Has anyone had any dealings with Ravio or vbskins lately? I paid a deposit for design work over 2 months ago and have not yet seen any more than a basic template. They are no longer replying to my emails. I know they had major problems with moving offices but that was weeks ago and is not really an excuse to not answer emails from paying customers. Just wandered if anyone has had similair problems with them.

Don't you have Client Access?

Yes, Corey posted last:

CoreyW
posted 04-29-2003 at 08:14 PM

Ok, just post in there, and he will answer.

Whois Ravio / VBSkins domains, find out his phone number, send him a fax.

I'm sure Corey is there, and working for you, I was worried also, but things came out great.

Also, go to yaxay, and post there... maybe will get his attantion... also maybe vB forums.

ok, thanks for the info Royi. I will try and telephone him.

Originally posted by rsmhost
Ok, just post in there, and he will answer.

Whois Ravio / VBSkins domains, find out his phone number, send him a fax.

I'm sure Corey is there, and working for you, I was worried also, but things came out great.

Also, go to yaxay, and post there... maybe will get his attantion... also maybe vB forums.


just as a slight warning... they kinda frown on using yaxay as a gateway to ravio/corey...

Thanks for the info, to be hounest that doesnt bother me when he appears to have ran off with several hundred $ of mine.

oh no doubt man... i would be trying to contact him every way possible...


i was kinda just forewarning you for when they act like you are an idiot....

I emailed him 3 months ago asking for a quote still no word. That's fine if he doesn't wan't our business.

I got a reply to my inquire pretty quickly, but responses thereafter took a while to recieve. I would assume a company such as Ravio would check their email more than once or twice a day. Anyhow, I was supposed to have a demo made available last Wednesday, the 2nd. There came Wednesday and nothing was in my Inbox. I've emailed them 3 times since Wednesday and absolutely no sign of life. I figure doing the whois and contacting Corey via phone is probably the best idea. All I know is I'm coming to regret my decision to work with Ravio; however, I still have hope I turn out with the feelings Royi had. ;)

He does some good work no doubt about it, but I am not going to go begging to him to create us a site.

I'm having problems contacting Ravio too. I signed the contract for the work to be done (a total of $3,200, which I've already paid half of). The contact says "approximately 2 months or less from the date of March 17th 2003".

Well, nearly 4 months later, I haven't even seen an outlign or anything. I've posted in the client area forums, nobody has replied. I posted originally about a week after signing the contract, and a couple of times since. I e-mailed Corey again on 27th June. No reply. :( I haven't had any replies to anything since I actually paid the first $1,600 and sent in some description of what I wanted.

I cringe at the thought of having to make an international phone call, but I guess I'll have to, as I'm not getting responses any other way. I was really looking forward to it - Ravio have produced some excellent work in the past. I don't know what's going on with them now..

If I hadn't paid half of it, I'd just go with another company, but I have a lingering shred of hope... Has anyone actually heard anything from Ravio recently?

So im not the only one.
It looks like he has jumped ship with a lot of peoples money. Surely this is illegal.

Well, we just used the number in the ravio.com whois. "We're sorry, the number you're dialing is no longer in service." There was no number changed message.

Well. I'm obviously not very happy right now. Corey, and the whole of ravio staff seem to have dropped off the face of the earth.

BbBoy, Did you pay him via Paypal?
I am thinking of logging a complaint to them about him as i payed him through there.

Yup, I did. That could be a good idea..

Im going to speak to my financial adviser tonight and then move on this tommorow. I shall let you know if i decide to submit a complaint.

From what I've heard, this has happened in the past as well. But...it seems like he's come through most if not all of the times (unless there are some stories we all haven't heard before). Even if I get my template done, I would surely never recommed someone to Ravio unless their time scale for completion spans around 3 months. :rolleyes:

Hello everyone, I am MattS of http://www.vbskins.com and I too feel your pain and suffering through all of this. I lost contact with corey months ago, I've tried numerous ways of contacting him through icq, emails, phone, boards, and yes... even our own help desk system with absolutly no luck at all. I don't know what he's up to but I do know that he has lawsuits filled against him by many people and my advise to the people that have spent $1k and more should do the same, but thats just me. I'm supposed to be his "Business Partner" for vbskins but he has disabled all access for me. I can no longer access the admin cps' ftp or help desk system, He no longer pays dameon.

Good Luck Everyone! I hope you get a full refund from him!

If you don't know his phone number here it is, this phone is directly connected to his ravio office but for some reason he wont pick up, there is a voice mail though. Good Luck having him pick up. If you don't have any business with ravio then I ask that you not call him as you have nothing to do with them, this phone number should be only used if you have lost money or are intrested in a design although I wouldnt advise that for obvious reasons. This phone number is not to be used for harrassment

1-586-709-7688

Thanks for speaking out on this. At least we now know where we stand.

Yes, thanks a bunch Matt. I'm sure that helps all of us out. (It does seem though that he is contacting new clients but isn't responding to current clients.)

Originally posted by smidwap
Yes, thanks a bunch Matt. I'm sure that helps all of us out. (It does seem though that he is contacting new clients but isn't responding to current clients.)

yes thats what it looks like to me to.. I think hes taking on new clients all the time, taking their money and then abandoning them. I get emails all the time from his clients complaining about how corey hasnt contacted them in 3 weeks and are wondering the status of their design. It's truley a pain for me because I don't even work for ravio.

A few new sites have been added to his portfolio fairly recently, maybe he's just overloaded with work.

Seems like he's been posting on "pixicore.com" :confused:

Originally posted by secludo
A few new sites have been added to his portfolio fairly recently, maybe he's just overloaded with work.

Seems like he's been posting on "pixicore.com" :confused:

yep he does post on pixicore but he wont reply to my messages or pms I send to him on that board. *shrugs* I have no clue why he wont.

You know though, filing lawsuits won't help too much. If you've paid him 1k, I doubt you'll end up gettting much of that back. ;)

It seems like Corey had a good business going; I have no idea why he would ruin such.

yep he does post on pixicore but he wont reply to my messages or pms I send to him on that board. *shrugs* I have no clue why he wont.

Well, I dunno, I was just looking through the new sites in his portfolio (usually do) and noticed "core" as a user there and thought maybe it was him, and it seems that it is.

