Two years ago, I entered into an agreement with the Vassar Chamber of Commerce to build and host its website. I offered to provide this service for a very minimal charge because I knew of the Chamber’s financial constraints.
It was my understanding that other businesses had quoted the Chamber a substantially high fee for building and hosting of its website and when I heard this I offered to build and host the site for the cost of the domain and hosting provider. I wanted to provide this service to the Chamber in order to assist them as it was not profitable for me in any way.
When I initially designed the website, the ideas were completely mine as I was not given any direction by the Chamber board. I confirmed each Chamber member’s information and asked each business owner how they wanted their information to appear on the Chamber of Commerce’s website. This took several hours of my personal time. Upon completion of the website the then Chamber of Commerce board approved the material before publication.
Nearly a year and a half later, I received an e-mail from the Chamber board complaining about the design and material. I was also told that the page was not updated in a timely fashion. At that time, I asked how I could possibly make changes to the page if no one from the Chamber had directly contacted me. In fact, it wasn’t until three days before the Riverfest that someone not from the Chamber board suggested it would be a good idea to include the schedule of events on the website. I then took it upon myself to gather and input this information on the website.
Last week, I was told the Chamber would be going in another direction with its website hosting and that my services were no longer needed. I understand that the Chamber board feels it may save money by updating and hosting its own site, however today when I looked at its new site I saw that the member section had appeared to be directly copied from the initial website. I was not paid for this work and see this as a slap in the face for the good will I provided to the Vassar Chamber of Commerce.
Upon further research of my own, I can tell that the Chamber of Commerce purchased its new domain name in September and did not even give me the courtesy of sending a letter or phone call regarding the matter. It wasn’t until the board received a bill for the new hosting year that they left me with only a voicemail.
I never took on this venture as a means of making a profit and now I see that no good deed ever goes unpunished.
Sincerely,
Brian Decker
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