Menu
Login
As an ex-employee I can say that HIT Web Design, formerly known as Heritage Web Solutions, was once a great company to work for. Unfortunately this is no longer the case.
I had worked there for 2 and a half years and in the past year, HIT (who changed their name to run away from their bad reputation) has seriously gone down hill. It supposedly all started when customers began charging back on their credit cards due to a flurry of bad complaints in a scared economy (which actually never happened, they are just very greedy).
Needless to say the company is ran very unprofessionally. They were once the leaders in custom website design but have now abandoned their business model...
When you treat your employees so poorly they will not give the customers the kind of help they need. That is why there are so many customer and employee complaints.
This all has now come to a head as Utah's ABC4 News will soon be airing an investigative report on how HIT Web Design has lied and cheated their customers. The ABC4 News crew showed up Friday October 16th to interview employees on what has been going on.
The air date has yet to be released so please contact Annie Cutler of ABC4 News to express your disgust with HIT Web Design/ Heritage Web Solutions at [protected]@abc4.com
Let's make sure HIT Web Design will not continue doing this to customers!
i am also an ex-employee this as all true! i believe that the ABC 4 news story will air later this week.
HIT Web Design will do whatever they need to in order to safe face and the company as a whole. No matter what, we all know their business is going down the toilet when all they do is ask for more and more from their customers and employees and give nothing in return.
Dave Aitken, CEO at HIT, is ignorant to think that just because employees make good money (or atleast used to), that it is considered treating them fairly. Is that fair? NO!
Well said. HIT's customers have no idea how bad it really is there and its disgusting how HIT management are such cowards as to deny the truth that has mounted up before them.
They should just "man up", "dial the phone" and admit they are the ### we all know they are!
WOW! Things are worse than I thought...
Someone who knows, it seems you have some great perspective on this. I do not apologize for anything that I've said but I should not have called Dave and Jeremy "uneducated idiots". It is not easy to create a business as successful as HIT once was.
It is disappointing that they have abused their power and have got so greedy over time.
Someone who knows, thank you for your words, integrity and honesty.
What a good way to discredit everything, "grow up please". But it all ties into speech patterns, which, by nature, cannot be manipulated. all the postings have very distinct, and different, speech patterns. you know that "grow up please" is Dave Aitken..
Now Dave, you know you can not speak out of both sides of your mouth, even though we know you try! You would send emails stating that our compensation was so good we couldn't find work anywhere else to make the money we needed to support our families. That was EXTREMLEY intimidating and the money was the only thing that kept us there. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE WERE NOT WALKING OUT!
You would also tell us that there was no where to go and it was a dead job market but we are welcome to leave if we were unhappy. WHAT A MIND GAME! HOW DECEPTIVE!
I was told by a manager that they "only need one more paycheck and im out of here!"
Now Dave, dont do what everyone thinks you are going to do and flip out. I would sit down with your managers, suck up to them and let them know how much you appreciate them.
Or, maybe you could send one of your oh-so-powerful threatening emails. This is your choice...
Just to reitterate, "donebeingbullied" is referring to Dave Aitken's, aka "GrowUpPlease", threat to Bryce Turpin.
Dave was assumptive, as usual, in stating that Bryce is posting while he is at work.
I am paraphrasing as this thread is becoming VERY long...
Ryan, you are a smart guy and have been nothing but helpful to employees who asked you for help at anytime. I am sorry that they stuck you in the middle of this.
By your understanding you know HIT management to be reasonable and sensitive. You have never (for atleast the 2 and a half years i worked there) had close association with the sales team and how it was ran.
Please don't put yourself out there saying that HIT management is reasonable and sensitive. You dont have the capabilities to make a blanket statement like that. You have no idea what hell everyone on the sales team went through to bring in the money to support their families! There was even a sales manager who was constantly humiliated just to "motivate" the sales team. How sad is that?! This same sales manager was very sick one day and was forced to come in. He puked in front of everyone! How embarrassing!
THAT IS NOT SENSITIVE OR FAIR AND THIS ALL HAPPENED ALL THE TIME!
I know you have a nice family to support and need to protect the place you work at but please dont make blanket statements when crap like that is happening.
Also, why would HIT need to be told to be more sensitive or aware of family emergencies? That is basic business ethics.
The mere psychology of your post lets us all know that you are somewhat siding with us subconsciously, most likely due to the lack of training management/supervisors are given.
Every single person at HIT is encouraged to sell.
Just in the past week there has been a major change. There is no sales team!