Thats gota be him. He posted this:

"The reason it is not growing is because I have not in any way promoted it besides it being in the portfolio at Ravio."

If hes trying to hide he will have to come up with a better nick than Core.

Originally posted by secludo
Well, I dunno, I was just looking through the new sites in his portfolio (usually do) and noticed "core" as a user there and thought maybe it was him, and it seems that it is. Yep, I believe that is his username at pixicore.

Originally posted by protecweb
Thats gota be him. He posted this:

"The reason it is not growing is because I have not in any way promoted it besides it being in the portfolio at Ravio."

No, it's gotta be him because under "Questions" at the bottom someone asks if it's him ("btw, is core corey from ravio, designer of yaXay, former owner of yaXay?") and he says:

"Yes I am Corey."

:)

I know, it is him. I told you that, but I dont know why he wont reply to me. I also am wondering why he would want to destroy something that has been so good to him? maybe its not such a good thing?

Office Complete
- Ravio is now back at his home office and everything is back to normal. Thank you for your patience.


That is on his web page now. Has it been there for a while?

Yes a week or so i think.

Originally posted by VibraHost
I know, it is him. I told you that, but I dont know why he wont reply to me. I also am wondering why he would want to destroy something that has been so good to him? maybe its not such a good thing?

I know you told me it's him, just pointing it out to protecweb.

Honestly I think he's been overloaded with work and he can't handle it, he knows he can't handle it but he doesn't want to say no to new clients, even though he can't deliver in a reasonable amount of time (or at all?), because I imagine it's making him good money.

Just speculation.

Well, out of the blue, I got an e-mail from Corey. He's offering either a refund of the deposit, or the work completed with a discount.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I guess it helped to post here about it. Has he contacted you too, protecweb?

Originally posted by BbBoy
Well, out of the blue, I got an e-mail from Corey. He's offering either a refund of the deposit, or the work completed with a discount.
Maybe he's reading this thread?

He hasn't emailed me, but I plan to email him one more time (my guess is he reads his email but just isn't responding).

BbBoy: maybe you should first ask Corey for a second line of communication such as phone, then have him complete your work?

Originally posted by smidwap
Maybe he's reading this thread?

He hasn't emailed me, but I plan to email him one more time (my guess is he reads his email but just isn't responding).

BbBoy: maybe you should first ask Corey for a second line of communication such as phone, then have him complete your work?


I spammed coreys board pixiboard and I got a reply from him.. if you read ravio.com he has posted new news.

That's a nice start...but I still don't see my project included in the list.

A quote from pixicore (by core):
"I am not brand new to flash, but what I do know is self taught and I figure alot of things I do are probably not totally correct, even if they work to my eyes.

I got to the 5th chapter and havent touched the book since. But tonight I may start up again."

Maybe this is where he is? :o I don't mind if he's doing some other stuff for fun...but I tell you, especially in a time like this, he needs to contact his clients. I guess I'll be contacting him once again via email because of the "Email Problem" he posted on his site.

Thanks for all your help Matt. :D

Hello everyone.

I wanted to quickly acknowledge this thread as it was brought to my attention in a chat with MattS (Vibrahost) and post on my behalf. The people above, Matt, ProtecWeb, and Bbboy have all been contacted. I apologize about the delay as we were having email problems. We had several problems over the past few months that also greatly affected the business. Sadly the above got caught up in these problems and we apologize for this.

We are working diligently now on getting back on track with these projects. All other projects are on track, and have no delays. Any client requesting a refund will also get it, no questions asked.

Thank you once again for your understanding in these matters. Any questions or concerns feel free to contact me at corey@ravio.com.

Originally posted by smidwap
That's a nice start...but I still don't see my project included in the list.


My apologies, we only list 5 projects in the current list but we normally are working on more than this. This does not mean we have forgotten about you, nor does it mean we are not working on your project. :)

Thanks Corey. :) Glad to be working with you again.

Didn't read enough of the forum before i posted this.

Well i have still not been emailed or contacted in any way by Corey. I have emailed him again around 10 hours ago and nothing. Is that because i started this thread? Who knows !

Originally posted by VibraHost
but I do know that he has lawsuits filled against him by many people and my advise to the people that have spent $1k and more should do the same,


what type of lawsuits ?

Has everyone that posted here regarding their projects been contacted by Corey? Is it just me he hasnt contacted? If you could let me know it would be appreciated, thanks peeps.

I've been contacted.

I have also now, at last.

Originally posted by protecweb
Has everyone that posted here regarding their projects been contacted by Corey? Is it just me he hasnt contacted? If you could let me know it would be appreciated, thanks peeps.

Kinda odd too...Corey said he contacted me, you, and BbBoy.

Lets hope things improve from now on.

Oh good, so it's not just us then, it's a lot more people too. I love the Ravio definition of 4-6 weeks, well, here we are nearly 5 months later.

lol, i just looked on their homepage, apparently in the last week they've made another 37% progress on our work - I wish I'd seen it, cos it certainly ain't on any of the URLs I've been given.

Is it happening again? Anyone else lost contact for a week or so?

Looks like it, I had an email the other week, no reply to my reply yet though.

wow that was quick off the mark Karl, ye i personally think this is going further downhill.

Originally posted by protecweb
wow that was quick off the mark Karl, ye i personally think this is going further downhill.

He does this all the time, after a month of trying to contact him I get him.. and we talk for 2 days and then he vanishes again.. over and over... He has serious problems.

Same here...last contact I had with him was last Thursday.

He probably has more projects than he can handle atm... I think.

ya i think he should control himself from accepting more projects at one given time.

Well hes disapeared again ! Anyone else lost contact?

Just get a refund, I am still waiting for an email response from 3-4 months back.

They have problems with MySQL now... check their site.

Chargeback and a complaint to Paypal coming up !

It’s evident that he has broken his contractual agreements he does not bother to reply to emails, he is giving his current customers the cold shoulder.

Sounds like his in too deep. I think you should request a refund first and then if he does not reply do a chargeback. He does some great work however you both entered into an agreement for services that have yet to be delivered

I suggest you do the same Karl

Originally posted by CoreyW
Hello everyone.

