OOPS Infotech (oopsinfotech.com) took the money and ran!

A warning to web development companies considering using OOPS Infotech as an outsourcing company.

Hi, my name is Dean Usher. I'm a web developer based in Perth Western Australia. The reason I'm writing this article is to warn other development companies who are thinking of using OOPS Infotech based in Chandigarh India to think again before departing with your hard earnt dollars.

In March of this year (2007) I decided to go ahead and use the company OOPS infotech (oopsinfotech.com) for outsourcing PHP web development services called "Hire a Developer".

I received 3hrs of service (out of a potential 192hrs) then the developer they were using decided he didn't want to work on the project for some reason and I never received any services since. It may make sense if I was some pushy business man making unreasonable requests but I'm not and services just stopped without any warning!

Anyway my loss was $1,120 AUD ($899 US). For details of the correspondence with Ajay Goyal (the manager I understand) please see below.

If you have had a similar experience or have any luck bringing this company to justice please contact me.

Regards,

Dean Usher

Oops Infotech contact details:

Ajay Goyal
SCO 145-146
Sector 8-C
Chandigarh, India - 018
Telephone Number(s) [0172] 2549416
Website www.oopsinfotech.com

Correspondence between DEAN USHER and OOPS INFOTECH from the 22 October 2006 to 16 April 2007

OOPS INFOTECH in black
DEAN USHER in blue
Ajay,

Below is a listing of correspondence between DEAN USHER and OOPS INFOTECH from the 22 October 2006 to 16 April 2007.

Please be aware that your website www.oopsinfotech.com states :

"Communication
By Phone, E-mail and Chat. All e-mails answered in less than 24 hours "

I remind you that I have not received correspondence from you since:
Monday 9th of April 2007 9 days ago (7 business days).

Services have not been supplied since:
Monday 2nd of April 2007

Payment of AUD $1120 receipt was confirmed through ICICI Bank:
Thursday 29th of March 2007


Regards,
Dean Usher

----------------------------------------------------------
 


On 22 Oct 2006, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi, I'm looking at hiring a developer
some time over the next few months.
The skills I require are php/mysql, xhtml, css mainly. Maybe
Flash/Actionscript. I\'m only a small sole operator in
Perth, Western Australia (not a big company) and would first be looking at
1 month contract for 1 developer and
hopefully ongoing from there. Do you require payment in advance for the
full month? And how much notice do I need
to give you before someone can commence? Also, I have a custom developer
project management system for doing
work. Are your developers able to work in with my system or do I need to
use something you have produced?
Regards, Dean Usher http://www.deanusher.com


On 23 Oct 2006, Ajay Goyal wrote:

Hello Dean,

I am Ajay Goyal

First of all I would like to thank you for contacting us for your Website
Design and Development needs.

As we will be communicating throughout this project, I thought it would be
nice to introduce ourselves. I head the Client Engagement team at OOPS INFOTECH.
We are an India based Professional website design and development company. Our
strategic location lets us give you the best in web design, e-commerce solutions and custom
Internet application development, for less. I look forward to leading my team in
defining a solution for your project.

Regarding Your Requirement
We have understood your requirement to the fullest and we can provide you
with very experienced developer.
Yeah, we require all payment for the month in advance. And we can start at
a short notice of 3 working days for the commencement.

And In regards to using your Custom Developer Project Management System -
we are having no issues with it. You will have to provide Knowledge Base or its
usage guidelines to developer.
Please feel free to contact me for any kind of further Query or
Clarification.

Thanks & Regards
Ajay Goyal
91. 98151.18544
www.oopsinfotech.com


On 20 Mar 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi Ajay,

I'm looking at taking on one php developer sometime in the week starting
the 27th of March,
ie next week.  Is this a possibility for your company? If all goes well I
would be looking at continuing on a month by month basis.

I will be able to provide documentation on my project management system
and typical
development procedures.

How do make payment for the comencing month's work?

Also, what do you charge for data entry workers? It doesn't appear to be
listed on your
website.

Thanks,
Dean


On 20 Mar 2007, Ajay Goyal wrote:

Hello Dean,
 
Good to hear from you that you had choosen us for your Web Development requirements. Thank You!!
 
Yeah, We can start from March 27, 2007.
 
You can make Wire Payment to us. Following are our Bank Details:
[omitted]
For more information on making Wire Transfer, please visit our Banks website at http://icicibank.com/pfsuser/icicibank/ibank-nri/nrinewversion/m2i.htm .
 
