You must be hard up for clients....

Interesting e-mail saga of the day.

Earlier this morning, I got an e-mail with the "real name" of [John Doe] 
Web Designs.  It was from a freebie account, but the reply-to was for the 
domain belonging to [JD] WD.  The message asked me for my average time to 
complete a web site, because he needed a web site "for me and me wife" and 
he didn't "have the patience" to learn HTML.  I spocked an eyebrow at it, 
but because I wanted to get on with my day, I settled for a brief version 
of my usual reply to customer inquiries.  Never heard back, didn't much 
care, had clients to take care of--you know how it goes.

This evening I got e-mail from a client of ours.  She'd gotten e-mail from 
[JD] WD asserting that they could offer a "more appealing web site at a 
more appealing price."  (Since she was and continues to be satisfied with 
both the site and the price, it's hard to see how he could manage that, but 
never mind.)  Apparently Mr. John Doe would rather scan client lists and 
solicit other people's customers rather than try to get some of his own.

So far I'm taking the high road - told my client to ignore the letter if 
she wished.  But man, it's tempting to rip this fellow a new one.  I don't 
have the most bleeding-edge sites on the Web, but I don't have any unhappy 
clients.

This letter is mostly because I need to vent in a sympathetic space, and 
because I was interested in hearing if anyone else has had their client 
list targeted in this way before.  Thanks for listening.

Rachel
--------------------------------------------
Rachel R. Hartman, Co-Owner
Hartman WebWrights - http://www.hww.com (512) 989-7844
Affordable, hand-crafted web pages for your company's needs

HTML: hwg-business mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA