Complaint Review: Hugh Briss

I hired Hugh Briss to do my social media profiles - twitter & google plus. I paid him for services on Jan 6th. His website said he has a 2-3 week turnaround.

He markets himself widely as a social media consultant. There are numerous pages, including socialidentities.com, which is his main website, where he talks about what he can do for you. So I went to him thinking I'd get more than just a graphic designer, but someone with marketing pizzaz.

Jan. 6 - Payment - Paypal order form through his site for two profiles (NO express contract, ugh!) Right after payment, I email him from my legalgsphinx email address and state, "I just paid for your services, blahblah. Look forward to chatting with you!"

Jan. 7 -  He sends me this perfunctory email asking for graphics, input, preferences, etc. Email is sent to (((REDACTED))) which is linked to my paypal account, so I don't see it.

Jan. 15 - I send an email from my (((REDACTED))) email:

Hi Hugh, I'm hoping to hear from you regarding my payment for two profiles below. I do have plans to pay you for other profiles, but would need to hear from you first to discuss your branding strategy for my business.  Thank you. Please contact me as soon as possible.  Thank you.

He replies right away with a forward of his Jan 7 email.

Jan. 20 - I email him back with:

My apologies! Very glad to hear from you. 

I sent you a link to my Dropbox which contains high-res files of the same images from my website at (((REDACTED)))

Feel free to follow the same branding style that you see on my website.  The key point here is that my business is very minimalist and tech-based, and it caters to lawyers. If you read my bio on there, it should give you a good idea of what I'm trying to convey.  What are your thoughts in terms of how to market my business, based on what you see on my site? I look forward to hearing from you.

Jan. 21 - I email him asking if he got my invite from Dropbox with the images of my logo.

Jan. 22 - He writes back, "Got it".

Feb. 4 - No peep or any feedback on what direction he wants to head with my branding style. I send this email:

Hi Hugh,

I know there's been a delay in our initial communication, but I have barely heard from you with respect to my two profiles. Your site promises great work, but barely a peep from you after payment doesn't translate well to good client relations. I'd appreciate a status update and preferably something like final drafts for both profiles by no later than this Friday considering it has been two weeks since you confirmed receipt of my Dropbox link. If you could get this done in a timely fashion, I'd appreciate it. My business marketing is at a standstill until I get my social media done. Until then, my blogger isn't able to push my services out on the web. 

Feb. 4 - He writes back:

I do inform people on my order page that the turnaround time is two to three weeks but I do have your project on the schedule. I should be able to start on it tomorrow. Sorry for any problems the delay has caused but I'll have everything wrapped up for you in a couple days.

I write back: Yes, I'm aware of your turnaround time as indicated on your page. It was the lack of communication that I was referencing. I look forward to seeing the finished work!

Feb. 11 - I email: What is the status update? It's now Wednesday.

He writes back:

Hi Isabel,

Well, feel free to call me an idiot but I had this ready to send you on Saturday and apparently got sidetracked and it's been in my draft folder. Since you haven't started tweeting on your page yet I used my test page for the design comp. You may need to click the screenshot image to enlarge to actual size. socialidentities.com/comps/chang/tw-comp.jpg

I write back:

No worries, Hugh. I understand.

It looks just like my site. I see where you went with it. I was hoping maybe you could do something a little more creative while keeping with the branding scheme and style. I like how creative you were with other clients, where you did a play on the icon/avatar image and had it bleed over in design to the cover/banner. Can you do something creative like that and similar for me, even with such a boring subject matter and boring demographic (lawyers?). 

Your thoughts?
 
I then send another email with a suggestion about using a new image for the banner instead of what's already on my site, or use another image from my site, etc. Basically, I give him more feedback and direction.

Feb. 13: He writes back with comments like: You had mentioned in your first email you liked simplicity so followed your website branding but modified it slightly. I can use any photo you would like but you'll need to provide it or give me a very good idea what kind of photo you have in mind.

I write back:

Hi Hugh,

I'll be honest here: I said to follow my branding, but I didn't say to do an exact replica of my website and put little creative effort into the design itself. I don't mean to be difficult about this, but considering the sum of money I paid, I expected a little creative brain juice on your end to get this done, and with prompt communication in the beginning to avoid having you spin circles with drafts.

