Complaint Review: Website Designz - New Orleans. Louisiana Internet

I never once missed a day of work, often was asked to stay late, and behaved tactfully with all of the team members, including bosses. I was invited to client calls and asked to assist people in other job specializations with their work, in addition to my own. 

I was employed here for less than two months. I voluntarily quit when I did not receive any payment for hours worked OR in promised bonuses. I spoke with other employees before leaving to find that none of them had been paid in months either.

I finally received payment after filing an arbitration on Elance six months after quitting and threatening a lawsuit. Steven called me yelling and cursing, calling me a "pencil d*k motherf-----," a nickname which my friends and I had a good laugh about and has (unfortunately) stuck until this day. In the course of being berated, Stephen let it slip that I was being sued for $25,000 for violations of my NDA and libel. I notified Stephen immediately that I had begun recording the call, providing the name and phone number of our family's lawyer, and warning that any further contact would be considered harassment and that I would seek the advice of my lawyer myself if he was to call again.

I was paid within a week. Treat this guy like you'd treat any other bully.. and, obviously, quit working with or for him immediately. Others in this thread have shown solid evidence that support our claims. If you get caught with your pants down, we told you so.

Below you can find part of email exchange with Stephen:

Me:
Hi,
I am sorry but after reading comments and taking a look at your website I am forced to call our meeting off. Please consider my application cancelled.

Thank you for your time. I wish you good luck finding right candidate.
Regards


WebsiteDesignz:
Yep you're right. I absolutely do not need another hand wringing contractor who doesn't have enough common sense to ask questions instead of making assumptions. Enjoy your unemployment.

As you can see thats just another prove there is something seriously wrong...

Here are some additional statistics supporting the complaints that have been made here and elsewhere regarding the scam company Website Designz, who have been allowed to continue their scam through Elance and elsewhere.

Over a two year period WebsiteDesignz has created 134 postings for PHP programmers, virtual assistants, QA specialists, designers and others, as of this date. While they have chosen individuals for over 50% of these posted positions their cash outlay through Elance is only $162,930. That's just over $2,000 for EVERY contractor hired. That is barely one month's pay for a salary between $10-15 an hour.

This means that they go through contractors at a very high rate and any contractor who has been promised bonuses (which they SWEAR they pay through Elance per Elance policy) have to be non-existent, as there is no WAY they could actually pay additional bonuses based on this small per-contractor amount.

Additionally, they continue to hire the SAME position, over and over and over and over again, resulting in the over 134 postings in a two year period. These figures indicate that they replace approximately 3 people every month. This is a pretty high figure considering how small the company is.

But most significantly is the high number of complaints from former contractors, all indicating the same thing -- ripping them off with bonuses that never get paid, being sworn at and yelled at, travelling expectations that can never be met, and others. The few positive comments they have received are from contractors working with the firm for less than one month -- and most always, never working for them again. 

These statistics just reiterate the same complaints heard from other contractors -- this company cannot be trusted, and Elance is helping them continue to find new people they can scam and take advantage of.

I had the misfortune to work for a brief time with this company as a contractor for a developer job and I have to fully agree with this report and the other one that exists on this website. I've also had the misfortune to be sweared at, watch other people get cursed on in joint meetings, and seen radical changes within hours to payment promises, project specifications and deadline expectations.

This post is about two things: a rebuttal to what the owner of the company said as a reply to this report and my advice for other developers that might want to work for this company.

First, their stats on Elance (all time): 165 Jobs, 307milestones, 417 hours billed. A different story than the 300 jobs they claim on Elance. And yet not a single complex website in their portfolio. If you want to, take a look at the average opinion of the contractors. On most pages you'll see at least a terrible review. The would be more bad reviews if not for the cancelled deals with both providers and contractors. Elance just be aware that this company is ripping off a lot of contractors with excellent score. Take a look at all those contractors that had their jobs cancelled with Websitedesignz. Average retention rate based on Elance data is less than a month. Their linear approach to website design means that they don't know how to use Agile development and includes poorly defined specs that will change over time.

