how do you do it?

[Rihanna Irata]

Lets say you need something to be created, but you dont have the skill for it. So you hire sombody. Whatever it is, cloth,script,texture,building. You tell him the details and stuff , you decide the price and than you wait. Now he finishes and is showing you the work but you actually dont like it. Lets say that the thing wosnt easy to make and toke some time. Lets say you tell him why you diidnt like that work and he redoes it, but still it isnt what you are wanting. What do you do in situations like this when creator have worked for your reguest but you actually dont like it? Do you still pay for it and recieve it?

[Jonathan VonLenard]

In real life I would have them sketch a drawing of their plan and present this before we make any agreement, but if you made an agreement without such a drawing, you've put them out and have to pay in my opinion.  You need to do your research before hiring someone.

[Camille Yorcliffe]

I'd say you definitely want to work this out before the work starts.  Creative vision is very, very hard to communicate... and creating anything in SL necessarily requires some simplifications from the RL version, so when you contact a builder, animator, artist, etc., it's very important to (a) be very explicit about the level of detail you expect, and (b) come to an agreement on whether you are paying for time, or for the acceptable completed product.

You can pay either for time or completed product, as long as you agree in advance.  If you want to pay only for a satisfactory completed product, you'll likely need to provide a lot more details, photos, very good drawings, etc. in advance, and accept that some creators won't work on those terms.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Yes.  You hired the person and discussed what you wanted and arrived at the conclusion that both knew what you wanted.  You then agreed on a price and maybe so room for tweaking to get exactly what you wanted.  You still owe what you agreed on as far as price.  It may not be exactly what you wanted but, then, who's fault is that?  It could be the builder's in that he didn't have the skills required or he didn't fully understand what it wanted.  It also could be your's in that you failed to give all the details on what you wanted or, once you saw the final product, you saw that it wasn't as you imagined.  Both of you could go back and forth forever about what happened but, in the end, the builder did his/her end so now it's time for you to do your end.  Pay the builder......it's the ethical thing to do.

 

Next time present a picture or plan for your item.  Maybe ask for a few "trial" builds throughout the process so that both you and your builder are on the same page and the final product is not a diappointment for you.  You'll probably have to pay a little more but you probably won't be where you are right now.  Evidently quite dissatisfied but in a tissy about whether you should pay anyway.

[Rihanna Irata]

lol btw it havent happened with me yet. I was just curios and have alawys wondered what would i do in that case.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Well, you didn't make that very clear.  But, anyway, you now have my opinion.  :matte-motes-big-grin-squint:

[Knowl Paine]

There can be many reasons to not like a finished product. If the final product is a close match to the size, color and specifications provided by the customer, the Builder should be paid.

People hire designers and drafters for a reason, size does matter.

If given blueprints and photos; a skilled builder will produce a virtual replica. Once you have a virtual representation of an item, additional development may be required to correct for scale and color imbalances.

Providing a Creator with a photograph or specific dimensional measurements can reduce misunderstandings between both parties.

If the customer has no plans, prints or photos; the customer should pay to develop his or her project. The person who was working on this item last, is the best person to fix it. They know that thing inside and out.

The customer should hire 2 additional and seperate builders to construct the same item requested at the same rate. Compare the 3 final products and then look for the best product.

If none of the products are satisfactory; a review of the design, the plans, colors, shape, textures, Budget and then Builder should be considered.

 

 

[wiked Anton]

try to explain and be very specific about what you want. but at the end of the day, perhaps this person doesnt have the right skills either. there are other (lots of them) creators out there who, while they cant give you exactly the dream in your head, will get close.........after all, it is in YOUR head.............

[Canoro Philipp]

the builder should be paid if he meet your specifications.

if you wanted a green chair and you didnt specify any color, hoping that by luck he will make it green and he makes it red, than is not the builder fault that the product didnt came out the way you wanted, is your fault because you werent specific about the requirements that you wanted from the chair.

i advise that you have all your specifications needed to make you satisfied before hiring the builder, the product will come out faster and acceptable at first try.

