Buyer Beware!
I…read morehired Adam Listek (adam@listekconsulting.com) to make my law firm's website. He came recommended by two other attorneys in my legal incubator program, who liked how affordable he was. I spoke to one extensively; she liked his work, but said it took longer than expected. She said it's probably because he has another full time job and this is his second job, which may be why it takes him longer.
I will say he was nice for most of our time working together. He also offered substantial free suggestions and advice on how I could custom make a virtual law practice without the expensive all-in-one web services before we even entered into a contract. He also helped with my Outlook issues.
Everything was supposed to cost $500 total. We signed the contract dated on November 9, 2014; everything was supposed to be done by December 29 for my January 1, 2015 launch. Knowing that he runs late, I included in the contract a $50 bonus incentive for finishing early and a 1% ($5) per day late fee, which he was fine with when he signed it. I wasn't expecting to enforce the late fee because I thought that the bonus would be enough incentive for him to finish earlier.
I told him that it was important to finish on time because I was waiting to officially launch my practice until my website was done, since I was trying to start a virtual law practice and the website was essential for this. Also, as a precaution, a mentor recommended making a timetable with specific due and mandatory check-ins, which I included in the contract, as well as that we will both respond to each other's e-mail in three days. I sent him everything he needed, usually within a day or two max.
We had a falling out because although I waived about 17 days of the late fees with the holidays, which I thought was more than generous. I enforced 9 of the late fee deduction per day agreement during which I didn't hear from him because it took him about a month (30 days including a 3 day grace period in between the final due date and my launch date) after the deadline to finish.
He was very upset that I enforced this, so much so that he charged me more for my website's image, although I am pretty sure he did not charge more for my attorney friend's image; he only charged her $500. It's probably because I imposed the late fees, although I subsequently offered to waive it. So I paid $39.50 more for imposing a late fee and there were still major compatibility issues with the website after he finished. There was so much contention, I didn't ask him to finish fixing everything. I had to find and hire someone else, which further delayed my launch. My new web developer just finished my website today, so Adam's inability to deliver a finished website without problems cost me another year. It did take me a while to find someone because I had difficulty trusting anyone based on this horrible experience.
I'm not sure if this is how most website developers work, but he made the Wordpress website so that it is extremely difficult for me to make changes myself without knowing CSS code and I know my way around a Wordpress website, having made one for my nonprofit myself. I had a much better experience with Attorney Sync, a website development company based in Chicago (http://www.yelp.com/biz/attorney-sync-chicago). They fixed all of Adam's compatibility issues and redid my website so I could change it without knowing code.
Also, in February of 2015, there was suspicious activity on my GoDaddy account. Someone backuped all of the websites on it, even the ones Adam didn't work on. It was not me or the other account holder. I don't have any proof it was Adam, but he was the only other person who knew the password. We quickly changed the password afterward, which I should have done as soon as Adam supposedly finished my website.
Adam is cheap, but you get what you pay for. I would not recommend Adam unless you don't need the website done in a timely fashion. If you hire him, don't anger him or he will charge you more. I would not host my website here; I've heard of developers holding websites hostage and I am sure Adam is capable of that, based on this experience.