I wanted to quickly acknowledge this thread as it was brought to my attention in a chat with MattS (Vibrahost) and post on my behalf. The people above, Matt, ProtecWeb, and Bbboy have all been contacted. I apologize about the delay as we were having email problems. We had several problems over the past few months that also greatly affected the business. Sadly the above got caught up in these problems and we apologize for this.

We are working diligently now on getting back on track with these projects. All other projects are on track, and have no delays. Any client requesting a refund will also get it, no questions asked.

Thank you once again for your understanding in these matters. Any questions or concerns feel free to contact me at corey@ravio.com.

This is TYPICAL Corey Wojen BS. I have been a 'client' (I would say victim but I played the sucker role on more than one occasion and believed this nonsense) of his since Nov 2001 and this is his MODUS OPERANDI. It is always and email problem, family emergency or something else! I have probably 50-100 emails (after getting angry and threatening to go public) with excuses. But the worst part is his disappearing and not replying to emails for weeks on end.

I paid him for one forum and didn't hear from him for almost a month, after which he said he would return my money. Problem being I already had agreements with sponsors to advertise and nobody else could fit me in. (Advertisers that I ended up losing because of my agreements with them based on promises Corey made to be - Opening dates, etc) I ended up pressuring him to do it anyway and what a mistake that was. I got a half-ass job that STILL has not been completed. Even worse, when he was finally going to upgrade my PhotoPost license and put the "PhotoPost" license credits at the bottom, he has trashed my photo gallery and has yet to fix it! www.pwcracer.com/gallery
I am an official sponsor for the National PWC Championships this year but had to pay someone else to install the banner rotation that he has promised for over a year to install. I am now going to have to pay to get someone else to FIX the gallery script that he messed up and has STILL yet to fix after emailing me that he would again earlier this week.

I realize the money I have lost may be pocket change in comparison to some of the stories I am now reading. I just want everyone to know this IS NOT some freak occurrence. This is what Corey Wojen AKA c-pr0mpt AKA Ravio.com is all about.

For a long time I have wanted to go public with this stuff. Maybe if I had so many others would not have gotten screwed. For that I apologize.

David

PS. I registered www.RavioWarning.com a long time ago. I will be putting it up ASAP with a message board so that people can post their details and decide what, if any action can be taken to recover lost money.

Originally posted by Axi
He probably has more projects than he can handle atm... I think.

I'd like to address this comment. Yeah, he probably does have more than he can handle, but that is purely due to his greed and POOR skills in just about everything else but design.

What happens is he puts one client down for work & takes payment, then another, often larger client shows up and he puts the first guy on the back burner. This process repeats itself and there you are - months later covered up by the new guys paying out money, some of which are also getting screwed. Then he takes the money and plays.

Again, this IS NOT NEW.. He did this to me over a year ago with the second forum I had him do for me, www.PWCRacer.com , and still has not fixed the problems and installed the scripts. The first one he created back at the end of 2001 also was riddled with excuses. It took well over a month when it was supposed to take a week. This was back prior to him becoming popular on larger scale, but the same bad habits were there then. At the time I didn't know anywhere else to turn.

Well, for all of you looking for high end design work, I suggest you check around because there are a number of people that are doing the same high-end design work with a MUCH better client relations/support. The one I have recently been in touch with is www.InsideThePixel.com designer Dameon White (d2alio) and Xelation. Their latest design is: http://www.aliensoup.com/
Pretty nice work.

Do yourself a HUGE favor.. Check around before you even consider using Ravio/Corey Wojen. There is talent out there just as good (if not better) than his.. and that won't run with your money.

im deeply disopointed in this thread i put forward for a quote a few months ago he give me the price and all was set to go but reading this thread ill look else where

Well I'm glad I've done alot of reading this past week! I stumbled across this thread over on yaxy...I've been in contact with Corey since 8/12 about a vB design and he's been very prompt with my emails. We've been back and forth atleast twice a day since then, even got a price quote, deposit amount, time to complete, and I even gave em ideas of what I want. But my last 2 emails to em have took longer for him to answer. As a matter of fact my email to him yesterday hasn't been aswered yet. I wasn't trippin, but after reading this thread has me packing up and going elsewhere! Thanks for the heads up guys...I was ready to send out my deposit just as soon as he replied back!

SQ4

I'm SHOCKED.
Corey once, contacted us for flash -RSM host header-he seemed like a nice guy.
I even recommended Ravio to some friends.
But -as a designer- I can never take someone's money and just keep it for months like that, I just can't sleep.

on client side, my advice for clients, a first draft for any template/site, never takes more than a week , so ask the firm/designer you are dealing with for BITMAP shot of the first draft in a week time, if he didn’t supply in 2 weeks MAXIUMUM , then you have a problem. For one good economical reason - he can’t be working for 2 weeks for just 250$ (for example propose: 50% of any project)-so he must be working on something else, which is very very unprofessional.

i hope Corey wakes up, returns everyone's money, and start from new, he's done a good job till now, he shouldn't ruin that.

I was shocked the other day when a basic template layout was emailed to me from him. I had to laugh as it has taken several months. It was also just after the chief director of our company had sent him an email telling him what he thought of his business ethics. He was obviously taking the **** as i could tell he had spent all of 20 miuntes on this template. I think he was trying to get back at me for starting this thread.

Originally posted by protecweb
I was shocked the other day when a basic template layout was emailed to me from him. I had to laugh as it has taken several months. It was also just after the chief director of our company had sent him an email telling him what he thought of his business ethics. He was obviously taking the **** as i could tell he had spent all of 20 miuntes on this template. I think he was trying to get back at me for starting this thread.

He will probably send you another one next week with a bit more detail...saying the one he just sent was done in error. Just check the file dates to see when it was last updated.

Simon

Originally posted by protecweb
I think he was trying to get back at me for starting this thread.
Sam,you mean he didn't charge you guys back yet :eek:

is there anyone who's dealing with him "now" , i mean an on going project?? anyone out there?

Is corey/ravio and vb skins the same staff??

Maybe it is smart to just contact him through his sites or phone number, why bother other sites with this ?