[Venus Petrov]

You can setup the agreement whereby you pay in a couple of installments.  Pay 1/2 at the start when they begin the work and 1/2 at satisfactory completion.  That way, the creator gets something for their efforts even if you are not satisfied with the final product.

I agree that much of the work is up front in nailing down the specs. 

[JoJo Aurelia]

A woman contacted me and asked me to make her a wedding gown to spec. She said she'd pay me whatever. From what I gathered she'd never contacted a designer before. In short order, and after looking at her profile, she was fairly new in SL. Anyways, she said, she wanted a pink wedding gown, then she described it in chat. I politely refused the request, as I don't make gowns to spec, simply because the varitables in SL are so different than real life. I did tell her to find a picture in RL and then if someone did want to do it, to give them the picture. My point is, if I'd tried to make a gown on what she described, I'm sure it wouldn't have looked anything like she had in her mind.

If you hired someone without clear guildelines and a picture, then you should pay them.

[Medhue Simoni]

I won't say that I never do custom jobs, but I rarely take them on. This situation is exactly why. The customer wants something specific. Words are not enough to describe anything you are going to actually make for some1, especially animation. If this customer had the skills, they would make it themselves. They do not have the skills, hence why they are asking you. The bottom line is, the merchant has little to no hope of creating what the person really wants.

I did a job once for 1 of the larger solution providers. They wanted the ability of 2 avatars, parent and child, to walk together. NP, within an hour, I sent them the final product. They responded back to me that they wanted the parent to be a female and would like the parents walk to be more female like. Ok, fine, I redo it and send them the new 1. They respond back to me that the walk is too sexy. I respond back, "If you want the product changed again, you will need to pay me per hour". As I expected, they did not request another change.

[Ceka Cianci]

if i make something for someone i will let them know the reality of the situation..

that things may not be exactly as the RL item or that there can be things that restrict certain things..mainly because second life does have restrictions on what we can make possible..

as a customer a good question to ask a creator is..how close do you think you can come to this thing you want made.

what can you expect as far as the final product..

curious questions like that will help in what to expect when it is finished..

=)

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Software development is my RL profession.  Naturally that means scripting in SL, but here it's cheaper and I don't even get a signed contract ;-0

Given a blank page it is very hard to describe requirements in detail, it is almost impossible in chat/IMs/emails, off the top of your head.  Whenever a potential customer approaches me I'll ask them to write as much detail of what they want on a notecard, which makes them think it through a bit more.  Then I'll look at what they're asking for, point out anything which can't be done in SL and give them a few approaches (much less detailed than actual designs) for the rest with time/cost estimates.  I'll also ask for clarification of a few major points.  IF the price doesn't put them off, they can understand the issues involved and reasons for the different approaches AND they can clearly explain the points I've asked about (and I think they speak/type sufficiently good English, but that's a different matter) then I'll consider doing business with them.  That means probably at least two more rounds of exploring exactly what is to be done, how, at what cost and by when.  All that is free.

I quote by time, so assuming we agree requirements, deliverables and fee the customer will know when it'll be finished.  Every week, sometimes more frequently, I will give the customer a 'the story so far' test script/system so they can a) check that I am really making doing something, b) say if it's not what they wanted/expected, c) change any requirements if they need to.  That is free.

When the completed script/system is delivered I usually ask for 50% of the fee.  Customers then have as long as they like to check and test the deliverables.  Once/if they accept the final product as meeting the specification then the other 50% is due.  The relevant bit: I definitely expect to get paid by this point - the customer has had a LOT of opportunities to clarify or change their requirements or to call the whole thing off.

After delivery fixes for any bugs that are only found later, necessary updates because of changes to SL and even many minor changes/enhancements are free forever.  If they don't pay up they'll have to find someone else that offers all that.

[* Except that I don't maintain modifiable scripts unless they are EXACTLY the same as my (original/updated) copies.  If someone else has changed them then it costs just to find out what they've done]