Yeah, We can provide you with Data Entry Operator as well. Charges will be $500 p.m.
 
Please feel free to contact me for any kind of further query or clarification.
 
 
Thanks and Regards
Ajay Goyal


On 22 Mar 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Thanks for your response Ajay.

I'm just in the process of setting up an ICICI Bank NetExpress
(DirectDebit) account so I can transfer from my account here in Australia.  I under stand it takes 3 business days for the funds to clear?

Before I proceed I just need to clarify a few things:

- Does the php developer working on my projects have a reasonably good
knowledge of English? The main reason is that I require project task activity to be
documented in a work log and also all project briefs/descriptions are documented.

- Will I be able to communicate with the developer via Skype incase
something important comes up?

- For task and project/task briefings are wireframes, html protypes and
text descriptions usually enough for your developers to work from?

- Do you have some sort of formal agreement/terms and conditions outlined
or is it just what's on your website?

and lastly..

- Is it the same developer working for me during the month? is there any
information on their skill set (beside php/mysql)?


OK, thanks Ajay. Sorry about all the questions, it's just I need to get a
better feel for things
before I proceed.

Thank you,
Dean


On 22 Mar 2007, Ajay Goyal wrote:

Hi Dean,

Here are the answers to your Questions:
1. PHP Developer will be fluent in English Speaking and writing. You wont
face any difficulty in logging and documentation.
2. The Developer will be available on Yahoo Messenger. You can IM him. In
case something is important you can ask him to contact online on Skype.
Normally we avoid Voice Skype because of logging issues.
3. Wireframesm HTML prototypes are good.
4. I'm enclosing an agreement for a Months contract.
5. The same developer will be working for you, the whole month. If you
want
to keep the same developer for subsequent month, then you will have to
inform us 1 week before end of tenure.

Questions are always welcome :-)

Please send me the Transaction Details, after it has been made.

Thanks and Regards
Ajay Goyal


On 23 Mar 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Thanks Ajay,

That all looks good. 

I'm just experiencing problems with the icicibank.com website.  I've
signed up for a Money2India account but the website runs extremely slow here in Perth,
Western Australia. It was working this morning but not now.  It's almost like during Indian
business hours everything slows right down.  Anyway, I've emailed to icicibank.com site
for support on this issue.

One thing I did notice when I was in my account this morning is that it
requires me to enter an Australian dollar amount for transferring across to your account.  Do I
just enter the US dollar equivilant using the current exchange rate?

Regards,
Dean



On 23 Mar 2007, Ajay Goyal wrote:

Hi Dean,

I'm sorry for the problems you are facing with icicibank.com. It might be
possible that the site is working slow during Indian Working Hours.
You can send Amt. equivalent to $899 in Australian currency.

You can use http://www.xe.com/ucc/  for currency conversion.

Thanks and Regards
Ajay Goyal


On 24 Mar 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi Ajay,

I finally got through on the 5th attempt this morning.  Obviously a very busy website!

Below is the response sent by the ICICI Bank.  I have transferred AUD $1120 from my Australian account to the representative ICICI Bank JP MORGAN CHASE BANK. (a little more than the current exchange rate to cover any variations $US899 = $1,115.39) 

On the ICICI Bank website they say the NetExpress tranfser takes 3 business days from Australia which means it is most likely to be Thursday arrival due to the Ram Navami holiday in India on Tuesday.  I do have a tracking number [omitted] which can be monitored on the website.

I am happy to commence when the funds have cleared.

Regards,
Dean


## Start Message ##

[omitted]

## End Message ##



On 26 Mar 2007, Ajay Goyal wrote:

hi
 
Thanks for the Transfer. I'll confirm you on Receipt of the same.
 
Thanks and Regards
Ajay Goyal



On 27 Mar 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi Ajay,

Thanks for your patience.  Hopefully the ICICI Bank sends the funds
through on time.  Is this ok to start when the funds clear? or soon after? Let me know if there's
any problems here.

A couple more quick questions.

1) Object Orientated PHP Programming
Just another question regarding the skills of your developer.  I'm
presuming here that object orientated PHP programming is understandable? (I guess this is a silly question given your
name OOPS Infotech!).

2) Bug fixing and website alterations
Also, is debugging and altering pre-existing PHP websites all ok? I have
some clients with osCommerce sites that ask for module changes and bug fixes.  Also, our
custom built sites sometimes show a bug or two and may require fixing.