Originally posted by Fed-X
Well, for all of you looking for high end design work, I suggest you check around because there are a number of people that are doing the same high-end design work with a MUCH better client relations/support. The one I have recently been in touch with is www.InsideThePixel.com designer Dameon White (d2alio) and Xelation. Their latest design is: http://www.aliensoup.com/

I would suggest not going anywhere near Dameon. He's exactly like Corey; great design skills but can't follow up on deals. He has owed me $200 for 9 months now for some design work I did for him and he also owes others like me. He does not reply to your emails for months and it also looks like he's doing the same with his clients. If you do decide to give him a try, just be careful ;)

Becuase if people are not told about it he will continue to take money and provide little if not work to them.

Some people could be giving over hundreds of $ so it is important people are told about it.

Whoa...this is all quite strange. I know I had the same problems with him about a month ago, but since then he's been in constant contact with me. Turnarounds for changes and updates were rather quick. I'm not sure if I'm just lucky or what...

Originally posted by SQ4
Is corey/ravio and vb skins the same staff??

Yes, Corey Wojen runs/owns both Ravio.com & VBSkins.com, which used to be another domain name but now forwards to www.vbskins.com .

Originally posted by Floris
Maybe it is smart to just contact him through his sites or phone number, why bother other sites with this ?

Floris,
When you have +/- thousands of dollars out to someone that has promised you design work, you will try most avenues to reach that person. In Corey's case, it doesn't matter what "address" you try to contact him at because he is simply ignoring the complaint emails and answering new clients trying to get the business/money.

That should be VERY apparent here.. We have people in this thread (and elsewhere) that absolutely cannot get him to reply, while others have been in recent contact with him with no problem. Guess who are the ones that get fast responses, and who are ignored.

When he was playing opossum with me, I had my girlfriend email him about getting some design work done for the company she works for. He replied within an hour. During their email exchanges he stated that he had plenty of time to get everything done. Just send the money and he would start within a few days.
During this same week, I had been trying every measure to reach him, and nothing.

David

Again, I am compiling all of the emails and notes I have on him and will be making it available as soon as I can get the www.RavioWarning.com site up. Others will be more than welcome to post their own stories if they would like.

A friend directed me here, seen as I to have been burnt by Corey .. its been nearly 2 years now since i payed him a 50% deposit for a site (only $150 though, nothing like what you guys have lost) .. and back then there was no-way to contact him, when yaxay opened however I decided to post there and ask what had happened, my post was deleted. So I reposted, and got nothing but abuse from his many loyal fans, saying corey is god, its my fault blah blah blah, Corey continued to ignore me, paypal just laughed and in the end I just gave up.

life is indeed like a box of chocolates .... theres always some NUT to **** it up :/ ...

I wish you all the best of luck in gettting your money back.

I think I'm just lucky Thats I recived my design before everything started, I was very pushy on him, and talked with him every day.. maybe you need to do thats also ?

Well after being very patient with him I have just officially asked for a refund. It will be interesting to see if we get it.

Originally posted by protecweb
Well after being very patient with him I have just officially asked for a refund. It will be interesting to see if we get it.

I dont understand why you would want a re-design your site is nice :)

Thanks for your kind comments. We want some nice icon and table work done as well as some rebranding and matching banner sets.

hello all,
i was sent here by a business associate of mine. I too would like to give a little Ravio story of my own. 2 months ago I emailed corey for a quote on a site design with not really any databasing. A week later he emails me quoting me 4.5K and asking for a 50% down payment before he started work. He had a nice portfolio so i trusted him and paid him the 2.25 K thinking he is an honest businessman as he had so many sites under his belt. ive been trying to get intouch with him ever since the down payment... he hasnt emailed me yet.. he hasnt showed me any template or anything.. i will be taking legal action against him.

But i do reccomend if any of you need a high end design with great customer / staff communication.. for a reasonable price... i would trust the guys over at Design Devise (www.designdevise.com)... Their site i believe isnt up because a consulting firm or such wants to partner with them. These guys also have quite a strong portfolio. I emailed them for a quote and for the same work i needed... they charged me half the amount and its almost completed within 2 weeks. Everyday i email them.. and they email me back promptley..They have met all the deadlines.. and quality of work is great. (Thanks Dean and Bobby)

Ravio owes me 2.25 K i will get it back.. thats alot of money. Dont trust Corey... he wont change his pathetic business ethics.

Originally posted by PixelAxis
I would suggest not going anywhere near Dameon. He's exactly like Corey; great design skills but can't follow up on deals. He has owed me $200 for 9 months now for some design work I did for him and he also owes others like me. He does not reply to your emails for months and it also looks like he's doing the same with his clients. If you do decide to give him a try, just be careful ;)

You might want to check with his clients before you make statements like that as I've used him recently and he's provided me with everything and have even contacted his other clients and they said the same. Not only does he keep regular email responses but he also manages to be online constantly to give updates and previews of the layout. Your situation must have been totally something misrelated.

Originally posted by RSM-Royi
I think I'm just lucky Thats I recived my design before everything started, I was very pushy on him, and talked with him every day.. maybe you need to do thats also ? haha you were never pushy were you Royi ? ;)

I must say I'd love to hear the truth behind this all. I had one instance of this communication problem with Corey; after that everything went smoothly. I got my design the day I expected it and changes thereafter were made quickly. I wouldn't say I was pushy either...there's gotta be something more to the story then him just bs'ing all of his clients.

I wish there was more too it, I really do.

Similar problem here, though thank God I didn't make the deposit in the end. Got a quote for a forum skin job, and was replied to within a day. We talked on AIM just about every day. In fact, I even pointed him to this thread when it was on about page 2 or 3. He's disappeared from his AIM screenname "RavioSales", and I guess that and this thread are reason enough to choose someone else for the project.

He has more AIM's, I think I still have them, but I'm not sure if It's good thats I'll post it here, he never comes on them also, so it isn't helping really.

Yeah, I heard that he had a bunch of names. Posting them on here would lessen the chance of him popping in on one, as Corey is probably keeping up on this thread.

Sell them on eBay ;)

Sure will :D hope there will be some shoppers ;)

Well no sign of a refund yet. he hasnt contacted me since requesting one. Just goes to show what hes really like.

AIM's : Ravio ceo & raviopresident

Thats the AIM's I have.

Originally posted by I¢E
You might want to check with his clients before you make statements like that as I've used him recently and he's provided me with everything and have even contacted his other clients and they said the same. Not only does he keep regular email responses but he also manages to be online constantly to give updates and previews of the layout. Your situation must have been totally something misrelated.

