How outsourcing your website can leave you stranded and out of pocket

Many small business (and large come to that) outsource. Instead of employing staff they contract out cleaning, bookkeeping, marketing , delivery and so on.

Outsourcing is also very common for websites. Very few companies can afford to employ full time developers so they happily pay someone to do it for them.  But buyer beware, just because the developer has local address doesn’t mean they do the work themselves.

The Great Deal

Let’s suppose while doing some research you come across a company offering websites and hosting for a £199. This is the first clue that something is amiss. They can usually only offer this sort of deal because they are delivering cookie cutter websites.

The next warning bell is the money up front and no telephone contact (email only) and once the contract is signed you are committed. There may be a cooling off period but the chances of getting your money back are slim.

The Iffy Delivery

The first thing you will get is a mockup of your homepage which you have to agree to.  They won’t have asked about your business plan, potential clients, demographics, marketing, range of products or services.  They are going to deliver a generic layout with some funky graphics to make it look swish. It may be totally unsuitable but you won’t have much leeway on alterations. That’s not how they work.

But I digress. Once the layout has been agreed you will soon be proud possessor of a working website. The company has arranged the hosting and all seems to be going well.

The Support Package

You begin to load the content and notice some errors so you get in contact with the developers and ask for the errors to be corrected. They point out that you accepted the design and changes will have to be paid for and the rate is £45/hour.

You point out that the error is the contact form or the checkout not working and all communication ceases.

And if you want any changes made expect a hefty bill.

It’s not a scam – just misleading

You haven’t been scammed you are just the victim of the outsourcing sausage factory. Developers and programmers in Asia (particularly India) are paid a fraction of what you expect to earn in a day. The UK company simply outsources your project to an Indian supplier who delivers the website. It’s a machine churning out hundreds of websites every day. The UK company is just a conduit. Once the project has been delivered all interest ceases. Unless you are going to pay then they just don’t want to know.

The other problem is the hosting. You can’t move your site anywhere else because they own the application that powers your site. If you want to move then your site dies.

I don’t have a problem with outsourcing not do I have a problem with the Indians, Chinese and any other Asian country. My grudge is with the sausage machine website machine. The system is set up to churn out websites with the minimum of client contact: you pay, we deliver and don’t expect any support (unless you pay more).  As a result an awful lot of people are getting sold products that look good but are almost worthless.