It was sometime in the spring/summer of 2008 that I was contacted by Sean Gordon to do some webdesign.
He wanted an Akron Tax Services website. We chatted on the phone, and he told me that most web designers are ‘full of shit’, they over charge, and don’t deliver what they promise in regards to SEO, that sort of stuff. To some degree, I agree with that, although I didn’t tell him that. Anyways, I was instructed by Sean Gordon to take the Content off the James Income Tax Service website, and put it on the one I was to develop. I told him that this is not a good idea, duplicate content could mean getting penalized by the Search Engines, but he told me to follow his instructions. I put up a ‘rough draft’, which he approved, and I continued. Since Tax time was months away, there was no rush, and I was pretty far along after 3 weeks or so. I had been sending him emails to check my progress, but after a month, he stopped replying to my emails. Oh well, ‘He’s gone’, I thought, it’s the risks of freelance web design.
Enter 2009, and I got laid off from my job, bad times ahead I thought. Low and behold, but who should email me, but the ‘Late Great Sean Gordon’. We chatted again on the phone, I asked what happened with that Tax website, I called your office, a woman told me you would call back. He said, “I fired her..’, and I would like you to complete that Tax website. Furthermore, he went on to tell me that I would be his exclusive web designer, and he had many projects lined up. He boasted that he spent over $2000 in advertising per year, this sounded like a good thing, especially since I was unemployed.
I completed the Tax Website, Akron Tax Services, and got him position 1 for all sorts of key phrases with the Search Engines. I had proven him wrong, as a web designer with good SEO Skills, I was not full of shit, and could deliver. Sean was very happy, let me ‘fed ex the money to you…I want you to get paid ASAP he stated’. Well the compensation came in increments, and I believe it took a few weeks.
Onward, as Sean Gordon wanted me to do a Loan Modification website, ‘Ohio Loan Modification Services’ www.ohioloanmods.com. Once again, I was instructed to copy content of another website. My ‘website mocked up’ was approved by Sean, and I completed it in due time. Also, it showed up all over the Internet for key phrases such as Ohio Loan Modifiactions, Ohio Mortgage Loan Modifications, and more, mostly with high SERP’s (Search Engine Results Page). Since I was un-employed, I was available to do 2-3 daily updates on the website, adding pages, and various other documents. This went on for about a month when, Sean Gordon emailed me, and said, ‘I want you to do a Cell Phone website..’ I emailed him back saying ‘Fuck You, you never paid me for the Loan Website, don’t call or email me anymore’. I was stunned, and angry that he had the nerve to ask me to do more work, and ignored the fact that he did not give me a nickel for all the work I had done, which probably was about $1000 worth of work.
In conclusion, I decided after a few months to email him, and told him, I would edit his website if he paid me. If you look at the website www.ohioloanmods.com, there is some ‘outdated’ content. He replied to my email, and when I replied back, asking him what he thought was a ‘fair way to do business..’, well, he did not reply. I was chumped by a true ‘piece of shit’, Sean Gordon – Akron Ohio, my choice for ‘Asshole of the Year 2009′.
