On July 28th, I posted an ad to Craigslist in NYC looking for a programmer to help me build a simple application for one of my clients. Jimmy responded and we corresponded via email over the details of the work.
On August 6th, we firmed up the details with a Statement of Work, which Jimmy signed and returned to me, stating the scope of the work and the payment. The total budget was $2500 and I agreed to pay him $650 upfront.
Over the course of August and September, Jimmy kept promising to deliver files for me to test. Once, he delivered files in which a small portion of the application was built. Part of our agreement was that he would send me the working files periodically as back-ups. So aside from that first set of files, I only received in-progress working files. I had other programmers look at the files, and there was never any difference in any of the files he sent over the two months. So it appeared he was telling me he was working on things, when the files never reflected any work.
After much frustration, I got him to agree to a deadline. That deadline came and went and not a single word from Jimmy. Finally, I heard from him three days later and he said he was still working.
On September 18th, I finally told him that either he sends the complete set of files for the application, or I'd have to pull the plug. I never got the files (he still claims to this day to be working on them).
I pulled the plug and demanded repayment of my initial payment. He claims to have transferred money back into his paypal account to refund to me. However, after a week or more of not receiving the payment, then he tells me that another of his client's checks bounced, causing the paypal money not to go through properly. I asked for repayment on September 18th and I'm still waiting.
I'm now posting here in hopes others find this before they work with James. I'll also be contacting his local authorities, as well as getting my attorney involved.
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