Question

[Katrina's Korner]

Hello everybody. It is very nice to meet you all.

Well, first I would like to tell a story, and then ask a question, and then (quite possibly) ask for your advice.

I recently posted a service request here at vB.org in the appropriate forum to do so. Within two days I had received several PM's from interested parties. I contacted one of the responders and set up an IM session. I chose to contact this person first as he portrayed himself as very eager to help me.

During our IM session this person basically accepted the job and we discussed (in detail) the terms of the service request and what I expected. Everything appeared to be going very smoothly. My service request was quite simple, to simply upgrade my front page from html to valid xhtml + css. For this I was offering $25.00 USD, which seems to be a very fair price for such a task.

Approximately thirty minutes into our conversation this person said " i'll BRB ". Okay, fair enough. The only problem is that " i'll BRB " turned into more than two days without a response.

I very politely sent this person ONE email explaining that I needed to know if he was still interested, and explaining that I was ready to move forward with the project. No response.

I very politely sent this person ONE i.m. message explaining that I needed to know if he was still interested, and explaining that I was ready to move forward with the project. No response.

A time period of more than two days elapsed and during that time I saw that this person was regularly on msn messenger and logged into vB.com and vB.org, so I am certain that he was aware of my want and need to speak with him.

After realizing the game that he was playing with me, I sent him this PM here at vB.org:

Nice way to do business XXXXXX. You contacted me. You accepted my service request. You discussed the project with me for over half an hour, and seemed to eagerly accept the project. Then you said you would "brb" (be right back)...

Then you failed to contact me for more than two days, or answer my "one" email that I sent you, or answer my one "im" that I sent you. That is not very professional at all. It's not that I am mad. I am actually glad I realized how you were before we went any further. But it is extremely rude of you to leave me hanging like that for days, when I could have been talking with one of the other people who were interested in helping me...

I'm just sending you this private message to let you know that I found someone more reputable to fill my request...and that I will never recommend your site or products (skins) to anyone, in fact, I will recommend strongly against it. Because you have the mentallity and courteousness of a toddler. And I know a lot of people who run vB boards.

Take care. Good luck in your endeavors and life in general.

Well, that PM pretty much sums up the outcome of this situation. I found another person here at vB.org who was willing to help me. And I am now currently dealing with him in negotiations to do hundreds of dollars worth of SEO for my website. The unfortunate part in all of this, is that this person's rudeness cost me several days of progress and wasted my valuable time...

What I would really like to do is share the username of this person who treated me poorly and dealt with me dishonestly. This is not out of spite, but out a desire to prevent other people from having to deal with this "dirty player". I am also aware that this person has, in the past, spammed people's IM accounts with ads to buy his custom skins.

Can I share the username of this person?

If not, does anyone have any suggestions about how I can expose this person's treachery? (as a public service of course)

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Sorry but you will not be allowed to share this persons name, and i think you can think of enough reasons why (the fact that you are asking first shows me that you like to deal in a civilized way with things). I know that there have been namings in the past, but we try to avoid it.

In your case i must say that you should consider yourself lucky, if i understand right, no money was exchanged. There have been examples in the past where people lost more then time. Unfortunatly this is the risk of doing online business and not much what we can do about.

As vbulletin.org we are no party in your agreement/conflict, but you are free to PM one of our staff members the name of the person with the complaint. This will NOT be folowed up, but if we get more complaints about the same person, and there is damage to our members, then we MIGHT consider taking some sort of action.

Hope you will understand our stand in this.

[FleaBag]

I think this thread alone will suffice, if someone requires work and they suspect the person who offers to fulfill it is 'this person' they can now PM you for info.

As much as I appreciate your situation though, I have to point out that even though morally you have been wronged - this person hasn't commited a crime, and has not defrauded you in any way. There may be a feasible explanation.

[Katrina's Korner]

Originally Posted by FleaBag

I think this thread alone will suffice, if someone requires work and they suspect the person who offers to fulfill it is 'this person' they can now PM you for info.

As much as I appreciate your situation though, I have to point out that even though morally you have been wronged - this person hasn't commited a crime, and has not defrauded you in any way. There may be a feasible explanation.

Thank you for your input FleaBag. You make a couple of good points. If anyone suspects that they might be dealing with "this person" they can PM me and I will let them know.

On the other hand, from the experience of others with this person in the past who I know personally, I feel relatively certain that there is no good reason for his behavior, and that I am simply being toyed with.

You are right though. No crime was committed. Just disrespect.

(the person's name might rhyme with bb-schmore)

Take care all.
FT