The sales team has been absolved and lumped in to the account managers department.
Does this sound like a company that may have a problem here or there and may "stub their toe" once in a while? NO!
This all just makes the comments by HIT management all that more laughable.
It just goes to show that HIT is in a state of disrepair.
This is all very sad and I don't think that anything is going to change until we take this a step further...
You can contact Annie at ABC 4 at the email address annie@abc4.com...
The rest of the contact info is on my original complaint.
This is just like Dave... he loves to butter people up and make them feel good so he can use that as leverage at their most crucial moments.
Trust me, Dave is not this altruistic.
Not sure if Greg is unemployed by HIT - or if he's just working from home to save face for the company... Why would a company with this much greed ever actually get rid of someone who can manipulate an old lady with a severance check to use her social security check to line their pockets? ... hmmm... perhaps someone should try calling their sales line and ask for him, you might be surprised at the results.. unless you are familiar with the company. Then you wouldn't be surprised at all when they get him on the phone.
Yes and its a bunch of crap... just disregard it with a laugh and ignore it. There is nothing they can do to you. There is so much evidence that they are horrible, unethical business owners that would be foolish to even think about pursuing "legal action" against you.
Before I left on my own free will, months actually, HIT was hitting $30-40, 000 in revenue daily! This was expected and it was quite dreadful to management when we fell below this norm.
Now the latest from the HIT sales team... 3 days in a row at $12000 in revenue or less!
Having worked there 2 and a half years, 3 horrible days is deffinitley hurting their business. I've even got word from some employees that customers are sending links to reps from specific complaints done right here on complaintsboard.com.
These customers are demanding their accounts be cancelled! Let's hope this trend continues...
Actually they are failing miserably.
Plus, why would anyone take a stand for a company they have no relation to?
Thanks for trying though.
idiotswillalwayscomplain,
im sorry you are stuck at HIT. Obviously you have no where else to go. I'm sorry if we are harming the place you work at and we all would be mad if we were still there too because it would be hurting our paycheck.
The truth is, I have great friends that work there and they are amazing salespeople. Heck, I might even know you! We are not here to destroy your paycheck, in fact HIT is already doing that to you. We do not want you to fail but we do want HIT to change their ways. At HIT we had no voice! This is the only voice we have for the time being. Hopefully all of our collective complaints have been heard through out the state and government agencies we have made them to. There is only one way to fix HIT and hopefully bring it back to the positioning it was once in...
The Aitkens must go. I don't even think that is possible since they own a majority of the company from my understanding, but it is the only way. They once had HIT in a great position and it was the best place to work, now they have ran it in to the ground.
I really wish you the best of luck. There are many options for employment, employment that will pay you and treat well for the effort you put in.
wow "culture of fear" describes HIT perfectly.
By the way, Mark Strong and other HIT management have told their sales reps to say the same things to clients as Mark presented in the interview.
Its all fluff to make people feel good. The customer does not buy it in the end.
It may have worked for Mark because he is a nice, stately man who was speaking face to face with the news anchor. This is also why it hasn't aired.
I QUIT after the let one of the top consistant performers on the sales team go. This guy was awesome. He was always in the top 3 sales people pay period after pay period. Great guy with a nice wife and a few kids.
He was let go as an example that we were all expendable!
How sick is that! I was near tears to see him walk out, knowing he was going to have to go home, tell his wife he was fired and then hunt for a new job when he had kids to feed. I could not work for people that are vendictive as they are.
If you go to HIT management and try to talk about making $600 on a paycheck when you have earned them $20, 000 in a pay period is unfair they will say "So what?! We have kids to feed too!" (direct words from Jeremy Aitken). Keep in mind a pay period that productive would yeild a sales person atleast a check between $[protected] before management got greedy.
HIT sure is GREAT!
Now that is just greed... why would they fire someone and then say "oh you can work from home for us!"
Once again, they have no business sense at all.
awesome-company,
we all know you are not this altruistic.
In this case I think HIT was duped and was embarrassed to tell their employees that it really wasnt "national news".
It was deceitful as all employees thought that it was going to be a big break for HIT.
My_Compaint,
The reason they haven't been able to push our comments away is because they no next to nothing in regards to search engine optimization.
They follow antiquated SEO principles. They still think that meta keywords are KING! HIT tells their sales people to tell the customer that only custom sites can be optimized but templates easily can.
That will soon change as they are switching to template sites starting January 1, 2010.
