Suing a Web Developer from Elance

[psaco131]

Back in May, I found a developer on Elance.com to create a site for me.The finish date was projected early July. Everything ran smoothly until I made the the full payment. It is now October and the site still is not finished. I've tried resolving the issue with him and he just keeps delaying and making excuses. I could escalate the issue with elance but I'm not giving up my half my funds to some arbitrary service. ANybody got an Idea of what I can legally do to get my $1500 back?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

How did you fund your ELance account? I'd dispute that transaction.

 

[psaco131]

I loaded the cash on to MoneyPak cards and transferred them from paypal to Elance, can't really dispute it.

 

[Vigilante]

Sure you can. File a Paypal dispute.

 

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[theBiz]

i have taken some pretty bad losses... should of used some sort of escrow, lesson learned. Try to dispute, so many web developers do this, and most cant justify it, they are just not capable, or too busy.

 

[psaco131]

Didn't think I could. THanks guys

 

[psaco131]

Well I just attempted and got the following message

"Thank you for registering your complaint about this transaction. Unfortunately, this type of transaction is not eligible for PayPal dispute resolution. We encourage you to continue to work directly with your seller, as we have found that many misunderstandings reach amicable solutions through communication."

 

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[dknise]

Back in May, I found a developer on Elance.com to create a site for me.The finish date was projected early July. Everything ran smoothly until I made the the 3rd out of fourth payment. It is now October and the site still is not finished. I've tried resolving the issue with him and he just keeps delaying and making excuses. I could escalate the issue with elance but I'm not giving up my half my funds to some arbitrary service. ANybody got an Idea of what I can legally do to get my $1500 back?

Seeing how small of an amount it is, he is likely focusing on other projects as well. If they're paying much more than yours is, his priorities put you at the bottom of the list, which is why you're getting shafted.

Like everyone else said, file a Paypal or Elance dispute. If it's through Elance, he may be forced to fork over the work or will give you a refund if that means that Elance won't let him work through them anymore and he uses it as a main source of income. If you don't file or escalate it, you'll never get your money back.

Goodluck.

 

[dknise]

Well I just attempted and got the following message

"Thank you for registering your complaint about this transaction. Unfortunately, this type of transaction is not eligible for PayPal dispute resolution. We encourage you to continue to work directly with your seller, as we have found that many misunderstandings reach amicable solutions through communication."

Seeing as it's not directly applicable to Paypal, I can see why it would be responded with that. It's something to take up with Elance and the developer.

 

[Johno69]

That's right. You paid elance, so PayPal to elance was fine. It's the elance to freelancer you need to dispute.

Take it up with elance.

 

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[Gravytrain]

My suggestion is that you write this off as a lesson well-learned and move on.

How much do you value your time at? Because this is going to consume a lot of time and energy which you could be using for far more productive purposes.

You tried to go cheap on eLance, and it failed. Next time try looking to your local college / university or Craigslist, sit down with the developer in person, and get EVERYTHING IN WRITING including performance penalties for failure to deliver. Pay in installments so that the developer is motivated to get work done.

Or, you could just go to ThemeForest.net, pay $40 for a kickass WordPress theme and get the site up in a day. Your call, but either way I would spend no more time on this.

 

[PatrickP]

I am not understanding.

How did the person get the money if they didn't finish the project?

Why did you release the funds to him?

 

[FastNAwesome]

It's the elance to freelancer you need to dispute.

Take it up with elance.

This. That's one of the reasons to use intermediary (elance) in the first place.

 

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[mottdog]

You made full payment for a incomplete product? Not good. Elance may help, but they have made it clear to use specific steps for you to release the money depending on project progress. Which you and the developer should have agreed upon before funding the account and developing your product. I hope Elance can help you, but I'm doubting it.

 

[psaco131]

I am not understanding.

How did the person get the money if they didn't finish the project?

Why did you release the funds to him?

I tested the site and it was finalized. After I paid, for some reason the last updates were taken down and it was back to the unfinished product. I've been emailing this guy back and forth to no avail. I got a call from an Elance rep who said they would try and "apply pressure" on the developer. Although I want it to be completed, I doubt Elance can do anything. I might have lost my money, but its going to take more than that to stop me.

 

[santa]

I tested the site and it was finalized. After I paid, for some reason the last updates were taken down and it was back to the unfinished product.

Have they got a good well worked reputation over there? If it was functional, it would surely be in their interests to let you have it?

 

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[DeletedUser2]

piss in the wind.


it will do you better.

Get back to focus on your site, learn the lesson, Dont wallow in it.


Z

 

[Twiki]

I'd still look into trying to get this money back or your code in hand, but I'd forget about the lawsuit. I Am Not A Lawyer, but from what i understand, getting involved in a lawsuit may be more expensive than you expect, depending on your state and county and what type of legal entity you're operating as, you might have to hire an attorney to move fwd with legal action. Legal fees would be a heck of a way to toss good money after bad.

Maybe set a limit for yourself, based on how much your time is worth --- if you spend more than X amount of hours trying to get this back, and X times your hourly value exceeds a limit you set, then you'll be able to tell yourself you gave it a good effort but you're not going to let this cost you any more than it already has (might want to factor in "agita"). Just have to think of it as paying a "Flake tax".

Good luck on getting this resolved, I hope it works out for you.

 

[AgonI]

You should be able to get your money back if you have paid through Elance(ie haven't sent the money straight to the developers paypal e-mail). If the developer can not show proof that they have actually completed the project, I don't see any reason why the money should not be given back to you by Elance.

Good luck!

 

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[mottdog]

In that case make sure you leave a really factual comment on Elance of how shady they are. Also please make sure you've changed all logins and passwords to the sites they created for you.

P.S. It's possible you maybe able to do a restore of that folder if the good site was installed long enough and your host backed up the files. Check your control panel. You never know.

 

[Mr.Dietsch]

I am confused on why a developer would build a fully functional site only to destroy what they just built after being paid. This is not making sense, are you sure it was fully functional?

 

[SteveH]

I tested the site and it was finalized. After I paid, for some reason the last updates were taken down and it was back to the unfinished product. I've been emailing this guy back and forth to no avail. I got a call from an Elance rep who said they would try and "apply pressure" on the developer. Although I want it to be completed, I doubt Elance can do anything. I might have lost my money, but its going to take more than that to stop me.

@psaco131 I work at Elance and I wanted to follow up on our previous discussions. We are going to work with your contractor to see if we can find a solution. If we are unable to find a solution, we will have both parties enter the dispute process.

 

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