try and refine it so it’s a little thinner.
There’s no (real) need for redress because the T&C is suppose to cover both parties and not just the provider. That’s selfish and manipulating your client.
Dear Danny, the T&C must be fair and cover both parties. That’s what it is for. Both parties will have redress in case things go wrong.
Anyway, a formal legal document may not be necessary. Just a simple form with signature and company stamp, completed with all the terms will suffice I guess.
I have had a few instances where the customer refuses to pay the last payment, but take the site and uses it. When we argue on the phone, they could go on hours and hours “It’s not about the money, it’s a matter of principle” . This one client … we were only arguing about 200 dollars…. and for goodness sake, we were small time web designers and we don’t charge premium fees too.
So it was then I decided to call it quit. Never turned back. Some people call up says got project, I just tell them I ain’t doing it no more =)
Dear Joshua, it is unfortunate there are customers like this. I do have some thought and win-win solution on this. Will blog my idea later