[consulting] Failed Outsourcing Job

[Abhi Goel]

Hey Fred, I have done my share of outsourcing through sites like freelancer in a past life and in most cases, you get what you pay for. The problem is that you have a large population of programmers that think they understand Drupal because they can install it and perform basic CSS, but don't really understand module development, theme layer. 

Ethically, I would pay him for the value you think the work is worth. If worthless, then nothing. I think that's fair. Now you could argue that there is you lost time for opportunity, but that is up to you to value. 

I actually now run a decent sized offshore development shop specializing in migrations, maintenance, and site builds. The Drupal skillset is not nearly as developed as here in the US in many offshore countries. And there are tasks/jobs that you should and definitely should not outsource in my opinion. 

And I can't tell you how many clients we've had after a failed experience on sites liked elance, freelancer, odesk, etc. 

Live and learn!

Abhi

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 28, 2013, at 8:25 AM, Fred Jones <fredthejonester at gmail.com> wrote:

> A question of legality and ethics: I hired an outsourcer (from
> freelancer.com) to make a D7 theme. The deal was crystal clear that he
> has until the deadline to finish it 100% or I pay nothing and he
> agreed to that.
> 
> He has done about 80-85% of it but no more than that. So I will not
> pay him and that's that.
> 
> But he put in download links on the Appearance page and so I
> downloaded his work and I have it. I could now finish it myself and
> hire another person to finish it and pay them $100 instead of the $500
> that he was supposed to get.
> 
> Question is should I just take it and run because we never clarified
> who owns anything and he *did* make it downloadable. Or perhaps I
> should tell him that I will pay him $100 and take his code and if he
> accepts, then OK.
> 
> I don't want to continue with him because he clearly can not finish
> the job--he keeps asking me to review it and the dropdown menus are
> wrong each time plus 30 other details that he just can't get right.
> 
> Thanks for any thoughts.
> 
> Fred
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