LOL.. Yeah, sure buddy.. I AM ONE OF HIS PAST CLIENTS.. As are MANY of these other people here, and you would have to be crazy to use this guy.. Read the thread...

Well, he is obviously alive and well.. I just got this email the other day from Ravio/VBSkins about their new "Dungeon Skin" for vb3.

Just another example of his priorities.

I have the feeling Thats Corey is a kid... and he is grounded

Ditto. He managed to become an LLC though.

Originally posted by Steve-VST
Ditto. He managed to become an LLC though.

Maybe he used hes Parents? maybe hes Company is registered on another name and not on hes name ?

I'm not saying it isn't possible, just pointing out the small validity of his "company" ;)

I doubt he is a kid, he's in his mid-20's as far as I know. Adults can be immature and avoid responsibility too, you know, and they can have bad business practice. He may be a good designer but that doesn't mean he knows how to run a company.

It's not about running a company now; it's about refunding his clients.
i think he should post here or refund all his waiting clients, if he intends to run a clean business.
This is common sense, it's not about running a company, it's about ethics and intentions -i think.

Good business practice is to refund unhappy clients who have not received what they have paid for. I do not believe that he has good business practice.

My whole point is that it was mentioned that he must be a kid because of all that has been going on. I'm 99% sure that he is in his mid-20's and I am sure someone can vouch for that. I just think it's kind of stupid that he "MUST" be a kid because he has bad business practice, when in reality a lot of adults do as well.

I agree that he should refund those clients who aren't seeing any progress in their work. No arguing there, I just am saying that kids are not the only ones who do this sort of thing.

Originally posted by creedance
It's not about running a company now; it's about refunding his clients.
i think he should post here or refund all his waiting clients, if he intends to run a clean business.
This is common sense, it's not about running a company, it's about ethics and intentions -i think.

I couldnt have said it better myself. Its all about business ethics and knowing how to trerat your clients. You know i thought ravio was this great company everyone spoke highly off... its not. In all seriousness i think its a **** Co. run by an egoistic designer who doesnt know how to handle the right amount of clients by giving them what they want when they want it by using the right business practices.

I've exchanged emails with Corey tonight, apparently he has been effected by the recent black-outs. Whilst I agree that would have caused some issues, it doesn't explain the hugely long delays (Although I do understand that he has suffered personal loss during the past 4 months or so).

The recent black-outs were all in the east if I'm not mistaken...he's up in Michigan. Also, I was in constant contact with him most of last week, so the black-outs could not be the case.

Maybe not then :)

Originally posted by smidwap
The recent black-outs were all in the east if I'm not mistaken...he's up in Michigan. Also, I was in constant contact with him most of last week, so the black-outs could not be the case.

I think it did affect some portions in that area, but he also might be using it as an added excuse...

Good luck to everyone, I hope you all either get what you paid for or a full refund.

The blackouts affected the Detroit area as well as parts of Ohio.

As I live 15 minutes from him, I can say he was affected by the blackout. But this thread wasn't created a week ago if anyone cares to look ;)

And "mid-20's" is still a kid. Believe me. :rolleyes:

Hardly.

omg please. Read the whole thread, read the comments, read the external sites that have been setup, read the hell he has caused legitimate companies. ffs he has caused my company thousands in lost time and effort. Im not going to bother anymore with this thread (even though i started it). End of story !

I've talked to him before on yaxay IRC hes about 23 from what I can remember.

Originally posted by RSM-Royi
I have the feeling Thats Corey is a kid... and he is grounded

I believe he is about 24 or 25 now, but definitely childish (to the extreme) in business ethics and practice. I had many a conversation about this very thing with him. Though I was getting the raw end of the deal, I hoped to convey to him that good customer service went hand in hand with quality work.. That if he would only call me and tell me, "Hey! Something came up, I can't finish in time", I would be cool with it.. Instead, all I got was someone ignoring me.

He may be "free" (not grounded - for now anyway) but I am personally going to make sure Ravio, LLC AND any other company or DBA he may start or hide under is held accountable.

Originally posted by Steve-VST
Ditto. He managed to become an LLC though.

Unfortunately, it is very easy to start a LLC or other Corp. BUT, if there is corruption in this corporation, it may fall under federal jurisdiction, and we all know how the feds feel right now about Corporate BS.

I wonder how the Taxes are going COREY? I am sure there is probably over 10k in income represented here alone..

I also got a message about the blackout from him tonight stating it went out on Thursday and didn't come back on until Sunday.
That is all well and good but where I live, it is now 10:09 PM Wednesday, August 20, 2003. 3-4 Days after that problem was corrected.
I'm sorry but this did not effect phone service. If I loose power or have a death in the family, or any other problem, I sure as heck am going to call each and ever person that I have an appointment with and let them know what is going on. This has NEVER been the case with him..

Has anyone been successful in a charge back with a credit card or refund with Paypal, or were you coaxed beyond the 30 day mark also, and cannot get any relief by that means?

I wonder if paypal would change that limit if enough people filed complaints or approached them?

In addition to this, has anyone filed with the BBB or other online watchdog groups?

All clients affected by our recent delays were refunded if requested. Protecweb requested a refund as well and it has been sent.

We admit that we have had problems the past few months. This is no secret. But we are NOT about taking peoples money. Why would we do that?

There are people in this very thread who we have done work for in a timely manner and is already completed.

However, there are others that were affected by constant problems (Our own fault). But again, anyone in this situation was refunded when asked! We do NOT take peoples money if nothing is done.

Originally posted by Fed-X
I also got a message about the blackout from him tonight stating it went out on Thursday and didn't come back on until Sunday.
That is all well and good but where I live, it is now 10:09 PM Wednesday, August 20, 2003. 3-4 Days after that problem was corrected.
I'm sorry but this did not effect phone service. If I loose power or have a death in the family, or any other problem, I sure as heck am going to call each and ever person that I have an appointment with and let them know what is going on. This has NEVER been the case with him..

This is incorrect David. Anyone in these areas can tell you not even cell phones were working!

Once again, there were problems and this is admitted. But these problems were fixed to the best that I could offer. Refunds, Finishing work at -50% of cost, etc.