TO MEDICINE AND ALL OTHERS WHO ARE TRYING TO DEFEND HIT...
It doesn't matter what you say or do at this point. You came in to this thread to late in the ball game!
This thread has been optimized for many phrases that are being searched when family, friends, ex-employees, customer, ex-customers and current employees search for "hit web design abc4". Just Google it.
Now if we do a quick search for "bad business abc4" (as we all know ABC4 is known for their investigative reports and consumer call to action stories) we pull HIT Web Design up in the number 2 spot. Ouch.
And YIKES! When we search for our favorite web design company under their new name "HIT Web Design" we find complaints immediatley under their own site. Bummer.
Sorry guys, try as you might but you are screwed.
Your business is failing and you are watching the ruins crumble.
Try doing something legitimate about it. You guys must be in real bad shape if you need to get on this board and monitor every little thing people are saying about you.
I wonder if the CEO of Wal-Mart does this?
Geez, you are right! What was I thinking?!
They know how huge they are, they don't need to stroke their own egos to prove it.
You know what I think is neat? If someone were to do a google image search for "Design by HWS" a TON of Heritage/HIT's websites come up. There usually is some contact info on the sites.
What could be done with that info?
Ryan, what about the grievances? I know for a fact Turpin's grievance is 100% legit as I was there.
Please address this. Thank you.
Ethicalhit,
If that is the correct link, it looks like he took it down.
What's there to be ashamed of Ryan?
This must be quite a bit for Ryan to take in. Notice he isnt saying anything...
By the way, accoridng to a source who is still at HIT Web Design, at te begginning of the year they had 400 employees and now they have about a tenth of that left!
January first there were 25 sales representative on the "sales team" now there are 7.
What a wonderful company! I'm glad to see they are doing so well.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
GREAT points on the culture there! Hit Web Design seems very stalin esq!
I try to help 'idiot' & friends understand that freedom from oppression is not brainwashing. Try this, read repeatedly until it starts to sink in...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_fear
Culture of fear is a term that refers to a perceived prevalence of fear and anxiety in public discourse and relationships, and how this may affect the way people interact with one another as individuals and as democratic agents. Among those who share this perception there are a variety of different claims as to the sources and consequences of the trend they seek to describe.
Such commentators suggest that we consider a range of cultural processes as deliberate techniques for scaremongering. For example:
* Careful selection and omission of news (some relevant facts are shown and some are not);
* Distortion of statistics or numbers;
* Transformation of single events into social epidemics (Salem witch trials);
* Oversimplification of complex and multifaceted situations;
* Causal inversion (turning a cause into an effect or vice-versa);
* Outright fabrication of events or claims and then deliberately whipping up outrage at the false claims and fabrications[3] (e.g. unproven weapons of mass destruction as an excuse for the U.S. invasion of Iraq).
Cheers
I personally would love to hear what Mark had to say. I'm sure he weaseled his way out of that one.
Many of you are aware that Channel 4 showed up at our business late Friday afternoon, wanting to do a story on Heritage. I was not here at the time, but shortly afterwards I got in touch with the Channel 4 representative. Arrangements were made for me to go into their studio this morning for an interview. They had received complaints, one from a former employee and one from one of our clients, questioning our business practices.
I thought the interview went exceptionally well. Here is a summary of the questions and my comments:
448 Complaints in a period of 3 years. That seems like an awful lot. How would you explain that?
We take great pride in our customer service. It is our goal to provide a professional product in a manner that is appreciated by our clients.
Heritage is a large national company. We have over 20, 000 clients in our customer base. If the 448 complaints are divided into a monthly average, it comes to just over 12 complaints per month. This means that only 1 in 1500 clients complains. The other 1499 are satisfied with the service provided.
More importantly, over the last 3 years working with 20, 000+ clients we do not have a single unresolved complaint. This is an exceptional track record; one that we take great pride in and are committed to continue.
(Throughout the interview, I brought the interviewer back to this history of resolving our client's concerns.)
What do you do in cases where you and your customers cannot agree on a solution?
From time to time, this does happen. When it becomes apparent that we cannot come to a compromise, we encourage the clients to avail themselves of the BBB's binding arbitration services. This happens very infrequently, but does resolve the issues through an unbiased 3rd party. Heritage always honors the decision of the arbitrator.
One of the complaints indicates that you appear to have a habit of bait and switch. You quote a price, but before the design is completed you tack on additional fees.
