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Canopus Marketing cc :: Client Projects
Core Catering and Hospitality Supplies (Pty) Ltd
 | This is a WARNING to all Web Developers and Designers. Please exercise extreme caution when dealing with Core Catering, especially their CEO Marcel Fuchs. I got burnt when I ignored my usual procedure of 50% upfront payment and started the job because Mr Fuchs wanted a new site 'yesterday'. Looking at their old (well, current at the time of writing) site, one can understand why: it's fuck-ugly, uses frames and Flash, and is therefore not only invisible to the search engines, but also inaccessible to handicapped users, plus it's a user-interface nightmare.  So thinking I was dealing with an effective and efficient professional of German origin, something that blinded better judgement on my part, I went about doing the job. Two full days later I presented them a site that clearly wouldn't win design awards, but where I had implemented a new design, a nice animation on the home page, a completely new product catalog, leaning on the colour schemes and imagery used in their current print catalog, and where it was all database-driven for easy self-administration. I handed over the site together with an invoice, but Mr Fuchs didn't like the design. He wanted a more corporate and funky look, more black and silver (which the site clearly was to begin with). I asked them to be more specific, but also said 'use what you currently have for now; that gives us time to work on a more professional design'. Then news came that Mr Fuchs wasn't prepared to pay. I then deducted the design part from the invoice and charged them only for the database, scripting and graphics part. But no, they were now looking for someone new and I could keep my work. Later on they said 'we thought it was a sample you were giving us'. Well,fuck that, not if you have already given me FTP access to your server and made the point that you wanted the new site live yesterday. And I just did the site for your sister company, Core Furniture, too, remember! I've informed Hellopeter.co.za about their business practices but so not yet engaged legal counsel. My advice: stay clear of them or make sure you have a written contract and an upfront payment before you start your work. Mr Fuchs has made a nice withdrawal from his Karma bank, that's for sure, and maybe one unsuspecting day he drowns in the excrement of a million Albatrosses. You reap as you sow! ;) BTW, the sample site I did for them can be reached via a click on the title above. |