Originally posted by Fed-X
Has anyone been successful in a charge back with a credit card or refund with Paypal, or were you coaxed beyond the 30 day mark also, and cannot get any relief by that means?

I wonder if paypal would change that limit if enough people filed complaints or approached them?

In addition to this, has anyone filed with the BBB or other online watchdog groups?

Anyone who asked has gotten a refund David. No one here has been ripped off.

Originally posted by creedance
It's not about running a company now; it's about refunding his clients.
i think he should post here or refund all his waiting clients, if he intends to run a clean business.
This is common sense, it's not about running a company, it's about ethics and intentions -i think.

I 100% agree. That is why anyone affected was offered a refund.

Originally posted by TwoBlocksSho
A friend directed me here, seen as I to have been burnt by Corey .. its been nearly 2 years now since i payed him a 50% deposit for a site (only $150 though, nothing like what you guys have lost) .. and back then there was no-way to contact him, when yaxay opened however I decided to post there and ask what had happened, my post was deleted. So I reposted, and got nothing but abuse from his many loyal fans, saying corey is god, its my fault blah blah blah, Corey continued to ignore me, paypal just laughed and in the end I just gave up.

life is indeed like a box of chocolates .... theres always some NUT to **** it up :/ ...

I wish you all the best of luck in gettting your money back.

Who are you? What was I payed half for? Contact me at: corey@ravio.com. I will gladly refund if this is a serious complaint.

Originally posted by ESLTALK
hello all,
i was sent here by a business associate of mine. I too would like to give a little Ravio story of my own. 2 months ago I emailed corey for a quote on a site design with not really any databasing. A week later he emails me quoting me 4.5K and asking for a 50% down payment before he started work. He had a nice portfolio so i trusted him and paid him the 2.25 K thinking he is an honest businessman as he had so many sites under his belt. ive been trying to get intouch with him ever since the down payment... he hasnt emailed me yet.. he hasnt showed me any template or anything.. i will be taking legal action against him.

But i do reccomend if any of you need a high end design with great customer / staff communication.. for a reasonable price... i would trust the guys over at Design Devise (www.designdevise.com)... Their site i believe isnt up because a consulting firm or such wants to partner with them. These guys also have quite a strong portfolio. I emailed them for a quote and for the same work i needed... they charged me half the amount and its almost completed within 2 weeks. Everyday i email them.. and they email me back promptley..They have met all the deadlines.. and quality of work is great. (Thanks Dean and Bobby)

Ravio owes me 2.25 K i will get it back.. thats alot of money. Dont trust Corey... he wont change his pathetic business ethics.

WHAT?? This is 100% false!! WE received NO SUCH PAYMENT. Ya know this thread is legit for alot of you. Protec, KDA, Frisk, etc. But some of this is completly untrue! I have no idea who you are. Where and How were we sent this money? We received NOTHING of the sort!!! I have NEVER even quoted that high EVER. A full site with database backend with us is only 1500! Nowhere near 4k!

Maybe an advertisement for himself :eek:

sure :agree:

Edited.

received now.

I want to really reiterate that we have had problems and delays. We admit this fully.

Along this time KDA, Protec, Frisk, etc were affected. But as far as I know as of right now everything is on par and up to date except for Frisk which will not allow me to finish the work (That I was doing for free for him anyways.).

Protec was refunded, KDA is to be completed by tomorrow at -50% the cost, etc. Others in this thread from the beginning have already been finished. Smidwap, bbBoy, etc. So please realize we are NOT in this to take peoples money and not finish our work. The opposite is true.

Also all current clients are up to date and on time. Allow us to continue to fix and come out of our errors.

Thank you.

I have been overseeing this thread. Complaints of Corey and my own small little problems have persuaded me to go with the team of Dameon and Matt from Inside The Pixel. I am happy that Corey has come out to this thread and responded to the clients that have been left in the dark amidst this recently decline in Mr. Wojen's business ethics.

I am happy that Corey admitted that his ethic has declined. It is a bold move to come out and tell us that. We deserve to know, clients and potential clients alike. It seems as if Wojen has a "new life" as I like to call it. Let's hope it turns out well.

I guess I might as well input my little Wojen story. I have contacted him numerous times over different potential projects. I guess it got annoying that he would reply and not get the job. I still feel that I should get replies. My friend is going with him for a big forum project. He replied an hour or two after my friend sent a request for a quote, asking him to elaborate on what he wants. My friend has confidence in Corey, and that can be a good thing.

The InsideThePixel team seems well fit for taking on what Corey does. It is a good setup. Dameon designs, Matt codes. My project is fairly large. It is a top-notch forum design, numerous hacks (some of which require more images), and installation. It has been about 1 and a half month since Dameon first confirmed the beginning of my project. My experience has been 99% good, 1% bad. I think the bad just came from my anticipation. :) In my opinion, Dameon and Xelation can do anything Corey and his team can do. They even have a custom PHP programmer that works exclusively for them. I see potential, and they will suceed. Trust me. His name is known all over, and he has been designing for only 3 months.

Who would I go with? Right now, I see Dameon being my choice. Corey is excellent, but I would first have to see an improvement in how he runs his business.

well, i think this thread should be closed after everyone is refunded , i don't see any point of leaving it opened for other Ravio opponents to come here, and say.."ouh yeah i had a problem with him 4 years ago.....etc etc etc"

What so ever company name is , or who ever runs it ...it could face same situations - I’m not defending Corey here, IMO he should refunded long time ago.
He is a good designer and so, and hope he recovers and revises his behavior .
but this doesn't give anyone the right to create unproven stories, or recommend an opponent , I think there is a job request forum for that, don't use this thread, it's not fair.

Next show: Timmay refunds ripped off customers via Paypal! Grab your popcorn and a seat! :D

Corey,
I am glad that you have come and addressed this thread. I am also sure that if everyone is getting their refunds, it was/is a good thing, though it isn't always about getting refunds.

As you very well know, one of my largest "beefs" with you is when I paid you to design the forum (PWCRacer.com), you disappeared for 2-3 weeks, and then at the end told me that you were going to refund my money and were too busy to handle my project any longer, which really screwed me up for the scheduled grand opening.. I then had to strong-arm you (threaten to go public) to get something done out of desperation. When people pay and you give them a deadline, it ISN'T good enough to just say at the end that they can have their money back. Time and more has been invested in the process.