Thank you for raising this concern. When a client contracts with Heritage to design a site, they receive an invoice that specifies exactly what it is that Heritage will do for them. As the process unfolds, the designer or account manager makes them aware of additional features that may add to the effectiveness of their website.
Additions such as a banner ad, a flash intro, a marketing tool we call =
Stay n Touch, and other possible upgrades are introduced to the client. The cost of these features is quoted to the client. If the client asks Heritage to add that feature to the site, the original quote is then modified. The original quote is never modified unless the client requests these upgrades.
We have a complaint from a former employees that claims you kept $800 in commissions and also reduced his wages by 15%. What would you say in reference to this claim?
I am not familiar with this specific employee's situation. I can tell you, however, that the 15% reduction in wages did not single him out, but that the entire company took a 15% cut during the early part of 2009. We have been fortunate to work through the economic down turn. It has required sacrifice on everyone's part. In April we were able to restore the 15%.
As for the former employee's claim that Heritage owes him $800, again, I am not familiar with this specific example. However, just as a client has the option of going to the BBB as a neutral third party, an employee also has the option of appealing to the Labor Commission for fair treatment. Heritage has 185 full-time employees. We have had over time 2 or 3 employees go to the Labor Commission. We have always honored the position of this neutral 3rd party.
I have here a copy of a Settlement Agreement in which the client is required to agree to not go to the BBB. If they do, they are subject to a significant penalty. It seems you are denying them the opportunity to voice their concerns.
The first paragraph lays out the terms of the settlement. Often, Heritage agrees to issue a refund, or release its work, to the client on the condition that both parties will then put the matter to rest, leave it alone, and move on with their own interests.
This agreement is not retroactive. If they have already filed a complaint with the BBB, it does not penalize them for doing so. However, going forward both parties agree that the matter is resolved and no public expressions of negativity will be indulged in by either
party. It protects the client as well as Heritage.
---------------
This is the essence of the interview. Actually, it was a pleasant experience. It gave me the opportunity to express to a news organization how proud I am of the Heritage staff and our commitment to the clients. Occasionally we stub out toe, but at the end of the day, we always treat the client fairly.
Idiotswillalwayscomplain,
You need to wake up. Hit Web Design needs to answer for what they have done to their employees and customers.
I was sent an e-mail this evening by an ex-employee about what Mark Strong had to say about the ABC 4 interview.
Ok now I'm getting worked up now. Because I quit, I lost my commission for that pay period, how convenient for the Aitken's. Apparently this was in the employee handbook, that you are forced to sign or you don't have a job. Oh yeah, great company to work for. Had I known that, I would of done what others did, and not have to give up roughly $1500.00 that they owe me.
You are acting like the abused wife that gets beat by her husband, thinking there is nothing better out there. But trust me if you quit there is allot out there. But make sure you fake an illness or give them 2 weeks before you quit, or once again you will get screwed by the Aitkens.
I will not give up on this, I will continue to say whatever I feel like. One of my customers that I have kept in contact with, and has been screwed by HIT, just happens to be friends with the Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. You screw with the wrong people it will come back to bite you.
... also the phrase "I don't think I have ever sold anything wrong to get my numbers." sheds some light on your mindset.
You think?
I, having a conscience, would *KNOW* if I had sold something wrong.
you did that for years yourself, if you were so intelligent, compassionate, and chock-full of ethics and integrity. ... why did you take so long to quit?
idiotswillalwayscomplain,
"Customers always want to hear what they want to hear during the buying process, they always want to go for cheapest options, but as soon as they are contracted, they have this "everything for next to nothing" attitude. I don't think I have ever sold anything wrong to get my numbers."
... I am also sure you did not dispel any misconceptions the customer had, as long as your ### was covered and you made the sale.
Customers always want to hear what they want to hear during the buying process, they always want to go for cheapest options, but as soon as they are contracted, they have this "everything for next to nothing" attitude. I don't think I have ever sold anything wrong to get my numbers. Goals and targets are the first things any sales person learns anywhere. There have been employees who have never been in sales before this job - who fail!
I personally think Heritage is an awesome company offering services at good price. You have to have it in you to do your job you are hired for. Up-selling is common in any industry, there is nothing wrong in it.
Ethicalhit, you claim that you are not an ex-employee ( I am 1000% positive that you are a current employee ) If you are so much concerned for nothing, go and volunteer with the UN or something.
We can all go back and forth "n" number of times, but the fact will not change that, all you guys are just brainwashed into getting a revenge. Again I am not related to HIT Management and have a general opinion about the problems you guys are causing others.
