The business whinging thread

[LordBull]

WW - I feel your pain !

By coincidence, I now have two members here who have reneged on arrangements after substantial upfront payments.
One chap, a former regular poster here, <has> remained in touch and, with promises (some worthy of a Disney fantasy) a-plenty, I'm inclined not to name and shame yet, as he has been courteous and communicative (if a little deluded). And I'd like to continue to give him the benefit of the doubt

The other individual, who owns an online creative business, has on the other hand absolutely ignored 4 polite email requests, and a couple of mobile phone messages. This is nearly 3 months after we paid £500 upfront for web design work. This, in the words of Dale, is seen as 'a blatant p*ss-take'.

And, despite being the lesser sum, he is likely to be 'outed' first.
I broke my own rule of '50% upfront and 50% on completion' but it's a lesson learned

LB

 

[aZooZa]

No lessons seem to be learned, especially with incorrigible and repeat offenders. Some of these people aren't being "outed", they're being given "multiple excursion" season tickets. I'd ban them in a heartbeat.

 

[woopwoop]

LB, I tried handling my situations the same way, without the drama and name/shame, but similarly it's the ignoring messages (PMs, emails, etc. when you know they've had opportunity) that a p-take.

With both the advertising that I sold and the domains/site I bought, the deals were good so I didn't want to try and undo the ads, or do a chargeback for the domain payment (not sure how that would even work with a BACS payment) - I still will be ok about the huge delay if the domain/site I'm waiting for get transferred soon because of the deal.

Not sure if I mentioned here but a site I bought that I've been waiting to be transferred is now offline, which is obviously affecting the SEO/indexing and the value of what I originally bought. I received the domain transfer two days ago but no site. Thankfully, at a minimum when I paid, I used the tool SiteSucker to download/backup as much of the public facing site as possible (I guess in case something like this happened). So at least I have a partial site running with many of the links still working (although I still need the Wordpress DB html page equivalents are being shown).

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who buys a website from someone: as soon as you pay, use a tool like SiteSucker incase the seller deletes the site forever.

 

[foz]

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who buys a website from someone: as soon as you pay, use a tool like SiteSucker incase the seller deletes the site forever.

Content would have been discussed and agreed upon to be included if it was part of the deal?

 

[woopwoop]

Content would have been discussed and agreed upon to be included if it was part of the deal?

It was a website and domain I bought. So that's an agreement for the content right there. I'm in no way advocating for anyone to clone a site they haven't paid for.

I'm still hoping the seller will transfer the site to me WP files + database, but the website disappeared and they didn't transfer it yet (without the clone I'd have nothing).

 

[foz]

It was a website and domain I bought. So that's an agreement for the content right there. I'm in no way advocating for anyone to clone a site they haven't paid for.

I'm still hoping the seller will transfer the site to me WP files + database, but the website disappeared and they didn't transfer it yet (without the clone I'd have nothing).

Thanks. Understood.

 

[Alien]

Name and shame, agreed.

The community have a right to know so they can choose whether or not they wish to do business with this person.

 

[Admin]

If you are having troubles with deals initiated via Acorn then send me the details and I will add Admin weight to get things sorted out.

It's no excuse but I'm sure some people are behind on online stuff as they are busy enjoying the sunshine, I know I have been this weekend.

PM me if you need help

Admin

 

[LordBull]

Admin,

Do appreciate your offer, that's 'above the call of duty' in my book, but will advise.

Sunshine ?! - Yes, if was just a matter of a week or two I wouldn't be so annoyed - but this is in it's third month.

My polite email this AM with a deadline of 15.00 today for a refund met with:

"Take the actions you wish but if you dare to try and damage the reputation of XX rest assured you will regret this."

I can do no more than warn him !

LB

 

[retired_member36]

"Take the actions you wish but if you dare to try and damage the reputation of XX rest assured you will regret this."

That's a bit of a crappy reply to be fair! If they had of done things correctly to begin with, they wouldn't have risked damaging their reputation would they?!?!? (Do people honestly think your just going to sit back and be happy with having the piss taken out of you!)

 

[thesmileyone]

Jesus, where do I start?

So my main business - I source books, buy them, store them local to me in a Unit and sell them on Amazon. I run it on a high profit margin per item scale.

I get a lot of customers who, quite frankly, amaze me.

Heres a list of what I have to deal with daily:

Customers who buy a book then state they no longer want it, send it back, I check it to find it has been read, or in worst cases coloured in. Sent back "as described" but coloured in. So it goes in the trash and I lose a quid or two.

Customers who buy a book then after delivery say they don't want it and want a full refund, but never send it back...Amazon then forces me to refund them anyway.

Customers who ask stupid questions like "why don't I get free postage" when Amazon forces me to accept a certain postage.

Customers who order with 2nd class delivery and then message me asking for RMSD without paying, and then leave bad feedback because I didnt give them free RMSD.

