[Warning] Do not work with.

Hey Guys.

I just started this thread to warn you all against working with a 'coder' on these forums.

His username is 'BengkelWeb' though he also goes by the name dharma, here is a link to his profile - http://drupal.org/user/151474

I found him through these forums and was impressed by his pitch to me. I quickly hired him.

After many months of him showing me very very little progress, all of which was not up to standard and unusable, I have had enough and email him to let him know he has a bit over a week to complete the project.

He then responds to say that he will refund my money.

After over a month of me persistently emailing him, I have received little response from him other than offering to refund just 50% of the money I paid him. This is totally unfair as he cannot provide a usable product to me, I would be losing a lot of money by accepting. So I decide that I will accept a 75% refund, hoping that this would mean we could settle the matter quickly.

My hopes were unfounded. He has still yet to refund ANY of my money.

Luckily I still have transcripts of all our conversations and can share with you these dates to show you how long this has taken (he initially promised a 5 day turnaround)

10th October 2008 - First 50% payment sent to him. He says he will begin the project straight away.

24th October 2008 - After very little progress, I agree to send him the final 50%, hoping it would speed him up. It didn't.

17th December 2008 - I have finally grown impatient with him and send him a warning email, telling him to finish the project by 26th December.

24th December 2008 - He finally writes back, offering me a refund saying he cannot resolve the technical issue of my site, within an hour I respond saying that a refund is acceptable.

January 15th - After me writing a further three emails, he finally decides to write back, this time offering to just refund 50% of the payment. I respond again within an hour, saying that is totally unacceptable, but I will settle for a 75% refund if he would send it quickly. After this he again counters just 50% refund, once again I respond with 75%.

January 16th - He counters my 75% offer, meeting it in between with 62.5%, once again I stress the fact that I cannot afford to lose that much money.

As you can see by those dates, a project that he promised completion with '5-6 Days' has extended to OVER 100 DAYS.

I will update this thread with new information if he ever decides to refund my money.

I view this man as little more than a scammer, he has taken a lot of money from me, with the promise of something that I never received.

I have posted this thread so you know not to work with this man, he has scammed me and I really do hope that no one gives him the opportunity to scam them too.

Thankyou all very much for reading this thread,

Jack Rayers