Secondly, developers beware: if you work with this company, your pay will most probably be less than advertized. On my first project i was promised a pay that was 40% lower than the minimum advertised. They also say that the payment is on the 15th but they will hand you a contract that will state something different. This may still seem like a good deal if you're from a poor country but there's more: don't agree to a contract that says you will be paid when the project is complete. This guy will go out of his way to delay the project by adding more tasks to it. Also, don't agree to give up your rights to your work before you get paid for it. Just read the reviews mentioned, this has happened many times. In fact, if you're reading this, you might want to consider what has been said in every report about this company so far: you'll probably, like the others, be cursed at, you'll probably, like the others, hear things like 'you don't leave today until this is finished'. I've had managers before, and I've never been told things like that because they had realistic expectations about what's humanly possible and what isn't. For this guy, everybody is moving too slow. You'll probably be given a project that has been started by somebody else. You'll probably get specs that are too vague to work with. You'll probably not get anything in a contract about terms and payment, and what project you're working on. If you still decide to work with this company and see these signs, you'll soon realize what a mistake working for this company is.

Sadly, I expect more reports like this to show up. I hope the potential developers see them.

This report was not created to discuss the circumstances of any one individual or any one situation. Based on Elance feedback I am only one individual with the same issues. If one were to truly look into this situation, it would be fairly easy to see the pattern simply based on information easily found on the Internet.

You don't have to believe this report or the writer. Simply ask questions before investing time or money with this firm. Make sure that payments and requirements are fully outlined. And be willing to take a risk if pay is based on commissions or bonuses.

If you intend to hire this firm, ask to speak to clients who have left. Ask to speak to current clients about meeting deadlines. Ask to speak to employees who will be working on the project, and employees who have recently left.

Check all the feedback on their Elance profile. Notice how many times the same position is advertised and how many people are hired to do the same job, many of whom have made similar complaints as those outlined here. Note how many others have referenced Stephen's anger issues and his treatment of his employees. Notice how each time, Stephen indicates the employee was "fired" or otherwise incompetent for their position. Why continue to hire people from Elance if they all end up being incompetent?

This firm has their scam down to a science. They find people willing to take a chance for the hope of commissions or bonuses with no intention on paying more than the base salary, and only that because they don't want trouble with Elance where they get much of their work. If this isn't true, then why are they always hiring for the same positions over and over again? On Elance the same positions are constantly being advertised, and each time a new person is hired for the same position every couple of months.

Don't take the word of this report. Ask to speak to others who work there, and ask them how long they've been there. Do your own research, then decide if you'd like to do business with this firm.

What is paramount to this company is the satisfaction of its client base, period.  In general, if an employee or contractor fails to perform and it jeopardizes the success of a client's project or the relationship of this firm with the client, then the employee or contractor is terminated without question.

This post was written by a recently terminated contractor.  She was hired to fill the position of site planner.  Her contract called for an hourly wage and bonuses based upon awarded projects.  Her responsibilities included the creation of site plans for clients.  A site plan is defined as structure/page scenarios, graphic design points of development, and programming points of development. Everything was going fine for this contractor until she decided to stop working for 4 days without notifying management.

This contractor would check in on a daily basis, accept her assignments and then supposedly would get to work.  When the clients' respective account managers started receiving complaints that their plans were not complete, the contractor was questioned about it.  She indicated she hadn't "been feeling well" and just had not done anything.  Sure a voice was raised at her.  Clients were left with expectations which were not fulfilled.  Cussed out?  Sworn at?  Abused daily as alleged in this post?  Absolutely not.  This contractor was with the company for less than 60 days in a full time active capacity.

We categorically deny the contractor's remaining assertions.  The contractor was served by our company's attorney with respect to numerous violations of her NDA.  Apparently she is upset.  If I had to deal with our company's attorney, I don't believe I would be happy about it either.

However, her actions absolutely showcase this individual's lack of character and integrity.  These two qualities are integral to the trust relationship we expect from every member of our company's staff.    If we can't trust you, we will not employ you.  This site planner was terminated with cause due to the lack of the very foundation of ethics and integrity necessary to deliver what is expected, when expected by the client. 

This is why she was terminated instead of management attempting to work the situation out with her in a mutually beneficial way.  If the contractor's work had been 100% complete instead of 25% complete, her commissions would have been paid.  Instead, we paid her hourly invoices in full and terminated the contract.   There were no provisions in her contract for a partial bonus payment in exchange for partial work products.  She was paid just under $4,000.00 for her services.

Our feedback and standing on Elance will speak for itself.  We are ranked in the top 100 providers out of over 300k.  We are in the top 10 providers from North America.  We have completed over 300 jobs with excellent feedback.  We employ the most excellent talent we can find.

We are incredibly picky regarding who this company will employ.  And indeed, we do demand the best of the best because our clients demand the best.  Not everyone is capable of rising to this standard.  Those who do are richly compensated.  Those who do not, like this individual, do not make the cut.  But they are definitely paid what they are due.