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Should I work with this guy?

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:58 am
by SpiderMonkey
OK, so a friend of mine has got himself a potential contract to do a fairly big dynamicly driven site. He is using Joomla to do the main part of it but wants my php skills in order to handle some stuff thats outside joomlas capabilities (collecting and analysing data on site usage and so on). However, since I spoke to him hes been putting me under a lot of pressure and giving me conflicting information.

For a start, at one point he said he was going to pay me £4000 over two months (although straight after this he reminded me some of my share in the project would have to be reinvested in web servers and such...), which has now turned into £600 over two weeks. He is also being quite vague about exactly he wants me to do on the site, whilst at the same time reminding me of the legal obligations I'd have if I entered a contract with him and the fact he would pursue it if I failed to do what I'd said.

At the moment my gut instinct is to simply walk away from this. I have the feeling I'm being played by this guy to provide underpriced coding services whilst he pockets most of the cash from the website. Problem is I have Aspergers syndrome and I'm aware that can make me quite guliable.

What do you think I should do?

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:08 am
by Oren
This guy sounds like a very shady person, stay away from him. If he ever comes to you with a small job offer, go for it, you won't lose much since it'd be very small job - that way you can get an indication whether this guy is a good guy or not.
Don't forget to be careful with him and read the future contract at least 3 times. After reading it, think what is missing there and make sure to put it in the contract :wink:

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:23 am
by onion2k
whilst at the same time reminding me of the legal obligations I'd have if I entered a contract with him and the fact he would pursue it if I failed to do what I'd said.
I would walk away if someone threatened legal proceedings before I'd even seen a contract. Sounds like a right tit to me.

If you're going to go for it you need to insist on a complete contract that you both sign, preferably witnessed by the client too. You also need to draw up a specification with as much detail as is humanly possible in it. This should also be signed by you, the other person, and the client. If your partner or the client starts demanding things that are outside of the scope of the agreed spec you can then refer them to what they agreed and renegotiate payment based on the new spec... which should be signed by all parties, and the cycle begins anew.

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:53 pm
by jsilver608
I would trust your gut. I did many projects over the past couple of years and this guy sounds like he will eventually be a problem.

It's not worth the hassle.

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:26 pm
by Kieran Huggins
If you have to ask, walk away.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:45 am
by Chris Corbyn
Walk away... it sounds hairy to me. You won't regret walking away from it, but if you got into something that turned out to be a complete arse-ache you'd be totally kicking yourself. When somebody's fumbling around with figures and you need paying it's never a good sign. What's with the legal threats up-front too? Dodgy if you ask me... let somebody else deal with that crap.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:54 am
by Oren
This is an old topic guys, what's the point? :?
It probably doesn't matter any more.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:55 am
by Kieran Huggins
Image Doh!

Well... did you work for the guy? (I hope not!)

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:23 am
by Chris Corbyn
:oops: We really need a "This topic is over 3 months old" mod installed....

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:30 am
by m3mn0n
Yeah, so there is a clear and visible headline at the top of the thread page saying that because often dates are ignored...

I know I didn't notice until I read your reply, Chris.