Adam...you add nothing to the discussion.

Nina,

There are two sides two every story and we are glad ADS weighed in their opinion. We knew going in to this, when it comes to outsourcing you need to be extremely clear. Our discussion with ADS where extremely detailed and clear from day one. The request we sent over included detailed bullet pointed emails, excel spreadsheets, and print screens with embedded notes. This was not a wishy washy request! Everyone loves to jump to conclusions before they even ask a question!

The money we spent is not much to an American developer, but the pay scale is much lower overseas. Hence the whole reason to outsource. Companies don't go overseas because the work is necessarily better, it is because it is cheaper...much cheaper. It doesn't matter if some people think this request was easy or hard. What matters is ADS bid on it at a set price and couldn't deliver. They took on a project that was bigger than them and should have quit and gave us our money back months ago. But they continued to try and figure it out, while we waited months why it sat on their back burners until we complained and they would work on it for a day. Our frustration was they knew early on they couldn't complete the task and left us hanging. We even took back some of the requirements because they couldn't figure them out. But instead of quickly finishing, let still let it sit for a few more months. They didn't treat us well and we don't want any other developers to have to go through what we did.

I should have been more detailed in my first post. I regret putting Digg.com functionality, it is all everyone is focusing on and they are missing the point of the post. We made a request for work to be done on a mod and they sent us a price. They could not meet our request and instead of admitting they couldn't and giving us our money back, they were greedy and left us sitting! Just because you think you tried hard, does not give you the right to take people's money! We can spend all day arguing who did and said what, but the bottom line is our emails went unanswered, they took our money and left us with nothing. We should not have to file a law suit to get a refund, if we are not satisfied. But they have not tried to work with us at all.

As far as our project goes, after waiting more than 6 months for ADS to complete our request, we lost the project and months of planning and hard work went down the drain.  This was not the motivating factor behind our post. We asked them for a store credit and we would try again on another project, but they refused and we feel their customer care was lacking and they defiantly gave up when we came to a point were neither party felt any wrong doing. You could have this same experience at Rent-a-Coder, but at least they have systems in place to protect both parties. I am sure ADS can make some great skins, but look elsewhere before you utilize their outsourcing services.

The reason we recommended Rent a Coder is because they are a third party mediator between outsource developers and the client. So if this incident had happened over there, they would have read all of our emails and made a decision on if what was requested was delivered.  We are not saying Rent-a-Coder's developers do better work than ADS. We are saying we feel ADS is not the most ethical company and please think twice before risking your money using their services.

Adam,

Now that is adding to the discussion! I appreciate your comments and am glad you have had a pleasant experience with ADS. Our goal is not to bash them, but make them accountable for their actions. I understand your point of getting paid for your efforts, but our argument is if you can complete the job, don't test your skills on our dime.

I can't verify if they did or did not spend extra time on our project. It sat for so long, it is highly unlikely. so no, we did not pay extra for not seeing any movement. We do not want to take advantage of them, but we do also do not want to be taken advantage of. It is not a lot of money, it is about the principle and not the cash. That is why we offered to take store credit, so they would not lose out completely on their work.

I don't think it's a question of being an adult about it. We feel it's more about standing up against a company we feel took advantage of us. They could have tried to work things out with us, but they didn't and that was frustrating. We don't enjoy all this wasted time fighting over a few hundred dollars, but at the same time we felt we should do this to save another developer from receiving this kind of service.

Rent-a-Coder does not bully developers, they hold the money and protect both parties. If we are unethical, they receive the money. It is a great system to insure you do get paid for your work if you complete it! If you took on a job that you couldn't, the customer is not paying for your learning curve.  We understand outsourcing is hit or miss and you sometimes get a little less than you expected, but leaving something out there for months because you cannot figure it out and not getting back to your customer is bad business and shouldn't be swept under the rug because you have done better work in the past.

Ok - I get your point and you have articulated your thoughts further and that does shed more light - but I wasn't jumping to any conclusion - I read this post several times and in detail to make sure that when I posted my thoughts on something like that is very subjective and easy to mis interpret, that you had not clarified these things in your initial gripe with them. You are the one that started the post complaining, and the important detail you just mentioned might have given a totally different perspective on the initial result.

Personally, I feel that if you have a serious project, getting a relationship with someone who speaks the same language helps tremendously, but that's just my point of view.

It seems that more than 350.00 of time has been spent on a post that really can't go any further, so think that it's best that I have 10 other forums and sites that allow me to offer advice or contribute at a more constructive level.

Interesting perspectives I must say, and I'm not here talk you out of using any other developer you wish.

I also can tell you that there are some people in this world no one can work with, and in my experience it has always been the person who wants to spend the least. Perhaps it's just me but I have had my share of these people and I don't think I'm alone. Nowdays, I simply don't do the low end thankless work and someone said to me - you're not competitive, and the very same day I had people telling me what value they got from me and how much they love me. we fortunately have many more thank ful people than whingers.. go figure, slap in the face with one hand and a pat on the head with the other.. leaves you in state of confusion no matter where you look.

Good luck with your venture on RentACoder and please share your experience -there are plenty of others who would really like to know how you go.

Nina