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Just like many other people out there that has had problems with RentaCoder.com I would like to tell my story. After 40 Completed projects on RAC, with a rating of 9.40 I lost one Arbitration that was first conducted by 2 Arbitrators and that later ended-up being finalised by Ian Ippolito himself.
Here's what happened. I was assigned to work on a project about a Flash Intro for a Mercedes Garage in UK. I have worked on the intro and while the work was being in progress I held my entire conversation with the buyer on RAC's message board. After the first mock I showed the buyer, he was very very happy with it ... and specifically wrote how excited he is, how good it looks and how "it's worth the money he's paying" ( his exact words ). However in order for the buyer to see the intro I used my server so he could see how it behaves online etc rather than uploading my work periodically on RAC's message board. Especially after I had his written acceptance I didn't figure there will be any problems in case of Arbitration. However ... after a few minor changes the buyer asked, the intro was in the PERFECT state according to his own messages. When I asked him if it's all good so I can upload it to the FINISHED WORK section so he can release the escrow, he never answered anything for 3 weeks... and then all of the sudden "This is not what I asked for .. I'm taking this into Arbitration". Knowing of the messages on the board I was so sure this was going to be a very easy and short one... Ohhhh I was wrong. I got the Rafeek dude to be the first Arbitrator ... thing is ... in his original bid request, the buyer wrote this :
Jazz up an existing web site with a multimedia rich
home page that maintains the sites theme.
The web site is for a specialist motor car mechanics
and the home page should consist of moving cars, engine sounds, and internal engine shots.
The website is www.mastertechassist.com
Basically its just an Intro page that i need that seamlessly integrates with the rest of the site.
My finished intro can be seen here : http://www.permisauto.ro/web/garage ( the ENTER SITE button links to my homepage cause I thought about using that last security matter before I get paid the money - and I was proven to be very smart to do so, so the buyer is now unable to use it )
Please note the huge gap in quality between the website and the intro I designed ( this is not relevant to the discussion however ).
It's is true that the buyer asked for "moving cars" in the original bid request, and in my intro there are only static pictures of Mercedes Cars flying around ... but he accepted the intro after seeing it completed, that means he also accepted the fact that there was this difference between what he asked and what he got ( RAC rules sais Everything stated in the Message Board becomes a part of the CONTRACT but in our case IT DIDN'T. Why??? I don't know ... ask IAN IPPOLITO ).
Rafeek started testing my deliverables versus the original bid request not giving a **** the buyer already accepted the intro as it was 4 TIMES, in 4 MESSAGES right on their BOARD !!! So he awarded him the wining ... I had the option of asking for a SENIOR Arbitrator and I did ( although I was risking loosing my account for trying to delay the Arbitration ) ... and I got mr. Ian Ipolitto himself ( CEO of RentaCoder ). After Ian actually read the entire message board ( cause Rafeek never did so, cause we kept asking stupid questions that had the answers right in the BOARD ... ) he found the buyer guilty of telling lies. He either lied when he told me he likes the intro or lied in the end when saying he doesn't like it. Either way it's still a lie no matter what. The buyer kept screaming about how he LIED TO ME because he was in a DURESS STATE, and out of time with the project ( that I admit got delayed a bit during work process but he never mentioned ANYTHING about it before ). But what happens if we all lie and then say we were FORCED TO DO SO ?? The thing is I never got from the buyer ONE SINGLE LINE saying he's not happy about the intro, or the project got delayed or stuff like that. He was always ASSURING ME that I would get paid and that he is very happy with the work. Let me quote some of his lines :
- I like the intro, great job man!! I would like to pay you more, as you got skillz, but i aint got much to work with.
- You've done what we agreed so you get the 200 regardless of anything else.
- I did like it, and i think its worth what i paid, and you stuck to your end of the bargain.
These are his own words, right on the message board, after seeing the job complete.
After proving the buyer a liar, Ian Ippolito still awarded him the win because my work did not met the original requirements ( cause of the moving cars issue ). But it didn't matter that the buyer canceled his own original requirements by accepting the work as I have showed him. That thing didn't matter to Rafeek and it didn't matter to Ian Ippolito himself. It didn't matter the buyer lied 2 times in the whole thing :
- once when first assured me I would get paid and then changing his mind
- and second in the first Arbitration when he said the intro I uploaded to RAC is not the same with the one I showed him ( like I would have been an idiot to upload something else knowing I will loose the Arbitration )
It didn't matter that it was proven by Ian Ippolito himself that the buyer is a LIAR. They just found me guilty cause I didn't upload the work periodically. I already admitted that my mistake right when the Arbitration began. But what more proof did they need other than the buyer SPECIFIC acceptance on their own website ???
I really had hoped Ian would have been different than Rafeek ( who didn't read carefully everything being said in the Arbitration ). But I was wrong. They all care more for the buyers who supply work rather than the coders, which are already 200.000 in number so they wouldn't care loosing one by one ... there are still LOTS AND LOTS MORE...
I am honestly very dissapointed in how this whole thing was resolved. Although I am sure that beeing from Romania I have no legal power against RAC or the buyer, and it's not a matter of the 200$ I lost, it's a matter of JUSTICE and the fact that I have worked a product, I have that product ACCEPTED by the buyer ... and I still get BACK-STABBED. I want this to be read by everybody so you know who you're dealing with.
