What do you do when you pay for a premium add-on and the developer goes AWOL?

[Code Monkey]

So has anyone seen him online anywhere at all? It could be something happened to him. It could also be that he had grade problems and his parents took away his internet and or computer. Just ask my kids about that reality.

Not to demean your concerns, just curious.

[cMax]

Wow, I didn't know Gio is only 15...:speechless:

Anyway, I have paid for the premium script and a branding free option, but just like most of the people here, I have been left out in the cold...

Quarterbore, I'm with you and everyone else on this. I am willing to contribute and invest in making this script better and fixing the bugs.

Let me know how and when I can help.

This script is really good and it's really a shame that Gio has acted this way...

We should probably save all the good posts and threads from siteresort, 'cause I have a feeling it's just a matter of time before we get the 404 error...


cheers,

cMax

[Quarterbore]

I always keep a copy of my mods as you never know when a site will go down so all of the code I had posted on there is secure. When I get a chance I will look at my collection of domains and see if I can create a place for SR_Classifieds owners to get together to decide how we want to work together to find someone to fix the issues we have and decide on priorities...

I own well over 100-domains and many of them are not developed so I just went an created a small forum for those that are customers of Gios that might be interested in contracting out some help to address problems that we can ot get resolved through Gio...

Here is a link:

http://www.eazyforums.com/

I have not worked on a phpBB forum in a couple years and I have no plans to spend a lot of time making that forum look nice but it will give us a place to work!

[toolblast]

I have several PM's from users here that have sent me proof or complaints about gio. I can share them if a case needs to be built up against him to take action. I'm inviting other vb.org members to post here about their experiences with Gio, any payments they made to him, any sort of custom hacks that he was supposed to code but didnt... etc. So, if its ok with Quarterbore, I'd like to open this thread to anything about Gio that has been negative to you, not just about premium upgrades of his products.

@Code Monkey
Yes, something may have happened to Gio, this is true, but he has sent emails on occation saying he will finish up my project... so he isn't completely gone or missing. It has been over a month since I paid him $300 USD for a custom mod... he coded part of it (and did a good job on what he did do) but then he left the second half of the project unfinished. Now he has stopped communicating, and I've heard enough excuses that I am getting quite annoyed. If he was only working on my project, nobody elses, and something happened, I'd understand. But when there are a dozen users who were also in the same situation as me... thats a whole different story and something needs to be done. I'm quite threw with wasting time on trying to hunt him down.

Gio... if you're reading this, you can still redeem yourself. E-mail me please! Finish up the projects you started and promised to people so we can move on, no hard feelings.

[arossphoto]

I paid him $700USD for a custom project and thought I was doing the right thing by paying in installments as the project progressed. He did deliver the product and I have to say that I am very happy with what he has done to date.

However, there are still a few bugs, and on the rare occasion when I've heard from Gio he has promised to fix them. But I'm really losing hope that this will ever happen. I haven't even gone live yet with this product, so who knows what else will turn up once my members actually start using it. I'm very frustrated that he is not providing any support whatsoever!

He is obviously a bright kid, and I was aware of his age when I agreed to pay him for this project. In hindsight, that seems like a bad decision, but based on his reputation here, and the support he provided for SR_Classifieds when I bought it, he appeared to be fairly reliable.

I wish he would simple admit to his failings and make some effort to refund people's money. If he's not willing to accept any responsibility I agree that he should be blacklisted here, and ideally his PayPal account should be frozen, so he can't do business like this anymore.

Andrew

[toolblast]

@Arossphoto

That is definately a LOT of money for a mod. It must have been quite an amazing mod for that price.

The fact that he is 15 really doesn't mean anything in the world of programming. I was young when I started... you can be 10 years old and be a coding guru. Maybe a little immaturity might surface, but young kids can still be awesume coders. Gio did do a good job for what he got done, but he didn't finish my project, just like Arossphoto said, he has a chance to redeem himself. Admit he was wrong, finish the project, give a partial refund if he is really feeling generous. I just want to get what I paid for.

Thanks.

[bchertov]

FWIW, I had paid Gio a deposit for a custom skin recently. After a period of no contact, I called him and he told me he was real busy and it would be a while before he got to my project. I requested my deposit back and he sent it to me a few days later. Whew!

[arossphoto]

Originally Posted by toolblast

@Arossphoto
That is definately a LOT of money for a mod. It must have been quite an amazing mod for that price.

This is my first time doing something like this so maybe I got ripped off. But I posted on these forums for a coder to do my project and I received a few estimates. The highest one was more than $3000+! The guy who provided that estimate did seem to have his act together and provided the most thorough and professional estimate. But his price was way out of my range. I had some experience with Gio and his projects, so I decided to give him a try. I have no doubt that he could do what he promised, but he has obviously taken on more projects than he can handle, along with school and other commitments.

[toolblast]

Ya, well it was the same with me, I knew Gio's classifieds product and thought it was really good, which is why I asked him to code my custom mod.

@bchertov
You are VERY lucky to have received a refund! I paid him $300 and asked for a refund a few days later (since I found someone to do the project for free), and he refused to refund me and wanted to code the project even though I told him I found someone else. So consider yourself very lucky. It may be that Gio figured out that he was way too busy and you would be very unhappy waiting, so he thought he'd just save you the hassle and refunded.

[Freesteyelz]

Originally Posted by toolblast

The fact that he is 15 really doesn't mean anything in the world of programming.

No, but in the world of business and ethics age does matter.

With regards to "taking action" that'll be interesting, considering Gio's age.