Thread by @aeduhm

I don’t like to be negative. It’s a lot more fun to only ever be positive and ignore the stuff that bothers you.

But, lack of accountability on the internet is a problem, and the last few months have brought that to a head for me, personally.

Story time:

I hang out on Twitter, almost exclusively. I’m mostly interacting with the AWS community here, but also broader tech twitter, and the indie hacking crowd.

Like everyone else, I see the 37293746 (info) products and services hawked on this platform; I also hawk my own on occasion.

I’d say I have a bias towards working with other folks on Twitter. I’d guess that’s fairly common.

In the last two months I hired two indie businesses based on Twitter appearances, and the results were comically bad.

I’ll start with Designjoy.

I hired Brett/Designjoy shortly after he joined Twitter and I was excited about the idea of having a talented designer fulfill random tasks on my many side projects.

I was excited.

I was also skeptical that he could possibly deliver for 50+ clients simultaneously.

I signed up when the “unlimited designs” plan was $2500/mo.

The first month was semi-impressive, given what I know about his “business”. He mostly always had something turned around in 48 hours, and some of it was fairly good quality.

But, it was always clear that you were getting ~20-30 minutes each week from a senior designer; his first pass at any given task, with little-to-no refinement.

Or he’d deliver half of the request to reset his self-imposed 48 hour timer.

All of that is fine. You get what you pay for, and it’s convenient to have someone effectively on retainer.

Then he doubled his prices. Not for existing customers; we were grandfathered in. Which is to say, we now get a fraction of the little attention we received before.

After he went to $5000/mo, there was a noticeable drop in output and quality. Again, this makes sense when you’re juggling an increasing number of clients, and especially if the new clients are paying double.

Average turnaround time went from 2 to 4 days quickly.

Then there were the times he got sick over the two months I was a customer. The first time he sent a message on Trello saying that he was sick and not to worry, he’d make it up. Not sure how he would? He didn’t, but I wasn’t bothered.

The second time I noticed he went dark for 6 or 7 days; I thought it was strange, but figured it was due to his increasing demand. Then I saw on Twitter where’d he’d been sick all week. Cool.

People get sick. That’s why selling subscriptions for your solo business is bad.

I could have lived with all of this until I saw Brett start selling 30-minute calls to coach others on how they can create a terrible business, too.

Brett hates his situation, it’s pretty clear. But, we glorify the big number over everything else on indie/hustle twitter.

After canceling my subscription, I spoke to other former customers and learned that my experience wasn’t unique.

Then I realized there’s little information out there publicly about Brett’s services that he hasn’t messaged. No customers represented on his website, for instance.

And there’s more shadiness if you dig. The original product hunt launch is telling.

The rebrand from Hue to Designjoy afforded him a much needed reset.

producthunt.com/posts/hue-2

Here’s my ask to the community: be more discerning.

@IndieHackers maybe speak to a single customer before bringing someone on your show and amplifying their predatory business and info products.

There’s a second experience I’m in the thick of, with another member of this community that I had no reason to question; they’ve thus far taken my money and ghosted me (24 days in).

I’ll save that story once it’s had more time to develop.

IT DEVELOPED 😲 @MarvelAssist

I paid @MarvelAssist $900 on April 1st (jokes on me, apparently). Had a kickoff call with Dustin a few days later. Since that time I've not been able to reach him and no work has been done (25 days in).

Is this an epidemic?! And why do they all use Trello 😅

Also, I may have inadvertently stumbled into a career as a fraud journalist. I'm reading through dozens of DMs from folks with similar stories.

I'm not sure how we create a world where there are actual consequences for your actions on the internet, but I'm up for trying.

I think it's safe to say that @MarvelAssist is a problem. I hope more people considering this service are made aware of the fact that... it isn't a service 😬

Back on Designjoy, some additional thoughts:

My issue is with how Brett portrays his business publicly. There’s a disconnect.

In terms of my experience as a customer of DJ, I’m not angry. Axel’s takeaway misty reflects my own.

https://twitter.com/AxelVaindal/status/1518608072045907970

My real issue is the lack of accountability within this community. The below observation is 100% accurate.

Brett will surely sell more 1-on-1 calls; some will be more disappointed with the outcome than others.

Worse, @MarvelAssist will continue to sell a service that seems not to exist. And that’s a bummer.

I’m not sure how this can be fixed, but I’m open to ideas.

An update on Marvel:

Dustin got back to me through email and offered a refund; I agreed and he’s taken care of it this morning.

I also found this thread from March that makes all of this sound like growing pains. This makes a lot more sense to me given his reputation.

https://twitter.com/terribledustin/status/1508551023798882309

I owe an apology to @terribledustin for jumping to conclusions after hearing from several customers with experiences like mine.

That said, more communication would have gone a long way; for me and the others that were impacted.

Less marketing, more doing the thing.