vborg's stance on fraudulent coders?
 

I wasn't sure what forum to put this in...i was thinking site feedback...but it really isn't feedback...just a question...(i didn't want to busy pming and admin when maybe some other people might now already)

I paid a coder that contacted me via the service forum here at vborg to create a hack for me. He was supposed to have it done in two weeks...it has been almost a month now. He doesn't return any pm's, emails...and i can't find a phone or i would try that as well. Also his website he has listed (and i have showing in paypal on the transaction info) doesn't even exist.

I guess what i want to know is if vborg does anything about these kinds of situations...like ban that person, or disable them from responding to the service requests or something...

i'm not really concerned either way...but just wondering if i need to let an admin know about who this person is

Judging from previous cases, they don't really seem to have a policy.

Yes, they do Paul. The policy is buyer beware. The mods here don't get involved in personal transactions. Instead, they advise you to do your homework before hiring a coder or paying in advance.

There would be no way for us to legitimately investigate each case. Sorry.

(and annoyingly enough, PayPal doesn't provide protection for most of the stuff that is vBulletin-service-related)

This is partly why we have always been wary of having a services request forum - in the end, we bowed to public demand and added it. The bottom line is that vB.org does not and cannot verify the service providers here - it's not our aim and would take too much resources - therefore, members have to be careful, and if they are defrauded to contact the local police and relevant authorities.

Yet again, a ratings system would be oh so useful. hopefully one is forthcoming since the upgrade to 3.5.

I agree, I think the traderratings system would be excellent! Personally If I were looking for work to be done, having feedback from the user via traderratings or something would help make a better decision and you would see alot less threads being created stating that stuff didn't get finished on time :)

iTrader +1 :banana:

I think in the agreement you ask for a cd backup (physical good) shipped to you that it would then be covered but something that is just code (no sort of physical item) isnt covered.

Good idea in theory BUT it would be abused so I say it would be bad.

I would certainly suggest not paying before any work is done...

This goes both ways... I know I'm not alone when I say I've handed over work to someone only to never see payment for it. These days I'm more picky about who I'll do work for, but for large projects I still ask for half the payment after I show the user a working demo on my own test site.

I consider a large project to be anything I quote for over $50.

Somewhat off topics, but it sounds like you've got decent prices. Any chance you've got any room in your schedual to take on some more paid work.

Ditto.

you could always post in the service thread who pmed to carry out the service request and wether it went smooth of not. That way other people could avoid problems by doing some research.

Personally I wont touch anything that isn't half up front.

Guys, just post in the service request forum. If I have time I'll respond to them. You can PM me directly if you want of course. Obviously I don't like to discuss such things on the public forums, so lets try to keep this thread on topic. :)

i like the idea that a few people mentioned about a rating system...i think it would be a good idea...

You could always use RentACoder.com, that’s what I use :)

Thanks,
Mat

Thank you.

I would hate to see this site lose it's focus. And no thanks on the user ratings bit.

Sad to say that as a coder, I have been scammed by a few people. For some odd reason, PayPal allowed this one user to perform a chargeback despite the fact that the work was already done/paid for. Sadly, PayPal wouldn't listen to what I had to say and I only had 3 options. Provide tracking info for a package, issue a refund or give evidence of a refund. So, what I did was burned the hack on a blank CD-R and took it down to the UPS store.

Remember that this river can run both ways, oh so sadly.

Although maybe a different subject, what's sad is that I picked you (The Coldwood) for a project on June 8th and after about a month messaging you to find out the status and you telling me that it's been stalled due to an audit on your company. Of course this is about a month after I do my part, paying your $65 amount up front, and also giving you the description of the project up front. Atleast I knew you were working on the project I thought. Nope, another month goes by and now when I ask you the status you ask to send the project details again because you still haven't started.

I think that the saddest part, however, is that now that the project is about 2 months behind, and you are "getting ready to start" which you've said for 2 months now, you are actually telling me that I have to send the other half of the money to you? If you took the time to look down in our PM transcripts, you'd see that I've used the same PM so you could've read the details again on your own, and also you could see that you told me the charge was $65, not two payments of $65.

I've been ripped off by programmers before, this will be the 5th time if I don't get my funds returned. Obviously the problem is that I'm trustworthy and willing to send payment up front. From now on I'm done sending payment up front, and I'd advise others not to either.

I've been working with people over the internet for 6-8 years now and each project I've taken on has required the client to submit a 50% deposit before the project would begin.

Given, I also let the client know that the 50% deposit is 100% refundable should they decide to back away from the project and 50% or more of the project is not completed already.

With that small bit of information, I've never had an issue with a client that was not solved and I've never had an issue with a client paying 50%, whether it was a project quote of $50, $500 or $1000.

Trust is a major player, a portfolio to raise the level of trust and finally being friendly and professional has been a key player to any and all projects. It helps when you actually seem to care about their project and when you give them the idea that you care.

My thoughts, if you don't care, don't bother contacting someone. We all get busy, though if you're truly busy, explain it to a client and let them know. Generally, most don't care to work out an extension, given they don't need it the next day.

+2 :cool:

Good luck with this - because I'm afraid it works both ways - few programmers will start work on anything without some deposit payment up front.

Thats pretty much the deal.

No, I ask because I was finished and I needed to send you a physical copy. It is my company's policy.

Simple typographical error and nothing more. How long do I have to keep apologising for this?

Actually, you already have your code and I sent you a copy of it in the mail via Canada Post.