Please dear Naira-Landers like me, I need an advice. My website developing and hosting company charged us Five Million Naira (N5, 000,000) for a three year no extra fee contract. This includes advertising through Google and Yahoo. Advertising us in every available forums and chat websites and once in a while, advert appearances in newspapers.

But since the website has been hosted and running, we have been solely responsible for our own advertisements and placing ourselves in forum and chat rooms and Google too. In fact, when we search our company through Google or Yahoo search, the only places we find our website listed are places we personally got them listed.

We have currently made payment of Three Million Naira (N3,000,000) with a balance of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) to be given to them. Now my pain is do I pay up the remaining balance or jest tell them off since we are the ones that ended up doing the promotion by ourselves. I NEED ADVICE FAST as I will not like to cheat them, but I felt they have cheated me.

Wrong section, would be better off in "webmasters".

Did u actually agree to pay a whooping N5m for that site (www.37ports.com)? I just checked it out and am still finding it hard to believe!

Nigerian Webmasters, which way forward

I don't like to mentioned names, after i went through the so called website i discovered that even in my dream i can not design such website, talk of advertising it on internet,

Yawa-tide up for you.

37ports:

Please dear Naira-Landers like me, I need an advice. My website developing and hosting company charged us Five Million Naira (N5, 000,000) for a three year no extra fee contract. This includes advertising through Google and Yahoo. Advertising us in every available forums and chat websites and once in a while, advert appearances in newspapers.

But since the website has been hosted and running, we have been solely responsible for our own advertisements and placing ourselves in forum and chat rooms and Google too. In fact, when we search our company through Google or Yahoo search, the only places we find our website listed are places we personally got them listed.

We have currently made payment of Three Million Naira (N3,000,000) with a balance of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) to be given to them. Now my pain is do I pay up the remaining balance or jest tell them off since we are the ones that ended up doing the promotion by ourselves. I NEED ADVICE FAST as I will not like to cheat them, but I felt they have cheated me.

This is what happens when someone wants to hear what he/she wants to hear as against what the person should hear.

If you have a contract then get a lawyer to take a good look at it before deciding to do anything because in the real sense can you prove that they have not done (or are not doing) what you paid them to do?

N5M for a 3 years contract and today is the first time I am hearing about this website?

Well, do what makes the most sense to you because ultimately whatever decision you may take only you will bear the full consequences.

Good luck.

This is really bad

I personally don't think the layout of the site is bad, not that it couldn't be any better.

poster:
Everything boils down to if you have a contract with the "webmaster" or not. If you do, sue his pants off. I will help with providing reasons why your site isn't ranked highly. If you don't, I am afraid, you may just have to pay, though I would seek legal advice as Afam has suggested, to see if you could, worse case, get off with paying a fraction of the 3m. Sorry this is happening to you.

Just this past Sunday, I was talking with a potential client who is going through basically the same thing, though on a different scale:

I stay in the US and was at a friend's house when someone came in, was told I am a web person and asked me how to increase his rankings on google. After I told him, he was like, "if you enter my company name on google, I come up but I only get calls from people who get my company info from radio adverts". That raised a red flag and so I asked to see his website.

On getting there, I viewed source, only to discover that there were no keywords or description on the pages. I told him what the problem was and how I would go about improving it. I even showed him the google analytics of clients whose sites I have developed and showed him over time how hits to their sites increased, one by up to 300%. The guy was dumbfounded. He said, "wow! I didn't know all this and the guy I paid said he did everything to ensure that my site ranks high". I told him, "apparently, as I have proven to you, he hasn't". We then proceeded to discuss pricing but trust naija, he wanted to negotiate the price down (that is a story for another day).

My point:
37ports, I think you have been conned, on account of ignorance, no offense. You aren't aware of what needs to be done in such matters and the "webmaster" probably sensed this and didn't give you what you paid for.

If I may ask, when you were given the presentation, did you ask questions along the lines of, "how does this work? when will I start seeing results? what other clients have you done this for? may I contact them and ask how their sites are doing? etc" Google/yahoo advertising, aka adwords in Google, is no joke. You actually have to set up a daily budget and you are charged each time someone clicks your link on the search results page then, once your budget is exhausted, your paid link no longer shows up. For them to ask for money for this upfront raises a red flag for me cos I would need to know how much of the money you are paying is going towards the ads and as a matter of fact, those I have done it for, I set it up such that they pay directly.

There are other ways to ensure that your site ranks high and should you want, my company can work with yours to make sure this happens.

Conclusion:
Again, though the site could use some improvements, it shouldn't stop the site from ranking high if the "webmaster" did all they legally could (which of course they didn't) to get your site to rank high. If you had paid 10K as seems to be custom these days, I would have said you get what you pay for. Since you have paid in the millions, I will say seek all legal redress possible to bring the person to justice. I can help provide reasons why you were conned as well. In the meantime, go over your contract again and get a lawyer.

Good luck!

Don't pay any balance.

This is a TOTAL RIPOFF

You want to pay over 32 000$ for 3 year maintenance and for that CRAP?

Look at the site. that is nonesense.

Look at the terms of your contract. If they have not fulfilled any of the terms, if you can proof it or they didnt give you status updates next thing is for a lawsuit.

give me 3000$ and I give you Superduper deal.