Would it be possible for me to get my money back? I hate to waste your time, but this really isn't feasible for me at this juncture, and I needed this done last week.  I can't wait another week for this to finish.

Thank you for your understanding.

Feb. 16: No response from him since my last email. I send an email requesting a status update.

Feb. 17: He writes back:

Well, I'll be happy to refund the cost for the second cover design for Google+ if you no longer want it, but I don't offer money back guarantees and have already put time into the Twitter cover. I suggest you simply give me a better idea of what you want or what image you want me to use so I can finish it. As for following existing branding, typically when someone tells me to do that it means they want things to match. You sent me a dropbox link with both the image from your home page, which I used, as well as the book case photo. I could only assume you wanted me to use one of those images and proceeded accordingly.

I write back:

Hi Hugh,

I understand.

Please use my existing brand and images, but if you could come up with an interesting way to present them, like, taking the avatar image and having it bleed over into the cover, that would be great... something a little creative, but still using my color schemes, branding, etc. 

I'd appreciate if you could finish up the Twitter and Google designs this week. If I could get a sneak a peek at a rough draft Thursday, with final comments to ya, and then the finished work Friday, that would be appreciated. My blogger is working on posts, and he can't do it without my social media profiles setup. He is going to get me the blog entries by Friday. I'd love to get them posted no later than this weekend.

If you need feedback during the creation process, please email me your thoughts. I don't want you to waste time spinning wheels either.

Thank you.

Feb. 20: No peep from him. I send this email:

Hi Hugh,

Can i get a status update? I can't get my marketing done until these profiles are done. It's dragged on for a month.
Thank you.

No word. Nothing. Finally, I send him a written request demanding my money back.  

Look at it from my point of view:

You advertise yourself as a social media consultant on more than one site. It's pretty much YOUR brand and persona.  What I've gotten out of this is none of the value of a consultant who would offer me advice on how to best position my brand, but a mere graphic designer who has taken my images and reproduced, with minor modifications as you admitted in a previous email, a replica of my website. Now your assumptions, I understand, but you erred in not following up with me on your thought process. I had to follow up with you several times and you gave me zero feedback on where you wanted to head. You failed to provide any kind of consulting or strategic thought process. How is that delivering services in a fair and square way? We don't need an actual contract expressly written, though in the future that would probably be super helpful for you. What will be easy to show is that you advertise as someone who provides more than just graphic design services, but actual social media consulting talent. Where is your value? You haven't demonstrated this in any of your sparse emails. The most you have done is illuminate as to why you don't feel you should have to refund my money for the banner thus far.  How is that fair? Put another way, how is that not d****ey and unprofessional?

Now, at this point, if I were to say "go ahead and finish up the twitter profile" and refund the google plus money, what do I get out of this in terms of the value for services that I pre-paid for? Graphic design skills with zero input, or some thoughts about WHY you copied my website and how that actually strategically positions me a certain way to my demographic? As a social media consultant, your value is the latter, not the former.  Will you send something over within a few days, since you already have a rough draft, or will you drag this on and on for another 2 weeks where I have to email you periodically for updates? You understand where the slippery slope is with respect to this entire transaction?  It's been over a month. You've established very poor faith in the delivery of your services. Put yourself in my shoes, and understand why I'd be angry.

Final points:

1. Social media specialist who doesn't actually provide any strategic advice on social media for your small business.

2. Doesn't get back to clients, unless they follow-up every week with emails.

3. It's now 5 weeks ongoing, since his proposed a 2-3 week turnaround, and not only is he unapologetic, he refuses to make things right by returning my money. He doesn't care that others are waiting for him to do his end of things, he just drags his feet. Even worse, he put in probably 30 minute's of work, MAX, in the past 5 weeks.

4. Never bothered to answer any questions I sent him in the beginning about his thought process. Simply threw out a draft at me, after FOUR weeks of delay, now won't refund my money.

5. Claims he will refund the money for the remaining profile that hasn't been designed, and has yet to do so.

Conclusion:

Do not bother with this man for social media "consulting."

Hugh Briss = Hubris. Need I say more?