I have been looted by an Internet company that I had selected from elance for an ecommerce project. They have badges of Microsoft Gold Partners, Google Adwords Professionals, BBB etc - I have proofs against them and I want that company to be either closed or give me project for which I have paid them and apologize as well What options do I have? Where do I report them?
Get in touch with a lawyer and start the legal process. Did you have an original legal contract with them? Perhaps you'd like to post that here?
I have a contract on which everything is mentioned. The project was supposed to be completed in October/November 2006 but it was not even started since that time. The project manager went to India and started the project which was another cheat because initially I dealt with a US company
POST their COMPANY NAME here...... for all to be warned and maybe u might even get a response from some of their staff here
I can't do that right now because I have sent an email to the CEO again who told me that he will get back to me in 1 week but 12 days have passed already without a reply.
While we are all expressing our opinions here which can't obviously be supporting a fraudulent company, you need to speak to a lawyer beforehand, considering the amount involved in the project that you are having troubles with.
think the problem he is having is that he is from a different country and I don't know of any easy way of pressing charges. What can he do? Fly there to go to court? Perhaps trying to see if that country has a commercial affairs bureau of or the equivalent might also be good. They cld possibly advice. Anyone who had such experiences and done something abt it wld be nice to share for Haxan and for everyone else here too...
When I first selected them from elance.com, it was an American company with a nice portfolio but I came to know later on that all of the work was being done from India They told me fake names (Which might be a strategy to get business) For example - Alex for Abhinav Harry for Harsimar and so on
I am no legal expert, but here are my thoughts. Didn't you use Elance's escrow system? I believe they have one in place. Secondly, going to your lawyers might be the best option if the amount in question is a large one, going into xxxx and more. Also you could use http://ic3.gov/ Doesn't the company have a registered address, or website or any other kind of contact information ?
I didn't use elance.com for payment because that company asked me for my credit card. I gave them the information and they charged it on there merchant account - There were about 4 transactions on my credit card starting from June 2006 to August 2006 - The rest of them have been paid using PayPal in February and March 2007 out of which 1 is disputable because of being time barred. I have sent my bank the proof's of the activities on 14 pages to get me a refund but the chances are low because of the time I am in Pakistan and they are in US/India - I don't know how can I get this done. I have got all the adresses of the company, URL's everything. Would it be a good idea to launch a web blog with the URL of the company's name as companysucks.com?
I am not sure of that. If you are in a legal battle with them, you wouldn't want them to state in court that you tried to malign their reputation before they were officially proclaimed '' fraudsters''. A point case for you would be ''misrepresentation of facts'' and ''misleading information'' if they stated that they were a US company, when they actually were based in India. Again I am no lawyer, but somebody like mjewel or crusader might be able to guide you better in this matter. Were all the portfolio examples real? I mean, was it really their work, or did they pass off somebody else's work as theirs..
Point noted, thanks. But what if they are not paying me back the full amount in $XXXX? What if the bank says, it is time barred and we can't do anything? At that point, I would want them to be penalized by some internet authority. I would want to see the badges take off the website The portfolio seemed ok to me and that's why I opted for them I will try to bring crusader and mjewel here and post
Update! I have got an email from the Project Manager (Whom I was told is on a leave of 5 months, has suddenly appeared) saying that we have uploaded the project in a zip file for you to download. He replied to me because when I was totally lost and shattered because of the project, I thought it would be wise to get whatever has been done and then I will get it done from some other coder You won't beleive what they have sent me. They didn't even send the incomplete project. What they have sent me is a zip file full of crap where they have used scripts and functionality from different free internet resources. There are some folders with the pictures of Indian film actors. Now isn't that funny? He is asking me to sign a termination agreement for the same A few days back when I sent email to the CEO, he said, according to me the project is completed and delivered. If that is the case, why is the project manager asked me in email at a later date that he will upload after signing a contract? This is one of the so many points that goes against them Rigt now, I have sent them an email asking them to either give me a full refund or complete the application as per the SRS or I will be filing a law suit and start sending out information to BBB and other Internet Fraud Report sites What else should I do? I need help from all you fellows. Thanks
did u try to find the 'commercial affairs department' or the equivalent in India? giving them a call may not be such a bad idea. You might get some leads on what can be done....
As I mentioned, I have sent them an email asking to co-operate by either issuing a full refund or giving me a full customized application as we had settled in SRS. If they won't reply me, I will starting contacting sources
I also had a similar issue lately. After i had sent the last payment to an Indian firm (also using a US front company, but no US presence), they disappeared for a week without sending me the project. I harassed them daily, and finally they gave up and delivered the project.
I realize the work was done in India, but do they have a US office? Have you tried contacting your credit card company to start a chargeback? This was probably your best option, but as so much time has passed, your bank may not be willing to do it (policy varies with each bank). I would do this immediately and not wait another day. Starting a "companysucks.com" would be a last resort. If this company hasn't been in business very long they may just start using another name. You need to try and determine how important their reputation is to them. Did your contact specify how disputes would be handled? Did is specify legal jurisdiction (where you have to go to court)? I don't know about India, but suing them in the US (when you don't live here) is going to be expensive and would probably be too costly for the amount you are dealing with. It could be difficult or impossible to collect unless they are a large company. You might be throwing more money away. I don't think you will be successful in getting Microsoft or Google Adwords to get involved. This is a civil dispute and they aren't likely to do anything in a "he said, she said" situation. The BBB will send them a letter, but other than putting your complaint on file, they won't be able to force them to do anything. I would still contact the BBB and file the complaint. Other than a chargeback, your best hope is that they value their "reputation" and will give you a refund to prevent you from warning other people. I would assume you have already complained to elance - but if not, do that immediately.
Another update! The result of sending them an email was that my Project Manager got back to me and he is saying that give us a few days and we will try to fix it out for you. He has been making such false promises for the whole year and this can also be the result of a dispute I started on PayPal ----- Now coming to your questions mjewel They do have an office in US but I am not 100% sure about it. All of them are using 001 numbers but is it possible to use 001 numbers in India? I called my bank and explained the whole situation to the Incharge of Chargeback Department who said, it would be very difficult because it is time barred but still we have to take a chance based on the proof's you have. I sent them a 14 pages fax that has a number of conflicts I have found out I won't opt for companysucks.com if they will give me the project according to my satisfaction. Lawsuits would definitely cost me too much so I might not opt for it but I will do my best to submit proof's against them to every single authority on net dealing with such sort of stuff I haven't yet sent a report to anyone except for the bank to process the chargebacks however I have collected every single bit of information that I can send to BBB, Elance etc - The reason for starting this thread was that I wanted some senior guys or lawyers in here to help me with what options I have. Sending them an email has worked for now. Let's hope for the best