Complaint Review: Epic Genius LLC

Epic Genius (M. Williams) was hired by my firm to develop an interactive website.  Contractual duties for Epic Genius included, but were not limited to: web development and programming, API set up and maintenance, server recommendation and maintenance.  After a contract was signed, Epic Genius provided a list of items deemed necessary for project kickoff, one of which was initial payment.  My firm was told no work would begin until initial payment had been made; I made payment on April 6th, 2017.

We adhered to the list of necessary items we'd been given: domain name and web URL, API account set up, server infrastructure.  We secured our domain and URL from godaddy.com, our API account was set up and included a free 60-day trial.  Epic Genius recommended Azure as a server provider and based on this referral we consulted with Microsoft ourselves.  We were able to build an IT infrastructure that would not only serve all our company needs and then some, we did so at a lower cost.

Per instructions received from Epic Genius we provided the pertinent account info for our domain, API and Azure accounts.  At the onset, after receiving an initial project payment, Epic Genius rejected all our requests to research our Azure set-up or any of the other accounts we'd created.  Epic Genius claimed the infrastructure we set up was not what was asked for, and that it would not suffice for this development project.

My firm entertained M. Williams' request to revisit our set up.  We consulted with Microsoft again, and were reassured that what we'd put in place was precisely correct for our needs.  M. Williams continued to resist.  After more than a week, with no work being performed, and after initial payment was made, my firm made the decision to end our contract with Epic Genius.  Our access allowed us to see that M. Williams never logged into any account we set up.  M. Williams never accessed any of my company's web locations, nor did he create any intellectual property.

Per the contract, I personally gave Epic Genius 3-week notice of contract cancellation, in addition to a cease & decease order.  This communication occurred on April 15th, 2017.  I received an e-mail from Epic Genius 6 minutes after I sent my own e-mail, containing 3-week cancellation notice.  This e-mail from M. Williams included his admission that my firm was correct in our Azure server set-up.

"The app service is a piece of the Azure solution that DOES make it more cost effective and easier to work with web apps and services such as sql databases, programming languages and many different web apps for websites and mobile applications." -- M. Williams, April 15th, 2017 1:10am PST

In follow-up communication I told M. Williams, had he done the research we requested, as his client, that we would not have reached this conclusion.  After multiple requests, Epic Genius has refused to refund the initial project payment.  I called M. Williams several times to no avail.  I sent several e-mails requesting a refund of my payment; all communication was retained.

On May 5th, 2017, M. Williams sent me a final statement, which was not itemized as requested by my firm.  Epic Genius continues to refuse my initial payment refund request.  On June 4th, 2017, I received another e-mail from M. Williams, in which Epic Genius extends an offer of partial refund for my firm.  No work was ever completed, no intellectual property exists.