I just wanted to share the disaster of an experience that I recently had with Ipower. I came to them about a year ago trying to put together a classified style web page to sell advertising space. I spent a signigicant amount of money for I was promised the world and thought the investment was worth it. Little did I know what was in store for me.

I was originally quoted that my full package would take about 3 months to complete. It's now a year later and the project is still pending. The designers at Ipower were robot like in the way that they had absolutley no ideas on how to improve my site or idea. I ended up doing it all myself. It would take 8-10 messages on their message board and several voicemails in order to get in touch with an Ipower rep and I usually wouldn't get the privilage to speak to them even once a week.

I was treated like I was an ant in a colony of millions and they could care less about me or my project. They had already collected my payment so who cares right? I ended up cancelling the project after speaking to three different management members. A whole lot of talk with no action. After about 10 months and several revisions the site still looks like my little sister together.

Unfortunately, after withdrawing from the project, and trying to come to an agreement with the company, they informed me that they DO NOT issue refunds and that my only choice is to take a copy of the project and try my luck elsewhere. Too bad all my merchant accts., business accts., Incorporations etc. are now all closed because the amount of time taken to supposedly complete the site.

All I havet to say is try to stay away from Ipower if all possible. Save your money and look for a real company that is professional in the way they work and treat their clients.

If you want more details or have any questions, contact me and I will be glad to elaborate more. Yes, there is much more. Sad isn't it?

Kind regards

So, this is about their web design service, right?

spent a signigicant amount of money for I was promised the world and thought the investment was worth it.How much did you end up spending?

This doesn't surprise me with a company the size of Ipower. They are more interested in building scale than relationships. Hope you find a smaller setup who can give you personal attention.

This really is a disaster for this guy. It is to bad that it had to come down like this. I can assume that he has invested thousands into this business he wanted to start and he got no where for a year. Shame on Ipower!

To answer your question, I spent around 7k for the project. Now, I'm left with a worthless product which they claim is "complete" even though half of the items I asked for are still not done. It is a shame considering I wasted a year of my time trying to develop this site and I get screwed at the end. You would think that they would try to at least be fair with me so that we end on good terms but no. They basically said that my only choice is to take the product as it is or nothing. Honestly, I am a business man and this is the most unprofessional corp. I have ever dealt with. I'm just trying to get it out there and I would appreciate it if you guys could help. I don't want them doing the same to hardworking people trying to start up their own projects.

Thanks guys. Feel free to ask anything you like.

I don't know your project, but as a software development company owner I must say 7k is a very low amount. In fact, I'm surprised a company as IPower doing this kind of development.

I spent close to $30k on a website development project that ended up the same way. $7k is alot to an individual, but in the business world, especially with application development, it isn't much. I've learned alot about software development since then. Most importantly, have all your requirements clear from day one and try to avoid adding to them as the project moves on. That, and pay as you go. Don't just hand over the cash and expect it done in 3 months. Many software development firms outsource, so they pay as they go as well.

I'm just trying to get it out there and I would appreciate it if you guys could help.

People have been trying to warn folks for years. The problem is people do not do enough research or they choose to ignore the facts.

My family business we invest over 100,000 a year.....7k sounds like a steal!

My family business we invest over 100,000 a year.....7k sounds like a steal!

For a project taking a year we charge over 1,000,000 .... 100,000 sounds like a steal! :D


PS: We work with big oil companies.

For a project taking a year we charge over 1,000,000 .... 100,000 sounds like a steal! :D


PS: We work with big oil companies.

Advanced applications are complicated. If it isn't done right, fine tuned, optimized, etc. whatever you save in development is going to be spent in hardware to make up for the lack of optimization. If someone wanted me to work on a project that would take me a year, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, I'd want well over $250k. Granted, a team will work more efficiently and effectively, but still, a team of 4 programmers working on a project for a year straight should cost well over $250k, if not $1mill+ as the previous poster mentioned.

Advanced coding is Engineering. Engineers get paid.

-Jason

Besides the point, Ipower said they would do something for this guy, and they failed. Even if it was for a small price, it still didn't happen as they told him. I think Ipower is in the wrong, not "Outcast Marine".

Besides the point, Ipower said they would do something for this guy, and they failed. Even if it was for a small price, it still didn't happen as they told him. I think Ipower is in the wrong, not "Outcast Marine".