I have letters from a woman who was on social security and a slick sales person, called her up and sold her a website. The website was already outside of her means, but she was promised a quick return on her investment, and a brighter future...
What did she experience?
CONSTANT delays in her website design, different people calling her 2 or 3 times a day promising to get her site done quicker if she would just add one more thing to it!
Then when she would cave and give a little bit more money just so she could get her "hit" website done.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and with each month there was a hosting charge, and now bills started to fall behind.
When she wanted to cancel she was told she couldn't, was bullied and given the runaround.
Now she is trying to get her money back by doing a charge back and hopefully she will be able to recoup her money, not so that she can have someone else build her a website, so that she can plain and simple pay her bill, s and feed herself.
Does this sound like a company that you 'feel' proud to work for? SHAME on you! SHAME!
idiotswillalwayscomplain you know what is going on, yet you still support them. That is just plain wrong and sick in my eyes.
"I can't tell you how many times I had to sit and hear my customer crying, actually crying on the phone because we didn't do what we say we could do, but we sure could sell them something they didn't need couldn't we."
True dat. I hated it when that happened, and I couldn't do anything. And then I had to push some stupid sale on them. "Well, tell him/her that we can give them the Web Traffic Director for 5% off today and send a task to so and so." And I'd have to send a task and offer the WTD and tell them that someone would get back to them and fix it, which was technically true, but would probably take at least a week, if the person wasn't fired or quit in the meantime. And here's a business owner, trying to get a dang website up so they can make money, but HIT has pretty well screwed them over and left them with no recourse for getting their money back or getting a website that they like up in a decent amount of time. It was sad. Sad sad sad.
Just so you know the average employee at HIT right now makes a base of $8.50/hour. McDonald's pays $10.00/hour, better work environment, better benefits, less stress and free food! Tell that to the Aitken's when they tell you there's nothing else out there.
I have no desire to see HIT fire all of its employees, by any means... but I do wish they would alter their style of business to be more customer oriented and less sales oriented. I felt, and many customers felt, that they were just kind of sucking their customers dry... pretty well forcing them to purchase things they didn't need... telling lies about how such and such will help them get more business on their website, when it really won't make a bit difference, and taking forever to get customers help with their sites or even get the sites finished in a timely manner. Also, I feel bad for the people working there at such pitiful wages. At this point, those who work there are forced to work there because there's no where else to go, and they have to deal with a business that is treating them like dirt and paying them pennies unless they force sales on their customers. I thought we got rid of sweatshops a long time ago, but it doesn't seem to be so at HIT. I wonder why sales suddenly drop once they hit their "goal" for the day... hmm... maybe because people HATE SELLING the way HIT wants them to sell... by taking advantage of customers and being annoyingly pushy, rather than offering a product when it feels like the right time to offer it and when the customer really does need it.
So what you are saying is, you are currently working there. How can we stand by and let this company destroy other peoples lives, think about the small business owner getting bent over by this company. I can't tell you how many times I had to sit and hear my customer crying, actually crying on the phone because we didn't do what we say we could do, but we sure could sell them something they didn't need couldn't we.
I don't want to see them fail as a company, I want to see change, it's unethical what they are doing, it's just as bad as Enron.
idiotswillalwayscomplain,
I have no relation to the company, but what I do wake up and live for, is the ability to help those who have been victims of bullies, crooks, and unethical people.
I would say in this particular thread a MAJORITY of ex-employees posting here left of their own free will.
A few have been terminated. The few that were terminated that I have spoken to, have listed an number of unethical practices and shady reasons to why they were let go.
The people who left of their own free will, were lucky enough to get jobs at other companies.
The people posting who are still Hit Web Design employees are terrified of loosing their once source of income, but are ready to drop Hit Web Design like a bad habit the moment they have a new job.
Why would they "hide" on here? Well plain and simple most average people cannot afford to retain a lawyer or even get good legal advice. So why would they risk getting one of those infamous legal letters from Heritage Management?
Now idiotswillalwayscomplain I will bet that you are either an owner, or directly related to the Aitken family since we have openly discussed their inability to run a company.
we are not hurting you - management is
Also I have no issues with any of you, I don't even know who you are, just like you don't know me. I may even leave when I desire or if I don't like something about my employers or If I get a better opportunity. I just don't like that ex-employees, screwing the careers or job of their ex-colleagues. You choose to leave, We haven't yet. We have to make our living and run our families, we are hurt by the way unethically all details are let out. You have problems with HIT fine, but by all this, understand the fact that it hurts other people, than the Management.
