Cynthia in San Francisco says she was about to check the class schedule at her gym when she saw that their website was no longer operational. “There is so much YES going on here,” she says, of the screenshots she was able to grab. “I barely make it to the gym anyway and this is a great excuse to quit altogether. I’m more of a yoga person anyhow!”
related: The Mad Bomber
extra credit: Burger King Twitter Hacked, Turned into McDonalds [gizmodo.com]
53 responses so far ↓
#1
Elizabeth
Good for them! Goodness knows if one of the gym’s members didn’t pay their dues they would be barred from entering! Hope Fitness SF likes the turn about.
Feb 18, 2013 at 1:24 pm rating: 90
#2
Silence
Looks like their finances…
*puts on sunglasses*
…are in bad shape.
YYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
Feb 18, 2013 at 1:26 pm rating: 90
#3
Wayne
Has this been changed since, coz I just went to what I assumed to be there website and everything looked like a normal website.
Feb 18, 2013 at 1:32 pm rating: 90
#4
Carol
Two sides to every story. See the other side on Fitness SF facebook page.
Feb 18, 2013 at 1:35 pm rating: 90
#5
jdaniel
I never thought I would see the words “morals” and “San Francisco” in the same sentence. The rules are merely an annoyance to some classes of people.
Feb 18, 2013 at 1:56 pm rating: 90
#6
GA Peach
Dang.
Feb 18, 2013 at 2:11 pm rating: 90
#7
H for Toy
Dear Frank,
At the end of the day, you get nothing for nothing. Sitting flat on your butt doesn’t buy any bread.
Sincerely,
Fitness SF
Feb 18, 2013 at 2:32 pm rating: 90
#8
H for Toy
I’m not sure what side to be on. On one hand, The Huffington Post says Fitness SF was hacked, on the other hand, back in high school, I worked for a sports card company that earned millions in their first year of business, then went bankrupt a couple years later. We contracted with a few key photographers, and exactly ONE graphic designer. The photographers never got paid, and the poor graphic designer, who had refused all other work for several years, was never paid more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands owed him. He was a really nice guy, and I always wonder what happened to him, which makes me want to side with Frank.
Feb 18, 2013 at 3:33 pm rating: 90
#9
Jenn
I’m inclined to side with the designer simply because of how common this kind of thing is. “$5000 for one website, coming up” sounds simple enough, but there’s a lot of different things that go into designing and coding a website, and a client’s demands often change over the course of the project, making the charge increase. From the designer’s PoV it seems as if the demands they made of him became too great and he fired them, making the site have to go to another firm. And yet they obviously still didn’t pay for the services they had already received. Because they are more intangible things than, say, “You’ll get an extra bundle of oranges for $500 more” they can get away with saying “You didn’t do anything that was worth an extra charge” even if it led to several extra hours of work on the designer’s part.
After being screwed over and over again on stuff like this, designers are beginning to strike back by taking these measures. It seems sort of passive aggressive, of course (that’s why we’re here) but this is usually after months of sending invoices, emails, and voicemails asking to be paid for the work you completed. Companies often don’t pony up because they know being taken to court would be more expensive for the artist than for them, and this action is rarely taken.
I know I’m ranting on what is essentially a comedy website but as an artist this kind of thing is a sore point for me.
Feb 18, 2013 at 3:38 pm rating: 90
#10
Tard
I’ve been a self employed engineer for 17 years and can assure you that large companies can, will and have refused to pay tiny companies such as myself on the thinnest of pretense while USING my designs! They write dense, restrictive contracts and demand venue out of state.
Finally I’ve learned to stop dealings with them.
If they are large enough to crush me and use out of state venue, see-ya.
Feb 18, 2013 at 4:29 pm rating: 90
#11
Nublet
As someone who as experienced working for a small business and not being paid by big corporation, I can sympathize with Frank.
But just looking at the situation sideways…wow! He sure has gotten a lot of publicity from this! News websites reporting on it, comedy website communities discussing it…just because of a gym website? And really, I don’t think I’ve ever even checked out my gym’s website. Maybe I’m missing something.
Feb 18, 2013 at 4:52 pm rating: 90
#12
sarah
I sincerely doubt that any respectable freelancer would bother going to this much effort, and potentially branding themselves as “difficult to work with” in the eyes of future clients, for a matter that had such a grey area vis-a-vis payments and who owes who. I don’t buy the gym’s statement, especially when it comes after all the media hoopla.
More freelancers should stand up for themselves like this—sadly, this is an extremely common problem, and when you’re a freelancer, one big non-paying client can be all it takes to tank you.
Feb 18, 2013 at 7:40 pm rating: 90
#13
Max
It would be so funny right now if the webmaster of passiveaggressivenotes would post a splashpage with a totally passive-aggressive message. Maybe on April 1st? Too funny!
Feb 18, 2013 at 8:12 pm rating: 90
#14
Will Cate
If I was the service provider, I certainly would have taken them offline, but I might not have soapboxed about it… some clients are just deadbeats.
Feb 18, 2013 at 9:01 pm rating: 90
#15
Lori
As a designer who’s had my work taken but never paid for before I’m going to have to side with the designer on this one.
Feb 19, 2013 at 1:47 am rating: 90
#16
redheadwglasses
I’ve had friends have to create website, write a PR/marketing piece, etc., as part of a job application… and then they never hear anything, but later will discover that the company used the materials they received from the fake “hiring” process.
Feb 20, 2013 at 12:16 pm rating: 90
#17
Vic
… and then I read his Christophobia rant. A real class act indeed.
Mar 20, 2013 at 5:15 pm rating: 90
#18
margaret
This shit is so awesome i can’t even stand it.
Mar 20, 2013 at 9:43 pm rating: 90
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