Dont pay any balance
Look up the applicable laws if they failed to meet their end of the contract
If they threaten you that you need to pay, ignore them they cant do anything
Depending on applicable laws, just get yourself ready to count your losses

Post your contract if you dont mind

[size=15pt]ZAT SITE 5M?[/size] *screams and passed out yakata*

@snoopweb

snoopweb:

MY OWN SIDE OF THE STORY AS THE WEBMASTER.

I am the webmaster he has a contract with. I have not wanted to comment on this matter, but I felt what the heck. First, you all that are calling for me to be hanged should remember that IT IS A LONG TERM CONTRACT. He mentioned three years, but the truth is that it is for four years or there about.

Listen men, 4years of Nigeria financial uncertainty. For this 4years, you will never know which direction our currency will go to. well since i was born, it has always gone up and inflation swallowing whatever you might have saved.

You all just had 5million naira and then you forgot is for a long term? Haba! How much is 5million naira to under go a job in a space of close to 4years? by the time you are through doing that, you will discover that you are at a losing end.


So you all are free to condemn me, but the fact remains that I DID NOT CONN HIM. I DID NOT CHEAT HIM and if he decides to pay the balance of 2million naira fine,

Yeah and understand that my charge was hight, but I was thinking into tomorrow too. He knows it, and you all know it. it is not gonna be easy to acheive the target he set for me. Better to charge high than not to deliver at all. I have my busines and reputation to protect. Se fini.

I will not be commenting on this issue again. Over and done with.

Snoop-Web

Do you see the problem? You do not understand look at what you wrote. "Better to charge high than not to deliver at all. I". WHAT A SHAME AND DISGRACE. You say you are the webmaster for that site. Look at the site, and if you are comfortable with what you did, it is an epic fail. Shame, disgrace and you are proud to say that you are asking for 5million naira because of inflation. If you are so comfortable with your work why didnt you think about doing it maybe on a one year deal and after the first year depending on the results you can recommend going into a long term relationship.

This is absolutely unethical of you to CON him the way you have done.

@37ports
If you are unable to sue him, well make sure you print a copy of this page so you have as a record as he or she has come forward to write something that his incriminating.

If he pulls it down and you need it, just leave a message I can send you. Also, this is not as a means to revenge. Let the public know the company name so they avoid doing business with this type of companies or people. make the information public.

This is absolutely insane and he/she is proud to say. YES OF COURSE I CAN CHARGE 5 MILLA JUST BECAUSE THE VALUE OF NAIRA GOES UP.

What about customer satisfaction? What self guilt to make sure you deserve what you are asking for? Shame.

He called you and made you do the job on his own accord, dont you think about your skills, what you can or cannot deliver so you decide if you are the most approriate for the job.

YOU CONNED HIM
YOU CHEATED HIM

You did not come on here to write about the work you did you just came on here to justify that 5 million is for you for doing nothing. You did not explain what you have been able to do for him apart from a crappy website if you are the one that did it.

if you knew you actually deserved the money, at least you would have written that I have done this and that just letting people know oh advertising in papers is expensive bla bla bla bla bla.

if you decide to come back to reply to any of these posts, think carefully before typing.

snoopweb:
Though I am an ardent supporter of capitalism and though the site to me isn't worth 5m, since you managed to get that much for it, kudos to you.

Having said that, you haven't answered the allegations. The poster mentioned google/yahoo ads. You haven't addressed those. In fact, you haven't answered anything. You spend more time in self defense and self-justification (which most would call avoiding the subject) than you do rebutting the allegation. Then you pull the classic "if you don't believe me, let it be" stunt.

Well, just like the other legal issue raging on here, I will remain always be for equality in justice though I must confess, your post wouldn't win you any fans, even in a court of law. Learn how to communicate (not English but attitude) well. That is my advice for you. Right now, this is typical he-said-she-said.

all:
Again, this is why you need some kind of written agreement. This matter shouldn't even come up here. It should go to a court of law. Developers, if you feel you aren't paid enough, ask that the agreement be updated. with Nigerian clients, I charge 80% up front. I have duped before. Once bitten, twice shy. Clients, if you feel you are paying too much or want more services, understand that it will cost more and update the agreement accordingly.

If this is true about ur website being developed 4 5m man money full ur account long term or not dude 5m to build a website na facebook dis guy don gba u bone 3 m don go dere are people out there who can do this things 4 50 gs n will be glad they helped u with another 50 u cud have done advert on popular watched tv station or something

It is indeed laughable that many webmaster find the guy's charge exorbitant. I know a webmaster that wanted to charge a particular client 200k for a his company site. He eventually lost out to another webmaster that charged 1.2 million.

Some corporate customers get the impression that you are "small time" and hungry when you charge peanuts for your service.

@abhost

this is not about the amount of money he charged. This is about the work that was delivered. 200k Naira is not much and it is very well worth it if you do a quality job. If he had done a really great job in design, I am not sure many of us will be lamenting as much as we are doing. The money paid vs work delivered doesnt match one cent.

Corporate websites could start from 2000$ which is about 310 000 Naira. Depending on specification and urgency. But if we are then talking about custom application development for corporations obviously that would go through the roof. So one needs to understand what is been dong, what can one do, and customer satisfaction.

Thanks Cactus.

Everyone is focusing on whether or not the money matches the job while losing sight of the main reason why the poster came here: to ask if whether or he he/she should pay the balance.

It is typical of the "can I see your works" crowd.

@ 37ports

Has the Job met your specific requirements?
Is the advertising spend giving you the required result so far?

Are you able to measure results?