Bec Wilson is my go to Programmer Guru. She recently wrote a post in her blog about verbal contracts. I decided, with her permission, to include an excerpt on my website. When she writes posts, she writes a mini novel and the information contained within is invaluable. So have fun and read on:
Well, after four years of freelancing I have learned another important lesson. No matter how well you know someone or think that, due to a connection or a good relationship you don’t need one, NEVER do any work without a written contract.
In November, I was contacted by a former classmate who had taken a position with a clothing company. She asked me if I would be willing to do “simple updates” to their two online stores. This included changing the site layouts seasonally, “basic design stuff”. I negotiated an hourly rate with the owner to be paid monthly, and considering my relationship with the former classmate I didn’t really think a contract was necessary. I figured a verbal would be just fine.
Now, I really should have researched the e-commerce system a bit more before I agreed to take this job on, but I think we are all feeling the economic crunch right now, and I felt that a regular gig a few hours a week would be a nice way to supplement my income and I wouldn’t have to take on any large jobs for a bit. I use a really awesome time-tracking system that is frighteningly accurate (TimeLog 4 if you are interested).
Well, I was wrong. The e-commerce system they are using is LiteCommerce, which I hate. It is not easy until you learn the system (which I had tried to do in the past and failed, btw). It uses a really screwy derivative of PHP, and it was this system that initially encouraged me to custom-build my own shopping cart systems for clients, as I had complete control over everything.
So, they want these really slick layouts (my former classmate has a hell of a design aesthetic, she is very talented) integrated into this archaic, overly complicated e-commerce system. Thank god I was charging hourly. Unfortunately, the system kicked my ass. There are all these little modules, and you have to try to figure out which one is the right one to edit….sometimes there is different module for no foreseeable reason….you get the idea. Needle in a haystack. Plus, the reason they had called me in the first place is because they were unhappy with their current web design guy (updates taking too long, etc). So I was working with someone else’s code, and I have to say, it was sloppy. Take the needle in a haystack and put it in a crate in a warehouse full of crates, and you have no idea which one to open first. I was covered in straw much of the time, frustrated, and so was my client.
To read more go to Bec’s Blog