"Secondly if you are hired to do a job, it depends on you, how you do it to reach from point A to Point B is not really a concern, reaching to Point B is."
The ends justify the means. Brilliant. You certainly nailed the management style.
idiotswillalwayscomplain,
with all of your spelling errors, I'd venture to say this is one of the Aitken brothers. Your whole preface of "no relation to any HIT Management" is just another lie.
I was one that was let go. Why? Some bull faced crap lie. Think I'm lying? Ask the former manager of Human Resources the REAL reason she quit. She was tired of being a pawn and forced to fire people for "bull crap" reasons! If this company is so good in your mind, and we're just all bitter, I DARE you to come out of your office, walk down onto the now account manager floor (since you've done away with sales), and dial the phone and oh yeah, STAY GREEN! If you don't have the balls to do that (which I can assume as an Aitken you don't), shut up and you get a life!
well? Wow did you think of that all by yourself?
Well, first of all, read above, I said I have no relationship with HIT management, that doesn't mean I am not concerned or loyal or whatever.
Secondly if you are hired to do a job, it depends on you, how you do it to reach from point A to Point B is not really a concern, reaching to Point B is.
BB
diotswillalwayscomplain
You are really passionate about this are you sure you don't work there. You are so right, I will never comment or have an opinion ever again, you have really enlightened all of us. What was I thinking...so stupid. Go and be a troll on another post...you get real! And once again you post without a name...hmmmmm
idiotswillalwayscomplain,
If you read through these pages of complaints, you'd see that a good amount of us did actually quit because of how ridiculous Heritage has become. I am another who did, as you'll see from my post earlier and I can vouch for several other employees who quit for similar reasons and we all gave those reasons when we gave our two weeks notice (as well as bringing our issues up with management several times before quitting).
Some of us are hiding behind the internet because we don't want to be subject to Heritages brute force/legal pressure tactics, which they do use (don't tell me you've never been told to tell a customer that if they do such-and-such, Heritage will take legal action, because I had to say it at least once a week while I worked there). Heritage has lots more money to hire a lawyer than I do, so I'd rather not take the chance that they'll try to take me to court for "slander" or "libel" or whatever. But I can say to you with utmost honesty that I QUIT working (I gave two weeks notice!) at Heritage because it became ridiculous to work there, for many reasons stated already, but mostly because Heritage wanted me to focus on intimidation selling to customers rather than providing them with good customer service (despite me being in the customer service/tech support department) and because they made me feel like my job status was unpredictable if I didn't hit the newly implemented sales quotas. Not to mention policies kept changing and morphing randomly, which makes it extremely unpleasant to work for a company.
But keep telling yourself that we're all disgruntled, fired employees. Whatever makes you feel good about working for Heritage! I know I'm not a fired employee, and so I certainly tend to believe that these others here saying they were not fired weren't as well. Those who were fired have stated as such.
the ones who have left have left for better pay or personal reason ( I would do too) and nothing else, get real!
EthicsCommitee,
There is no reason to help to fired employees or quitters (read losers). The day I don't do my job right, I will expect any employer to fire me. Move on! the company will go on, with or without you!
idiotswillalwayscomplain,
I didn't get fired. I got sick of unethical business practices, team leads with a God complex, every ten minutes hearing team leads yelling "stay green". The constant pressure of trying to get a sell even if the customer needed it or not.
I think it's a little interesting that you are hiding behind the internet, if you have no relation to HIT web design why did you not put your name? I guess it might be because you wouldn't stand up for something you feel strongly about. I hope I am not being mugged when you are walking by, it sounds like you don't have the heart to come and try to help your fellow man out.
First of all, I am not related to anybody at HIT Management and this is just my personal opinion.
All of you are just, recently terminated employees for various reasons including excessive tardiness, performance, attitude etc. Its very common for disgruntled employees like you to react inappropriately in public forums, hiding behind the internet. Think about it, if you were so good, why would anybody ever fire you? You were happy till you were well fed, as soon as you are brought down to earth to face the reality, your flip out. It's none of your concern and you are not entitled to a stake in the residual income if your contract and terms of employment does not mention it. Lets just be real, if your employment is at will, any company has right to let you go without asking you. If you felt you were not appropriately treated while being employed at HIT, you should be free to take suitable action and the company would have replied to the claims.
Remember the ones who are currently working are better than you were, so instead of wasting time on forums and talking crap about your ex-employer, get a life and move on.
