Here is my communication with ODesk after being scammed for a complex project that was never completed and I paid 70% of the upfront fee instead of the 30%. ODesk did not lift a finger.



Nov.20



Hello,



I had hired Kim Coppens from Cybinternet/ Cybtechnologies in Belgium and over the past 3 months I'd seen very little progress with my website from poor programming of simple forms like the contact forms and sign up forms to him stating 90% of the website is almost complete when in actually he had only 10% of the website complete with numerous errors.I was so annoyed with his poor workmanship that I decided to go in to the website myself and reprogram the pages to make sure they worked properly.



I checked the developers profile on ODESK and great to my surprise the profile is no longer active. Additionally, the company had downloaded all my files from my FTP and decided to work on a remote location.



On numerous occasions the developer stated that he was going to upload my files so we can both test the website. It is now a month later and I have not seen any progress. Also, I had contacted the developer both through email and IM and still I did not receive a response.



After working on the website he stated that it was unique and hard. However, I am really furious because the concept I was having him work on was not yet seen in the social networking market and I had overpaid him for the job and he is not responding to my emails.



After the developer demonstrated poor workmanship and poor attention to detail, I decided to reduce the developer's level of work that was included in the fixed price because I did not feel he was qualified to work on a website of this persuasion.



If I do not receive a response from the developer over the next couple of days, I have no other choice but to contact the federal trade commission to report the company.



Is there anyway I can request a refund for the overpaid portion? I can provide all supporting emails between me and the developer



Thank you for contacting oDesk Support.



Unfortunately oDesk does not offer mediation nor arbitration for fixed price assignments. You will need to contact the provider directly for resolution. Please refer to http://www.odesk.com/help/help/new_to_odesk/Fixed_Hourly



Please let us know if we can be of additional assistance.



---

Respectfully,



Nov. 21



Can you please inform me on when Kim Coppens deactivated his account. This is very unfair to me. I paid money to have a project completed and I am taking the developer just ran with my money and all my website files, media and ideas.



Nov. 23



Dear Victoria,



Thank you for contacting oDesk Support.



The provider's account (koptimo) is not deactivated, it is active. Please contact the provider directly for resolution.



Please let us know if we can be of additional assistance.



Nov. 24

I have conducted further research and realized Kim Coppens changed his name to Kim C. making his profile harder to find in the search results. I have contacted the developer several times and if I do not hear a response by the end of the week I am going to contact the FTC and submit all supporting documentation.



Nov. 26



I have ended the project because I have contacted the developer numerous times regarding with no responses and this project and is way overdue.



After reading his negative feedback on his Odesk page for a complex project, I realized that he was not equipped to work on a project of this complexity and instead of him stating that when he told me the website was difficult and unique, he had deceived me in believing that he could do the job (after I requested a full refund) and had 90% of my project completed when literally he had only about 10% completed with numerous errors on simple forms that a programmer should be able to program properly and nothing worked properly. I was so frustrated that I had to study his files and constantly go into the forms and correct everythng myself and I am not a programmer--the forms work superbly.



Yesterday, I had sent him an IM while he was online and instead of him responding he just logged off like he was trying to avoid me. I paid to have a service render and not only didn't he complete my project but he is not responding to my emails. He is obviously taking on more projects then you can handle. On top of that, instead of paying 30% upfront I paid 70% upfront.



I am filing a report with my credit card company and present all supporting documentation because this is unfair business practice and I will be damned if he runs with my money and didn't complete the job.



Just because his is located in Belgium does not prevent me from filing a lawsuit and in the U.S we have laws in place to protect us when conducting business internationally and for unfair business practices.

I am going to first start with filing a report with my credit card company and then file a report with the Federal Trade Commission and present all supporting documentation from the companies he works for to everything I have on you and our communications.



This is really unfair and I should not have to lose out on money because he could not do the job and instead of him admitting to it, he is making me more frustrated and prolonging the project when I can hire new developers.



I am a very meticulous and understanding person and I feel as a developer, he should take great care when working on projects. More important, he demonstrated poor attention to detail and poor programming on simple forms that me as a non-programmer had to study his files and correct his mistakes.I even had to program some forms to reduce his workload (they work superbly) that was included in the price and to speed up the process and still the project is approaching its 4th month...well overdue...



Nov. 27



Thank you for contacting oDesk Support.



I will also email the provider to contact you for a resolution. I will give him 48 hours to reply to you and if he does not, please inform me and I will suspend his account for non communication. I will send you a carbon copy of the email.



Please let us know if we can be of additional assistance.



---

Respectfully,



Dec. 2



It is now Dec 2 and I still had not received a response from the developer. I paid to have a service rendered and this developer just ran with my money.



Dec. 3

Thank you for contacting oDesk Support.



The provider's account has already been suspended.



Please let us know if we can be of additional assistance



Dec. 4

I just conducted a search on the provider and Obviously he had already created a back up profile due to his negative feedback. I already took a snapshot of his last bio and I recall the image in his current profile because he uses the same image in his IM. There are a lot of scam artists on this website and I filed a complaint with my credit card company because the transaction was made through a U.S. company.

The other URL for Kim C. is I am contacting the FTC. I do not know what type of games your company is playing but the username is registered here at the following url and I http://www.odesk.com/users/~~ba57327918979760



Dec. 4



This is a serious issue and thank God for search engines because Kim is obviously still working on projects under the so called suspended account. It would be rather irrational to suspend someone's account when he is still working on projects. I came across the profile in the search engine that is still active but just doesn't appear in ODesk's Search results

tp://http://www.odesk.com/users/~~801027b4e9482ce4



Dec. 4

It seems as if Kim coppens new accout was created overnight to allow him to continue using your services because I checked all the Kim C.s profiles last week and I would have came across this new profile but it wasn't in the search results. Now all of a sudden his old account is removed from the search results but still maintains an active url and appears in major search engines where people are still able to hire him .This new account was created on 10/27/2008. I further scrutinize the profile, all his test scores for the same test are the same. It looks as if he just tweaked his profile a little to try to disguise it. Unfortunately, this is obviously not an issue for your company to handle because you did very little to solve the problem, but rather a problem for the FTC to investigate. You earned money from a project that was not completed and from a developer who ran with my money because he was incompetent to do the job.I have over 20 snapshots of emails and bios, and images because this issue needs to be addressed urgently before it goes haywire. You obviously knew something was wrong when he did not respond.



I have a section on my new and upcoming website that is going to launch in January( which will be marketed throught several advertising channels) where I am going to spotlight major companies. I just filed a report with my bank because i paid for a service that was not rendered through a U.S.company and obviously ODesk is a money driven website that lures alot of overseas scam-artists who deceive consumers in believing they can do the job to make a quick dollar in their poverty-stricken countries. It is unfair for consumers and I am very upset.



My advice to developers on ODesk and other websites that are scamming consumers is that karma is a b******