consulting dilemna
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- connerd
first off, i should point off that i'm not a consultant. i'm a developer. i've been dev'ing mostly in flash for around 5 years now and i like to think i'm pretty good at it all around. i was a happy developer until a couple of days ago.
basically what happened is, a provided a pitch to a client of mine for this flash chat system they wanted, but i was too expensive and not in the same city as them so they decided to go with another developer. which is fine.
but what happened is that the developer they hired didn't do a good job and now nothing's working for them and they have deadlines and blah blah.
so they call me the other day and ask i will "aid" them by fixing all the shit this other developer got mixed up (its basically flash xml socket stuff if anyone knows about that).
now the problem is that i've spent 2 days going thru this stuff and it turns out i can't for the life of me figure out how to fix their problem and get the friggin thing running. :
i'm wondering what the general practice is for consultants who can't help the problem, and how they get paid. i know logically it would just seem that they wouldn't stay consultants for very long if they can't help people w/ their problems, but remember i'm not actually a consultant.. haha.
anyway sorry for the long post. i suppose this is the nature of the freelance life. does anyone have any thoughts?
thanks.
- AD0
no contract before doing work = not a consultant
- connerd0
yeah you're right about that. i normally make it a point to get a contract taken care of before starting work.. just that this wasn't my usual type of work so it threw me off a little. we spoke about payment and i just gave them an hourly rate which they said was fine.
i'm just curious what standard practice is surrounding charging people for work that didn't really help.
- brundlefly0
I would offer to redo the whole thing from scratch, you can't rebuild a wheel from a square.
it would probably take less time than trying to fix broken code.
the original fu*k up was their fault they wanted to save a few bucks, they made a terribly wrong choice let them eat the cost *waving fist*
- BonSeff0
*waives fist too
gotta love him playing the "aid" card.
dude made a wrong choice. tell him you'll accept the full consulting fee, or let you redo the work on the terms you agred on + a 75% discount on the consulting fee. haha
shit he tried to under cut you and it but him in the ass. thats what happens.
its a great feeling when you know you produce quality eh?
- jpolk0
con·sul·tant (kn-sltnt)
n.One who gives expert or professional advice.
One who consults another.
- jpolk0
bill out around 150-200 usd.
- connerd0
yeah i'll admit i did like the feeling of being the "quality" guy that he should have hired.
only problem is that i can't exatly figure out how to solve his problem.. i don't think i can rebuild this from scratch in the timeframe that he wants.
i mean either way he'll understand, he's not a bad guy.. just wanted to hire someone who was local, and who was cheaper. and can you blame him?
- BonSeff0
bummer dude, well you can only do what you can. you seem like a nice enough guy to check into it. how hard of a timeline is it for another chat site? does it need to be done before thanksgiving or something
:P
- connerd0
haha. yeah fo real.
well good news.
i got it fixed. guess these things just have a way of working themselves out in the end. yay.
thanks tho fellas.
- taragee0
glad to hear you fixed but even if you hadn't - you still have to bill for your time!!!
- JamesEngage0
I wish you hadn't in a way... would have tought them a lesson... but as long as you're happy :)
- momento0
i have found myself in similar situations. It is tricky, but basically you have to remember that they asked if you could aid them.
Your response to them should be that you cannot fatham out the code since the developer has done a poor, unorganised job.
Follow this by saying that if they want it done properly you are prepared to do a proper job, but it comes with a cost.
I am a design/art director who runs his own company, and i am sick of been expected to do things because people plead small budgets. There has to be a cut off point, and if they paid peanuts to some half wit then the result is the mess they have now.
Tell them to pay you what you want to do the job right, or you just walk away.Be ruthless, they are.
- connerd0
good point momento.
a friend of mine put it well: even if i worked 10 hours and didn't find a solution for them, i still found 10 hours worth of R&D that told them what DOESN'T work, which helps enormously.
- paulrand0
hey, you spelled dilemma wrong, the wayi always do