Well, looking at that math is just odd. I remember when I was working at HIT there were many days that we struggled to hit 30 live sites a day. Using that as a gauge it couldn't have been more than 700 sites a month (30 x ~23 business days a month). I was also fired completely out of the blue with no final warning or anything, just asked to go to the HR office while they cleared my desk. I'm actually grateful for them doing this because at the time (almost a year ago) the prospect of getting a new job that payed as well seemed slim. Within 2 weeks I began work at a job that I consider to be superior to what I was doing at HIT. Shortly after losing my job at HIT I decided to fold and join Facebook. I quickly requested to be friends with many of my co-workers that I had known in my time there. I then received a letter from a legal office on behalf of HIT stating that I couldn't communicate with any current employee or client of HIT as doing so would lead to legal action taken against me. Are you serious? I can no longer talk to my best friend for 25 years (whom I referred to HIT, was very good at his job and regularly exceeded goals and was also 'let go' due to some farce of a reason) without fear of legal ramifications?
I would be interested to know if any other former employees received a similar letter.
Why people doesn't leave work when things are as bad as they are at Hit? I think that has to do a lot with the economy crisis. If these employees could find other decent companies out there they would had leave a long time ago. The same way, when the unemployment is high some companies, like HIT, take advantage. Who cares if your employees are leaving every day when you can have 1000 more candidates to interview next day.
By the way, I do have proofs of all these complains. This is just for Ryan so you know that it'll come out, but not here. You will be probably the first one to know.
The one problem with those numbers is that they have a closer team that after a site is sold calls back and sells a year of hosting to the client. They offer 2-3 months free hosting if they pay upfront for a year. So now they are losing there set monthy residuals.
Good point Turpin!
If you put 1, 000 sites live a month that means that yearly you put 15, 000 sites live.
If you have a customer base of 20, 000 clients that means that rolling only 5, 000 clients are clients who are staying past their year agreement which means using their marketing numbers alone they have a retention rate of only 25%
WOW Only 25% of Hit Web Design's customers decide to stay with them after their 1 year contract is up! That in itself is VERY TELLING.
I agree with you EthicsCommitee.
The louder we get about the treatment of employees and customers of Hit Web Design, the more likely the media, Utah Attorney General's Office, and the BBB will investigate Hit Web Design and it's unethical practices.
Keep posting your experiences and stories!
I think they might be playing this hand with all of us "If we ignore them they will go away" I say BS we keep pouring it on until something is done. C'mon guys, girls HELL NO WE WONT GO, HELL NO WE WONT GO, actually that is not a bad idea let's all get together and picket in front of the building
Can anyone else on here speak to these numbers? I know that Hit Web Design on their site has hosting from 19.00 to 59.99
If they do indeed have the 20, 000 customers that they claim that would mean that every month they are generating $400, 000 off of hosting fees.
Then from what I can gather from the other e-mails that have been shared with me here, is that their goal is to hit 30, 000 a day in sales (which is down from 100, 000 a day) they should be making 720, 000 a month in new revenue from their sales team.
Then if they are making another 30, 000 a day from their customer service teams (account management and closers... please correct me if I am wrong) means another 720, 000
Which means monthly ball park they should be making
400, 000 - hosting
720, 000 - sales
720, 000 - customer service
1, 840, 000 total a month
Which would equal about 22, 000, 000 a year... so being the fact that they state that their yearly revenue is 20, 000, 000 we can assume these numbers are fairly accurate.
if we take out 100, 000 for pay per click marketing (thank you internet) and another 200, 000 for server maint, bill etc per month that leaves them with a net revenue of
1, 540, 000 a month so if every full time employee was paid equally the average monthly salary would be $6, 160.00 which means that the average employee salary would be $73, 920.00 a year.
But being the fact that all employees are not paid equally... and people are posting on here that the frontline person is making $8.50 an hour we can assume that what Heritage Web Solutions and Hit Web Design are running into plain and simple is a failed business model.
As a national average the average cost per employee for health care for a year is about 10, 000 for a company the size of Heritage.
So per year Heritage spends $2, 500, 000.00 on health insurance for it's employees
Per year we will estimate Heritage spends $3, 600, 000.00 on server rentals Pay per click campaigns etc.
That leaves from the 22, 000, 000.00 - 15, 900, 000 for salaries in-house and outsourced.
