Complaint Review: Ryan Gensler

I met Ryan through an ad he posted on Reddit looking for someone to design three websites for $3,000. We ended up chatting and agreeing to work together, so I sent him a contract didn't hear anything for a few days. I text him to see if he wanted to move forward, and he told me he did but because of having to file two LLC's, fix his girlfriends breaks, getting a new tire, and hiring an attorney and accountant, he couldn't afford the investment at the moment. Then he suggested that we do a trade, I would design his three websites inexchange for him bringing me new clients/projects that were at least $1500 a piece.

I told him that the trade was alluring, but I was concerned about getting screwed over. He said, "you'll be hosting it, and if I don't get you a project within two weeks I'll just give you the money." So, I wrote a contract that stipulated he would bring me a project within a week of completion of each site, with the schedule as follows: I design his personal site, he brings me a project. I design site two, he brings project. I design site three, he bring project. The contract was signed on 6/25/18, and according to the contract I had four weeks to complete his site. Everything was fine and friendly up until this point. His site launched July 16th, and he reported that he already had two contracts pending because of the site.

On July 22nd I asked him if he had an ETA on a payment for me, and he said that he did and would have it on that Wednesday, the 25th. I asked if he was one hundred percent sure and he assured that he was.

On the 25th I text him and asked him to send the paypal to the email associated with my business, and didn't hear back from him until almost seven hours later, when he stated that Square was allegedly holding his funds and it would be another 48 hours until he could pay me. Then he said he was waiting on an instant payment of $1500, and that if it came he would send me $700, but of course that did not happen.

On the 28th I text him at 9:21a to make sure a payment was happening, and didn't hear anything from him until 4:54 when he told me that his girlfriend was moving out and that he wouldn't be making a payment. I still have no idea why that would change anything, but I remained patient and understanding.

On August 1st I messaged him and told him that we needed to chat about next steps at some point, and even offered to allow him to make small weekly payments to pay his site off. He said that when he processed his payments that Friday, he would make sure at least $200 came to me.

August 3rd I text to see if he was making a payment, he said "that's the hope" and didn't hear from him.

August 4th I asked about a payment, and he said he would try to get me $500. I asked him to keep me informed. He text me later that night to tell me he has $250 coming in the next morning, and that he would send it as soon as he got it. I of course did not receive a payment. When I asked about it, he asked if I had cash app as if he was going to make a payment, but unfortunately that was just a rouse to keep me from breathing down his neck.

August 8th I text him to tell him I was going to send an invoice, and that if I didn't have 35% of the balance by that Friday, I was going to shut his site down. This lead to an argument where he tried to belittle and bereate me, and act that I was the bad guy for wanting to be paid for my labor. He called me a d****e, said that I misunderstood everything, and tried to blame me for his inability to handle the situation professionally. I had to remind him that his reactions were his responsilibity, not mine. (He was also upset that I text him on the same phone that we talked about his ex, and that I addressed him as "Bud." Ironically not upset about stringing me along and not making a payment, but I digress.) He then goes on to brag that his payments cleared and he's bringing in $8,000 in recurring income.

August 10th he text me pictures of conversations between he and the underwriters for the payment processing companies he was trying to use, so I agreed to leave the sit up for the weekend and asked him to pay me via PayPal, and when he sent his payment to also send an email detailing his payment schedule for the balance. Sunday I text to confirm his payment was happening, and didn't hear anything from him.

August 13th I took his site down, and then he had the gall to ask me to take it out of maintenance mode "just in case the underwriters checked it." I told him that I would take it out of maintenance mode when I had received a payment.

August 14th he showed me an email that stated his funds would be available on Friday.

August 16th he showed me an email that said his account with the payment processor had been cancelled due to too many returned items.

August 20th he text to tell me he was reapplying to BluePay, and asked if I could turn the site back on so that they could confirm that he owned a business. I agreed to a 48 hour window. I asked when I could expect a payment, and he said that I could either Thursday, Friday, or Monday. I asked him Wednesday and Thursday if his account was active and he said it wasn't. He then stated that he had a client that needed a website. I specifically asked how much he quoted her, and he said $1500. Later Thursday evening I messaged and asked if he was able to process payments, and he said "not yet, they have until 9am tomorrow!"

August 24th I texted him that evening and asked if he had gotten payments in, and he said that he hadn't but was "trying to make us some money." I said, "okay, we need to work the communication kinks out because I thought that he was repeatedly telling me what I wanted to hear. That led to an argument where he told me that I was "acting emotional" and being "drama." I found that ironic considering every time he gets called on on his lies, he resorts to turning into a petulant child. I almost expected him to kick me in the shin and pull my ponytail too.

August 28th I had a phone call with the lead he had told me he quoted at $1500, and when I asked her what price Ryan quoted her, she said that he said $500. So, I text Ryan and he tried to turn it around on me, as if I was there for his conversation with her. I reminded him that I had specifically asked and he said $1500, and he said that I was "misremembering." I sent him a screenshot of the conversation...considering it was literally four days before, and he blamed it on "things changing because he and I had fought and hadn't spoken." Again, I reminded him that we had talked about this lead on Thursday, and that his inability to tell the truth wasn't my fault.

I then called him out for being manipulative and how it seemed like every time something went wrong, it was someone else's fault. He then said he didn't know what my problem was, and that I SHOULD BE THANKING HIM for the project that didn't meet our agreement. I told him that I wanted to be paid in full for the prokect and that he would be on the hook for the difference. I told him that he was one of the most duplicitous people I had ever met, and that anything else he had to say could be sent to my email, and I blocked him. He then sent an email telling me that he was going to tell the lead he brought me not to work with me, actually his exact words were "I instructed Jill not to work with you."

August 29th I erased his site, and received an email "formally" asking for his domain, ryangpro.com back, as it was his. I told him that when I moved it over to be hosted on my server, I registered it under my name, and that I would be happy to sell it back to him for $1500.

TL;DR Ryan Genser is a snake and will come up with excuse after excuse to not fulfill his end of any agreement/arrangement he has with you. He's overtly manipulative and condescending when called on his bullshit, and resorts to sexist quips when he has nothing left to contribute to the conversation. I guess that's the downside to having an ego bigger than your brain.