You said that you were upgrading my photo gallery for free. Why was that? That was because of the Warning by PhotoPost about not having the credits at the bottom of the page - credits that you removed. In addition, that was to help make up for all the other things left said and then undone for over a year. After this upgrade, the gallery was non-functional and the banners were still unfinished. I would not have cared if it was a few days but it was over a month, or two+? People don't like to spend their time uploading photos to see them all gone. Worse than that I tell them it is going to be fixed "tomorrow" and it never happens. Nobody likes an error'd site, especially paid advertisers, and especially the owner of a community.

The reason I won't let you fix this now is I have already sent a check to someone else to repair this. After all of this I am not comfortable with you being in any of my forums. You have never been outwardly vindictive but I am not willing to risk any more damage to my communities, unintentional or otherwise.

Just in the event that this thread is closed, www.RavioWarning.com should be fully online either late tonight or tomorrow. If you have had a bad or good experience, you are invited to submit your detailed story on the site and there will be a forum as well.

Despite my stance on all of this, I do want to state that if you have a legit gripe, air it.. If you are trumping stuff up to drowned someone (Corey, in this case) with illigitimate or false claims , you are no better.

Another SQL error at ravio.com and vbskins.com

Originally posted by CoreyW
WHAT?? This is 100% false!! WE received NO SUCH PAYMENT. Ya know this thread is legit for alot of you. Protec, KDA, Frisk, etc. But some of this is completly untrue! I have no idea who you are. Where and How were we sent this money? We received NOTHING of the sort!!! I have NEVER even quoted that high EVER. A full site with database backend with us is only 1500! Nowhere near 4k!

I have to say somthing here ! Corey may be a little slow with work some times ;) but he is honest and I trust him 100% so in my personal opinion what that other bloke is saying is crap.

Originally posted by Fed-X
You have never been outwardly vindictive but I am not willing to risk any more damage to my communities, unintentional or otherwise.

Originally posted by Fed-X

I wonder how the Taxes are going COREY? I am sure there is probably over 10k in income represented here alone..


I just took a look at www.RavioWarning.com and if any one is being vindictive its you, you put "this site is for those who have been abused !" it sounds more like a personal attack on him which is just nasty, the way you have worded it could be taken wrongly !

Sites like that can really hurt peoples business and ravio are doing all they can to sort out the mess they got in to with to much work etc,

I would use ravio again even though it took way longer than expected to get the work finished in the end it was done and we did get apologies and a discount which is far more than you would get from a lot of other companies, if your just gonna bitch no matter what he does how can they make good on what they have done wrong ? eveyone deserves a second chance.

Also what have taxes got to do with this thread ?? just sounds like a personal attack.

Deano;
i think Corey can say anything for himself, no one hired you as an advocate, plz don't make the situation worse, and drop it, and move on , don't attack other members for Corey’s sake, i think he's already on it, if he has any problem with fed-x , i think he should be working on it now.

Wasn't aware you were the world overlord on free speech, must have missed the press release.:rolleyes:

Originally posted by creedance
Deano;
i think Corey can say anything for himself, no one hired you as an advocate, plz don't make the situation worse, and drop it, and move on , don't attack other members for Corey’s sake, i think he's already on it, if he has any problem with fed-x , i think he should be working on it now.

ok a few points

1. My company is involved we have been wiating for work from ravio for a while so i think i have the rite to post on here.

2. I am not making a person attack i was ponting out that what has coreys money and if he pays taxes got to do with this thread, i think you will see its got no relavence what so ever, so i was not attacking him at all.

3. I am not trying to make it worse i am just saying that corey is trying to sort this situation out by giving refunds and finishing work like he has done for us.

I think you should read this thread as i think fed-x has been most unfair to corey and i am entiteled to my opinion and if i want to back up some one who has done some stunning work for me (even though it was way overdue) I will.

since you mentioned free speech, then Fed-x has the right to do whatever he see's appropriate ;)
and i don't think it will affect Ravio much, there is always sites like paypalsucks, mircosoftsucks , and such .

only Corey has the right to deal with him, unless you want to start a flame war here which will not help Corey much.

Originally posted by creedance
since you mentioned free speech, then Fed-x has the right to do whatever he see's appropriate ;)
and i don't think it will affect Ravio much, there is always sites like paypalsucks, mircosoftsucks , and such .

only Corey has the right to deal with him, unless you want to start a flame war here which will not help Corey much.

No i didnt say he couldnt say that i was saying that this forum is not the place for a personal attack and if corey pays taxes or not has nothing to do with this thread do you not agree ??

MS and PayPal are billion $$ companies is ravio ? i think not, so a site like that could seriously damage what is only a small business and being a small business operator my self i think it wouldnt hurt to think a little before making a personal attack against people who are doing their level best to make good out of a bad situation.

maybe you are right my freind , anyway , we are on the same side, what i am saying is that whatever you will say, it will only start a flame war, between you and fed-x, so i think it would be better if Corey deal with it off WHT.

Originally posted by creedance
maybe you are right my freind , anyway , we are on the same side, what i am saying is that whatever you will say, it will only start a flame war, between you and fed-x, so i think it would be better if Corey deal with it off WHT.

I agree i just carnt sit back and watch some one moan and bitch when corey has been trying to sort the mess he caused out to be honest though i dont think he could ever sort x-fed out hes offered refunds etc but i will just keep quiet now.

But thanks Corey it may have took you ages but you got the work done in the end just need my flash now ;)

Just as an update, Ravio have produced excellant work for us, yes it may be long overdue, but we have been compensated for this delay, which is always good business practice. In fact, I would probably say that we'd deal with Ravio again for any other work we wanted doing once we know that their current backlog has been cleared.

Thats may well be acceptable to you KDAWebServices but we run a real business with real marketing and time scales. If we dont hit deadlines we lose money and investment. I didnt want to jump back into this thread but i felt i should let you know we are a serious business and not some part timers that can allow people to mess us about and put all our marketing strategies out of the window.
I started this thread as i wanted to find out if Ravio had let other people down. Simple as that.
The thread was not intended as a flame war between people or anything else. I would appreciate it if a mod would close this thread, thank you.

time is money; the rest is fluff. If one cannot stand the heat they should stay out of the kitchen. :D

We're a serious business too, hence why we planned for all eventualities and had a contingency, as it happened, we spent the extra time better preparing content and other associaed peripheries to go with the work we were having done. Yes, time is money, but if you plan for all eventualities then you minimise the financial losses, especially when you get 50% off of your invoice.