From that 15, 900, 000 y0u have to pay your out sourced employees. Seeing that most people can't live on it, and from reading on here, and other sites where people detail out the cost per page is 10.00 (please correct me if I am wrong) and they create 1, 000 websites per month with an average length of 5 pages per site we will estimate (with writing etc) that each site costs Hit Web Design about 100.00 to make. That means that you subtract another 1, 000, 000.00 a year for that expense.
So we are left with a grand total 14, 900, 000.00 for in-house salaries.
The one thing I have haven't taken into account are refunds because we are going to pretend that this is the perfect world where everyone is satisfied with Heritage like they want to pretend.
That means that if everyone was paid equally the average employee would make $59, 900.00 (for all of the 250 in-house employees).
Now being the fact that we know that the front line customer service is make 8.50 an hour (not including a bonus... and from what I have read they need to sell 2, 000.00 a day to make the 10% bonus which would equal out to each person selling 48, 000.00 a month)
So if we average out long term employees who are making more vs. less and using a phone list that someone sent me we can guesstimate that 210 out of those 250 employees fall into this category. And if we say that on average they make 12.50 an hour that would equal out to 26, 000.00 a year per employee which equals out to a total $5, 460, 000.00
Subtract that from our total and we have a whopping 9, 440, 000.00 a year left over for the sales people, a few programmers, management, VPs, and the owners.
So where is the money going? How mismanaged is this company? If I was an owner and I saw this I would storm over to my CFO's office and demand he/she account for all the money spent!
Either that or they are sending too much money to Haiti.
Plain and simple this company is mismanaged. By all accounts if people are as happy with Hit Web Design as they say they are, there is some sort of money scheme going on. Or else they have a lot more refunds due than they are letting on!
This just does not add up for. If I am missing any piece of the puzzle or my math is off please let me know.
Because with as many people who have had bounced checks, and issues getting, paid, along with the 15% reduction in pay, the numbers just don't make any sort of sense.
Comments?
since heritage is making 1.6 Million dollars in residual income each month, they should immediately reverse our pay-cuts. Greedy AHs.
I wonder since now Greg Woods is no longer employed with Hit Web Design, if he would be willing to enlighten us with some more stories about the Horrors of Hit Web Design?
hen I say respond I am not talking about the woot woot I am with you, got your back statements that are often sent out to an email like this. I am looking for your sincere thoughts and I would like everyone to really consider what I am about to discuss and let me know where you stand.
P.D.’s,
When we moved your goal back to 30K from 38K we were hitting that number on a regular basis with the same sized team. When we moved the goal back we all of a sudden (and I mean the same day) started struggling to hit it. We are now on a very similar path to previous months where we start to struggle to hit 70% of that number.
I think we all know how good this team is and our leads are the same as ever before. I get concerned when we continue to walk into the same trap every day without making the necessary adjustments to right the ship. The challenge we are running into day in and day out right now are very slow starts. We are running around 4-5k at noon when we should be at 10-12k. We are also often able to rally into a decent day but never all the way into goal.
The problem we have to address right now and starting today is why we are getting out of the gates so slow and how do we correct this so we stop finding ourselves in this position?
Failure to hit goal should not be something we even consider as a possibility especially after dropping it clear down to 30K. I need everyone making it happen 9-5 so that we are not put in a position of asking people to sacrifice to turn the day from horrible to bad. That’s right, we are getting so far behind that even a great rally and all of the committed extra time only drags our numbers up to the bad stage. I for one know this team is capable of figuring this out and getting off of this nasty rollercoaster.
FYI,
The first 3 weeks of last month you accomplished this without problem so we know its possible.
Closers,
Your production numbers are far more predictable and you are hitting goal regularly which I appreciate more than you will know. However, once we are at that goal we see our production drop through the floor whether it be 4:30 or on a good day we will see our production drop of as early as 3:00.
Goals are simply a needed number, however when the opportunity rises to really exceed goal we need your team to stay just as focused and determined to put numbers up as you where in getting there.
All,
Our positions are often dictated by our minds and our ability to drive and control our own human nature. I really don’t want to see us fall into bad habits or begin to fail either by effort or by numbers again.
Closers,
You are on this team because you are the best at what you do, don’t let a drop in effort or focus take away from what you have.
P.D.’s,
You remain on this team because you are the best at what you do, I fear that old bad habits may be creeping in. Please remember who you are, what makes you great and the way we do it at HIT. (with a lot of fun and enthusiasm)
That image is pretty hilarious. Thank you Zippy for sharing!
wirth a looksee.
http://twitpic.com/n65ox/full