Thanks,
Dean


On 28 Mar 2007, Ajay Goyal wrote:

Hi

You will be getting an experienced PHP Programmer. He will be well aware
of OOPS Concepts and programming.
and Debugging or altering pre-existing sites will be no problem. It takes
little time as the programmer will have to understand the logics and flow
of coding.

I propose to start from Monday. But i'll send you the Developers Contact
Info on Thursday. He will get use to the system in weekend and start will
full flow from Monday.

I'll update you when i receive funds.

Thanks and Regards
Ajay Goyal


On 29 Mar 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Thanks Ajay.

Monday start sounds fine with me.  I will send through the developer's login details to access the project management system tomorrow (Friday) with documentation.

The ICICI bank has contacted me saying that the funds have been entered into your account. Let me know if there is any problems here. (see email below).

I look forward to working with you.

Regards,
Dean

## Start email ##

[omitted]

## End email ##



On 29 Mar 2007, Ajay Goyal wrote:

Hello,
 
I confirm the Receipt of Transfer.
 
Thanks !!
 
Following is the Developer Info
 
Developer Name = Shiv Kumar
Email = shivkrmodi@yahoo.co.in
Yahoo IM = shivkrmodi@yahoo.co.in
Please let me know, if you have some special requirement.
 
Thanks and Regards
Ajay Goyal



On 30 Mar 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi Ajay,

I emailed Shiv earlier this morning.  I will send over the information
when I receive a response from him.

Thanks,
Dean



On 5 Apr 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi Ajay,

I think we may have a problem here in terms of service level. Something I
thought necessary to bring to your attention.

It's now Thursday and we don't seem to be making much progress.  I
understand Shiv had to take Tuesday off to deal with an emergency but it appears there has been
little effort since, well, that I know of anyway.

The amount of work allocated shouldn't really be any more than 12hrs to an
experienced developer as Shiv appears to be. Now, if there's any difference of opinion
about this I'm definitely not being informed.

Ajay, I'm a fair person.  I don't expect too much.  I just need a steady
rate of progress and good communication.

Being a new client to your services I'm getting a little spooked here and
wondering if I'm being taken for a ride.

I need to go away tomorrow and I'd appreciate if we could sort this out by
the end of today (Indian time).

Regards,
Dean Usher


On 7 Apr 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Ajay,

I'd appreciate a response as soon as possible.  The below message was sent
Thursday, it's now Saturday.

Dean Usher



On 9 Apr 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Ajay,

There has still been no response from your company since Thursday of last
week.  The
services of "hire a developer" have been fully paid and I would appreciate
a some sort of
communcation as to why there has been no work performed since Monday of
last week.

Dean Usher


On 9 Apr 2007, Ajay Goyal wrote:

Hi

I'm sorry for delayed reply.

Actually Shiv had denied to work with you. According to him he was feeling tremendous pressure, working in your system.

Just give me a couple of days more, One of my other experienced developer will be free from his project in 2-3 days. He will be able to start with you after completing his current project.

I'm sorry for all this.

Regards
Ajay



On 10 Apr 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi Ajay,

This comes to me as a surprise considering I specifically asked Shiv if there was any problems to let me know so I could work in with his needs as well.  Anyone who works for me knows that I am fair and don't expect too much! If I am being unfair I expect to be told. Granted I am a developer/project manager myself and know roughly how long projects take so there is no "free ride" so to speak.  All I ask is a fair delivery of service and to be informed if there is any problems.

As it stands I have only received 3.5 hours service which was made on Monday 2nd April and the rest of the week I was left wondering what was going on.  I understand by Shiv's correspondence that there was an attempt to move to the next project but I haven't seen any results.  If Shiv has logged any more time than this with OOPS for my business I'd like to be shown what it's for.  As you may be aware I'm not a big Australian company, just an individual so I cannot afford to pay for work that's not done.

If this situation can be corrected with the new developer I'd be more than willing to forgive and forget here as I understand the pressures of managing people.  Please realise though the consequence of a situation like this has on my business.  I have lost 5 business days already and had to make appologies to my client's waiting on my service.

If you could keep me informed closer to when the new developer will be starting this would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Dean



On 12 Apr 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Hi Ajay,

Any luck with the new developer?

Thanks,

Dean Usher



On 16 Apr 2007, Dean Usher wrote:

Ajay,

I'm very frustrated and disappointed.

I haven't heard from you, no word from the replacement developer that was supposed to start last week and you have had my payment for over two weeks now.

Unless you contact me to give some reasonable explanation why you are not returning my emails and why I have no developer I will need to take the matter to a more serious level.

Dean Usher



To this day, I have not receive any response from this company to rectify the problem.