Xicom Technologies Scams on Elance

Xicom Technologies of New Delhi, India Scams Elance User out of $10,000

2011-04-27T05:21:00.000-07:00

Well this is something we’ve never had to do before, but we have also never been scammed out of $10, 000 from a a company outside of the United States. At this point we feel like this is the only recourse we have. So this is our story of how we contracted out Elancer, Xicom Technologies, and how they managed to swindle $10, 000 right out from under us, and Elance did nothing. How did it happen? We’re going to explain, so it does not happen to you too!

About a year ago, our company set out to find a developer on Elance who could develop a web site solution for us to bring to market. We did a lot of searching and came across Xicom Technologies from New Delhi, India. They were one of the most expensive developers on Elance, but that was ok. We understand that you get what you pay for. We checked their profile, their portfolio, feedback, earnings, etc. Everything checked out. Xicom had great feedback, and had brought in over $3 million on Elance and had big time experience in PHP and MySQL development….we figured this must be the perfect company to work on our project.

The relationship went ok for a month or so, aside from the regular communication problems with the company. It was not uncommon to spend 3 hours talking to their developers over AIM about details, and then have them tell us to “Please email the details to us”. That was very frustrating. Overall though, this did not feel like a scam and we were willing to be patient with what was supposed to be a great, Elance approved company.

Unfortunately, this story does not end well though. Xicom obviously knew much more about Elance than we did, and ended up scamming us easily, with Elance watching the entire time. I’m going to post all the details in additional posts, but long story short, they worked for a year, and then when they got too busy and could no longer handle our project, they sabotaged the code they had written, leaving us with absolutely nothing. Elance’s policies protected them because they also took advantage of a loophole in Elance’s feedback system allowing them to do this to our company, without us even having the option to leave public feedback!!!

The ironic thing is, we utilized Elance for this job because we thought there was a level of protection, but we still managed to get scammed and Elance wouldn’t even step up and help. Sound interesting? Well it is…. VERY interesting.

How could something like this happen? Simple really…Xicom is a BIG TIME player on Elance and pretty much calls their own shots. Since starting this project we have watched their feedback fall considerably, and then pop right back up after having the real feedback removed by the Elance staff. Our feedback was also removed, due to a loophole in the Elance agreement that Xicom has become very familiar with.

When you’re posting a job on Elance, there are things called “Milestones” that supposedly determine what is done, and when during your project. Being a new Elance user, we had no idea what this meant, so each month when Xicom submitted a new set of “terms” to us, we didn’t pay attention to the fact that the “End Date” for the “milestone” was always the same — The START date of the project. This may not sound like a big deal, but now that we know better, it is HUGE. On Elance, you have only 30 days after the final milestone to leave feedback. So even though we worked on this project for over a year, the ability for us to leave feedback was cut off just 30 days into the project because of Xicom’s ability to circumvent the Elance feedback system, by rigging the dates on the projects milestones.

We argued the point with Elance, and were eventually allowed to leave feedback. We figured they realized how big this issue was but we were totally mistaken. Just 3 days after we left the feedback, it was removed by Elance in “accordance with their terms”. What terms? The terms that say feedback can only be left 30 days after the final milestone…. even though our project ran for a year, and the last activity was just days before, the final milestone data was months old because of Xicom’s ability manipulate these dates to benefit and protect THEM.

Consumers need to beware of what can happen to them if they use Xicom on Elance. Currently our only recourse in the US Courts is with Elance themselves. Xicom, being outside of the country is essentially “untouchable”.

We’ve got lots of screenshots, chat logs, emails, and PMB saves that we will be posting in the coming days. We really hope something comes of this before we have to go further but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen.

Have you had a similar experience with Xicom Technologies on Elance? Please leave a note below for all to see.

Also posted at complaintsboard.com - http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/xicom-c172139.html - Xicom Complaints

Reviews for Xicom Biz By Mr. Miller

2009-06-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

Xicom does a lot of business on elance but WATCH OUT! They are very slick and will set the DUE DATE of ALL milestones to a date well before to the start of the project. They do this to scam new elance users because you have NO recourse with elance just 30 days after the final milestone. We worked with Xicom for a full YEAR before we caught onto the scam. We quickly fired them, but elance will do nothing. We are now out $13,000.

Xicom will scam you, over bill you, and will leave you with an incomplete project. If that's what you want, GOOD LUCK! I would avoid Xicom at ALL COSTS!!!

0 (ZERO) Trasparency within Xicom Employees

2009-06-13T05:16:00.001-07:00

I had done a project with Xicom and would like to share my experience with all.

My project was to revamp my existing website for an online trade, and I booked a team of 8 people in Xicom for a month (as they told me would take maximum to revamp my website).

After a week, the team leader left the organization leaving no details of our communication done so far. Later I came to know that there is a huge lack of transparency within the Xicom. Thus I had to redefine all my requirements to the new team who was assigned on my work, thus delaying the completion of my website over 10 days.

The online trade, for which I wanted to revamp my site was done by this time and my site wasn't yet complete. Not only this, they even charged me for additional 10 days, which was delayed because their incompetent work force with zero transparency.

Another hit by Xicom Biz

2009-06-02T05:53:00.001-07:00

We have been recently contact by a Xicom ex-client, who complaints of tampering their server by Xicom employees.

The history of the client is simple. He had been using the services of Xicom for developing a website. In the middle of the development process the client was short of funds particularly in the reign of recessions. However this was ephemeral, and client informed about this to the developers in advance. He wanted to pause the work for the time being.

The developers of Xicom however couldn't stand the loss in ROI and deliberately tampered the server of the client in the hope that he might get back to them for rescue. This left the client to astonishment who later tracked this through some raw log files.

We would therefore like to beware those who are intending to outsource their IT tasks in India to keep away form Xicom.

Xicom doesn't stops

2009-03-03T20:53:00.000-08:00

Xicom is continuously proceeding with its black operations, scamming users out of Elance, cheating people by not refunding their money, charging them for no work, blackmailing buyers for more money to complete the project.

Guys, beware of this IT outsourcing company in New Delhi. Even since Obama has declared hard steps against outsourcing processes, people around the globe including U.S. is thinking a lot. Whether outsourcing stops or not, whether the bill pass or not, even if you continue to outsource, DO NOT DEAL WITH XICOM

Xicom Biz on Digg

2009-02-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Recently I have posted some news about Xicom Biz, the leading Elance service provider and outsourcing company offering web design and development services.

Xicom Biz is settled in New Delhi and has a horrifying customer care and work culture. Replies are extremely delayed. You send a change in the project and the initial stage and they wait for a couple of week before replying. Then they say that the project is near completion and the change would require a lot of re-work thus re-estimate the project cost and make it double.

Beware guys and stay away from Xicom on Elance.

News on Digg -

1. Xicom

2. Xicom Biz

Xicom Biz - Rip off Report

2009-02-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Truth about Xicom Technologies

2009-02-19T20:28:00.000-08:00