In a similar posting on this forum I have seen that a RAC member is already registered here and gives answers. I would like him/her to answer my thread also because how this was resolved is simply OUTRAGEOUS!!!
Thank you very much RENTACODER.
Here's what happened. I was assigned to work on a project about a Flash Intro for a Mercedes Garage in UK. I have worked on the intro and while the work was being in progress I held my entire conversation with the buyer on RAC's message board. After the first mock I showed the buyer, he was very very happy with it ... and specifically wrote how excited he is, how good it looks and how "it's worth the money he's paying" ( his exact words ). However in order for the buyer to see the intro I used my server so he could see how it behaves online etc rather than uploading my work periodically on RAC's message board. Especially after I had his written acceptance I didn't figure there will be any problems in case of Arbitration. However ... after a few minor changes the buyer asked, the intro was in the PERFECT state according to his own messages. When I asked him if it's all good so I can upload it to the FINISHED WORK section so he can release the escrow, he never answered anything for 3 weeks... and then all of the sudden "This is not what I asked for .. I'm taking this into Arbitration". Knowing of the messages on the board I was so sure this was going to be a very easy and short one... Ohhhh I was wrong. I got the Rafeek dude to be the first Arbitrator ... thing is ... in his original bid request, the buyer wrote this :
Jazz up an existing web site with a multimedia rich
home page that maintains the sites theme.
The web site is for a specialist motor car mechanics
and the home page should consist of moving cars, engine sounds, and internal engine shots.
The website is www.mastertechassist.com
Basically its just an Intro page that i need that seamlessly integrates with the rest of the site.
My finished intro can be seen here : http://www.permisauto.ro/web/garage ( the ENTER SITE button links to my homepage cause I thought about using that last security matter before I get paid the money - and I was proven to be very smart to do so, so the buyer is now unable to use it )
Please note the huge gap in quality between the website and the intro I designed ( this is not relevant to the discussion however ).
It's is true that the buyer asked for "moving cars" in the original bid request, and in my intro there are only static pictures of Mercedes Cars flying around ... but he accepted the intro after seeing it completed, that means he also accepted the fact that there was this difference between what he asked and what he got ( RAC rules sais Everything stated in the Message Board becomes a part of the CONTRACT but in our case IT DIDN'T. Why??? I don't know ... ask IAN IPPOLITO ).
Rafeek started testing my deliverables versus the original bid request not giving a **** the buyer already accepted the intro as it was 4 TIMES, in 4 MESSAGES right on their BOARD !!! So he awarded him the wining ... I had the option of asking for a SENIOR Arbitrator and I did ( although I was risking loosing my account for trying to delay the Arbitration ) ... and I got mr. Ian Ipolitto himself ( CEO of RentaCoder ). After Ian actually read the entire message board ( cause Rafeek never did so, cause we kept asking stupid questions that had the answers right in the BOARD ... ) he found the buyer guilty of telling lies. He either lied when he told me he likes the intro or lied in the end when saying he doesn't like it. Either way it's still a lie no matter what. The buyer kept screaming about how he LIED TO ME because he was in a DURESS STATE, and out of time with the project ( that I admit got delayed a bit during work process but he never mentioned ANYTHING about it before ). But what happens if we all lie and then say we were FORCED TO DO SO ?? The thing is I never got from the buyer ONE SINGLE LINE saying he's not happy about the intro, or the project got delayed or stuff like that. He was always ASSURING ME that I would get paid and that he is very happy with the work. Let me quote some of his lines :
- I like the intro, great job man!! I would like to pay you more, as you got skillz, but i aint got much to work with.
- You've done what we agreed so you get the 200 regardless of anything else.
- I did like it, and i think its worth what i paid, and you stuck to your end of the bargain.
These are his own words, right on the message board, after seeing the job complete.
After proving the buyer a liar, Ian Ippolito still awarded him the win because my work did not met the original requirements ( cause of the moving cars issue ). But it didn't matter that the buyer canceled his own original requirements by accepting the work as I have showed him. That thing didn't matter to Rafeek and it didn't matter to Ian Ippolito himself. It didn't matter the buyer lied 2 times in the whole thing :
- once when first assured me I would get paid and then changing his mind
- and second in the first Arbitration when he said the intro I uploaded to RAC is not the same with the one I showed him ( like I would have been an idiot to upload something else knowing I will loose the Arbitration )
It didn't matter that it was proven by Ian Ippolito himself that the buyer is a LIAR. They just found me guilty cause I didn't upload the work periodically. I already admitted that my mistake right when the Arbitration began. But what more proof did they need other than the buyer SPECIFIC acceptance on their own website ???
I really had hoped Ian would have been different than Rafeek ( who didn't read carefully everything being said in the Arbitration ). But I was wrong. They all care more for the buyers who supply work rather than the coders, which are already 200.000 in number so they wouldn't care loosing one by one ... there are still LOTS AND LOTS MORE...
I am honestly very dissapointed in how this whole thing was resolved. Although I am sure that beeing from Romania I have no legal power against RAC or the buyer, and it's not a matter of the 200$ I lost, it's a matter of JUSTICE and the fact that I have worked a product, I have that product ACCEPTED by the buyer ... and I still get BACK-STABBED. I want this to be read by everybody so you know who you're dealing with.
In a similar posting on this forum I have seen that a RAC member is already registered here and gives answers. I would like him/her to answer my thread also because how this was resolved is simply OUTRAGEOUS!!!
Thank you very much RENTACODER.