100% agreed. He signed up and paid for a bill of goods that wasn't delivered as expected.

I understand what you guys are saying but my project is no where near what you guys are thinking or the types of projects you work with. This project was fairly simple and should have in fact taken no more than 3 months if focused on solely. I understand that a large company such as Ipower has several projects and most are probably much larger than mine but that doesn't justify how I was treated. I believe that they had a team set up that put in no more than a couple of hours a week if not less. I wouldn't hear from the company for two weeks at a time even when trying to contact them daily. I was just put on the back burner while they worked with their larger profit jobs. Even to this day there are things on the template that I have wanted changed since month 2. Simple things at that. Colors, grammar, font, spelling, layout, just to name a few.

I know that it wasn't a large amount of money but I wasn't looking for an extremely detailed site with extensive functionality. Actually, adding hosting, merchant acct. and additional charges, we are probably looking at close to 9k. I added a couple of things which were mentioned at inception but were apparently not clear so the charged me extra. My fault.

All in all, I wasted a year trying to develop a simple site that should have been done in a quarter of the time and I was NOT delivered what I was promised. Not even close.

I understand what you guys are saying but my project is no where near what you guys are thinking or the types of projects you work with. This project was fairly simple and should have in fact taken no more than 3 months if focused on solely. I understand that a large company such as Ipower has several projects and most are probably much larger than mine but that doesn't justify how I was treated. I believe that they had a team set up that put in no more than a couple of hours a week if not less. I wouldn't hear from the company for two weeks at a time even when trying to contact them daily. I was just put on the back burner while they worked with their larger profit jobs. Even to this day there are things on the template that I have wanted changed since month 2. Simple things at that. Colors, grammar, font, spelling, layout, just to name a few.

I know that it wasn't a large amount of money but I wasn't looking for an extremely detailed site with extensive functionality. Actually, adding hosting, merchant acct. and additional charges, we are probably looking at close to 9k. I added a couple of things which were mentioned at inception but were apparently not clear so the charged me extra. My fault.

All in all, I wasted a year trying to develop a simple site that should have been done in a quarter of the time and I was NOT delivered what I was promised. Not even close.

If the company was blatently negligent, and you total in your time lost, business loss, opportunity loss, etc. the damages are alot more severe than the $7k-$9k. I agree with that.

Have you continued pursing having the site done? It's highly possible a competent design firm could tie everything together, add your additional features, etc. for cheap as long as you detail everything up front.

I have not yet. Still trying to get my uncompleted project from these people. I will look into some other companies once I get anything settled. Ipower is really making things difficult for me and it honestly seems like they are avoiding me all together. I will check out the companies you guys mentioned and any other recommendations would be appreciated.

Outcast Marine, it is to bad. You lost more than 7k in opportunity costs like cybercon said. Is there any kind of legal action you can take? I hope you can settle this promptly with IPower and get your incompleted site back from them.

Thats why I left there hosting side, not a good company to deal with

First, don't take my previous comments wrong. Price can't be used as excuse. Never.

Being said that, reading the OP comments I guess the source of the problem were poor system analysis and feature creeping (tendency for product or project requirements to increase during development).

The developer must understand the customer needs / business processes / etc and then offer a solution -- requirements analysis and keeping changes to a minimum in a project are responsabilities (as many others) of the developer.

Some comments reveal the project was not properly managed signalling a supposed lack of experience of IPower in development.

The designers at Ipower were robot like in the way that they had absolutley no ideas on how to improve my site or idea. I ended up doing it all myself.

there are things on the template that I have wanted changed since month 2. Simple things at that. Colors, grammar, font, spelling, layout, just to name a few.

Actually, adding hosting, merchant acct. and additional charges, we are probably looking at close to 9k. I added a couple of things which were mentioned at inception but were apparently not clear so the charged me extra. My fault.

I have a new web design client that moved to Ipower. He had them move an existing web site to Ipower. The move was pretty well botched with not all the files being moved and things not working. As he said, he just got tired of spending an hour on the phone on hold only to be told to fix it himself ( he had contracted the design out to Ipower). I've been getting the site at least working. It is a pretty simple web site for a small business with a contact form, etc. and a few videos. Seems like ipower could have done a better job...