What is your site URL? Love to see the site designed by Ravio.

Originally posted by MiddleM4n
What is your site URL? Love to see the site designed by Ravio.

The sites are not live as yet and we were waiting on 2 sites not just the 1.

Trusting Dameon from InsidethePixel is not good, been a past client paid and it was dreadful experience.

Well over 4months late, was past from one designer to another to another, he even though going out and getting pissed was more appropriate than meeting our deadline.

I have a design sitting here which i paid well over 1500 and its useless.

I have since had it worked on by www.infocreek.com and they are a top-notch company to work with.. Impressed.

Rant over..

edited

Hello,

Just interested in some progress updates. I see the addition of pictures of Smidwap and BBBoy on the Ravio portfolio, but many other projects were mentioned. How is it coming?

Regards.

Don't bother with ravio.

Thanks for the advise ;/

No problem.

just wondering, why is ravio.com having this MySQL error almost everytime i logged !!

anyone knows why?

poorly coded database.

anyone know his email address?

lol, will you people get a social life of some sort and stop using any old excuse to attack Ravio, it is no such thing as a poorly coded database. What you will find however is that the mySQL server is running away due to a problem with another database on the server causing large amounts of locking and thus using up all free connections - How do I know? Well I know other people on the same server, I also know the owner of said server and have discussed the problem with them as we had a similar problem with a clients server the other week - The trick to fixing it, is to catch the problem as it starts, not an easy thing.

thank you Karl ;
i just thought it's strange , thank you anyway for the reply.

Originally posted by [eS]s.h.a.z.y
Trusting Dameon from InsidethePixel is not good, been a past client paid and it was dreadful experience.

Well over 4months late, was past from one designer to another to another, he even though going out and getting pissed was more appropriate than meeting our deadline.

I have a design sitting here which i paid well over 1500 and its useless.

I have since had it worked on by www.infocreek.com and they are a top-notch company to work with.. Impressed.

Rant over..

Can you list the site... as I don't recall ever having a client for $1,500 that I did not take care of, nor any other clients for that matter.

COREYW!!!

Is there some reason you won't respond to my emails? I need to know my username and password so I can re download the templates I paid for.

my website is www.groove-salad.com/forum

jason@groove-salad.com

I would like to update my situation with Corey, and what I know of two other people who have had problems in the past with him.

As I am sure many of you read earlier in this thread, I really haven't wanted anything more to do with Corey because in the past I felt I was getting jerked around time and time again with promises that never panned out.

I feel I owe it to fairness that I comment now that he and I have been in frequent contact and he has been working to correct the problems I have had. At first I was like, sure.. yeah.. whatever but he has made an continuing effort to give me what I originally wanted and make amends for the problems that have taken place in the past.
I know of two other people through the site I launched concerning this stuff that are also being taken care of and hopefully they will let all of us know how things turn out.

It is too early to tell (I will keep everyone updated on how things go and if he follows through, stays in contact, etc.) but I think Corey is really making an effort (as far as I can see) to make ammends with those who have had problems with him and bring his customer service up to par with his design skills.
This after all was my major beef with him, as it was with most everyone else.

David

Is everyone sorted now?

Been following this thread, check it out on www.raviowarning.com. If all said about Corey is true, he SUCKS bad.

Yeah, I GUESS I CAN EAT THESE WORDS! Some people never change.. This one is on me.. I'm not a sucker, I knew what I was getting into.. I guess I was just hoping he had changed, which he absolutely has not..

Details SEE:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=216154


Originally posted by Fed-X
I would like to update my situation with Corey, and what I know of two other people who have had problems in the past with him.

As I am sure many of you read earlier in this thread, I really haven't wanted anything more to do with Corey because in the past I felt I was getting jerked around time and time again with promises that never panned out.

I feel I owe it to fairness that I comment now that he and I have been in frequent contact and he has been working to correct the problems I have had. At first I was like, sure.. yeah.. whatever but he has made an continuing effort to give me what I originally wanted and make amends for the problems that have taken place in the past.
I know of two other people through the site I launched concerning this stuff that are also being taken care of and hopefully they will let all of us know how things turn out.

It is too early to tell (I will keep everyone updated on how things go and if he follows through, stays in contact, etc.) but I think Corey is really making an effort (as far as I can see) to make ammends with those who have had problems with him and bring his customer service up to par with his design skills.
This after all was my major beef with him, as it was with most everyone else.

David

I can't speak for everyone but you should have sympathy for people who paid for items and still didn't receive them. Just because Corey might be allegedly "working things out with you" doesn't mean he's a good guy because you weren't screwed out of your money like other people may have.

I bought a skind and got my paypal receipt and mailed it to him at vbskins at least 3 times and received no replies for almost two weeks. It's one thing to be slow. It's another to act unacceptably. He is aware of problems and if he can't keep up with the business he should shut down the business.

I'm seeing a lot of the same excuses I heard a few years ago from Corey.

I had hired Corey to redo my website, including a template for vBulletin and vBPortal. He agreed to do the job for $500. So, per his request, I sen't a deposit of $250. He said as soon as he got the deposit, he would get started and have something "In a day or two". Then I waited...and waited...and waited. A few weeks later, I emailed him to see what was going on. No response. I decided to try to contact him via Yaxay (he still owned it at the time). No response. So, I thought I would try to reach him via VBulletin.org (he frequented that), and finally got a hold of him. Well, needless to say, it took about two and a half months to get my artwork, and it didn't work with vBPortal. I contacted him back to let him know, and he said he would set it up for me, but never did...and that was a year and a half ago.

So, basically, I paid $500 for a header and footer graphic which I could have done myself, and he never got it working with vBPortal as promised.

Oh, and reading some of his excuses is pretty amusing. He seems to have one for every time he screws up.

So how is Ravio right now? Looks like they're all back to normal again now?

An update: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=216154