Other sellers who order with their selling address who buy products that cost 0.01 in my clearance sales (i make money on the postage) and then leave me horrid feedback in an effort to get rid of their competition.... Amazon can see they are competition as the addresses match but won't delete the feedback.

I could go on...

 

[Aegean]

I have to say I've had a lot of good business from Acorn Domains. I've had small and large jobs, web work, software & app work and also supplied web content to quite a few members and their clients. I've also bought over 100 domains for myself and (mostly) my customers, plus spent some decent money myself on other services via members.

There have been two occasions where I was 'diddled' [latin: shaftus maximus], surprisingly both by people I consider to be fairly wealthy, but in fairness 99% of folk have been great to deal with and I consider myself lucky to have made some good connections and contacts.

I would say if theres a real problem, especially one derived from the forums, it wouldn't hurt to email Admin in the first instance, theres a good chance he could help, even as a neutral 'third party'.

 

[SF]

Hi Matt,

Appolgies - my server i had with fasthosts got hacked a few weeks back and so all the sites and dns got changed I was 3 weeks sorting this out and only just got it back up and running so now you can log in and get a copy of the website and the transfer is being sent now.

Its only been 2 weeks matt and i did explain that without the server being back up there was no way of getting the site back.

Dont know why you have persisted in starting another thread.

 

[woopwoop]

Hi Matt,

Appolgies - my server i had with fasthosts got hacked a few weeks back and so all the sites and dns got changed I was 3 weeks sorting this out and only just got it back up and running so now you can log in and get a copy of the website and the transfer is being sent now.

Its only been 2 weeks matt and i did explain that without the server being back up there was no way of getting the site back.

Dont know why you have persisted in starting another thread.

Sean it's been over two weeks and you didn't say anything about the website at risk of being lost. It was up and running when I bought it, then went down 4 or so days later while I was waiting for you to transfer.

This thread was about several people not completing deals, it wasn't to name and shame.

In my messages to you I told you that I was talking publicly about our deal on Acorn because you had left me very few options. The other thread is me talking about our deal.

You were logging in and out of Acorn while ignoring my messages so together with me messaging you that I was talking openly about the deal I assumed that you saw the thread.

I'll remove my comments about the deal when it's completed, I just don't know when that's going to be, because it's on you.

 

[SF]

Ok well I am sorry matt and the transfer will be with you tonight just about to email you log in details for my server so you can take a copy of the website and database.

Feel free to lynch me when you see me lol

Sorry again matt.
Sean

 

[LordBull]

shaftus maximus

LOL Aegean - and I agree with the 99% and 1% theory
Mostly great, honourable, hard working people on here - and I look forward to seeing many of you on Mon after the AGM/Roundtable

And deffo a 'won't pay' not 'can't pay' merchant - which makes me less tolerant

he continued by em with:

"Good luck to you is all l can say anyone who even tries to bring down my company reputation will regret it. I will send you a link to an article about the last person that tried to cross me. Enjoy"

Threats will not deter me !! (and I am awaiting the link as it might make a good backlink once this breaks)

So: I extended the deadline for return of funds as 'he'd been on holiday' and when he called up, he was 'far too busy going through emails' ... the sheer arrogance !! Anyhoo - that was 2 days ago and he has until close of play today to make good. So, watch this space ...

#WHATAWASTEOFTIME

 

[Alien]

LOL Aegean - and I agree with the 99% and 1% theory
Mostly great, honourable, hard working people on here - and I look forward to seeing many of you on Mon after the AGM/Roundtable

And deffo a 'won't pay' not 'can't pay' merchant - which makes me less tolerant

he continued by em with:

"Good luck to you is all l can say anyone who even tries to bring down my company reputation will regret it. I will send you a link to an article about the last person that tried to cross me. Enjoy"

Threats will not deter me !! (and I am awaiting the link as it might make a good backlink once this breaks)

So: I extended the deadline for return of funds as 'he'd been on holiday' and when he called up, he was 'far too busy going through emails' ... the sheer arrogance !! Anyhoo - that was 2 days ago and he has until close of play today to make good. So, watch this space ...

#WHATAWASTEOFTIME

This is appalling, I hope you get it sorted soon LB. :sad:

Come on Acorn member in question - show some respect and get it sorted, be professional!

Maybe any 'threats' should also be reported to the police?

 

[LordBull]

update

+1 Sugs, Alien, Azooza - and to all the others who PM'd me support on this: ta !

It's all very well 'naming and shaming' for the good of the community, which I fully intend to do. But there is due process (particularly as I thought his common sense would get the better of his enlarged ego, too)

Radio silencio has therefore mostly been waiting for Herts Trading Standards to come back to me : they confirmed that despite payment being made by our (ltd) co, the same rules apply about non-delivery/refund (i.e. he ain't got a leg to stand on, having done eff all)

- with the slight exception of his yesterday signing for our Solrs letter (giving them a further opportunity to refund before action - their advice), and therefore, a small claim (MCOL) in favour will now be a formality, they say.

LB