I recently contracted All1Source for programming. I had looked hard for the right team, and despite their higher cost (they quoted me $14,850.00) I was sure I had found the right team for the job. Normally this would be beyond my budget. However, since I had just raised some capital for my business and wanted to be sure it was done correctly, I decided to go with All1Source.
Working with All1Source turned out to be the worst business decision I had ever made. I am writing this letter for the benefit of anyone that is considering working with All1Source. I strongly urge that you read this in its entirety. Then you can decide for yourself if All1Source is fraud, a scam, or just an inept development team.
Remember, development teams are a dime a dozen. If you can't find a team that you have complete confidence in, there is another one in line, that can likely do the job even better and for less money.
Normally, I would not go out of my way to point out the failures of a development team. All1Source is not a development team. All1Source is one person who has lied his way into the pockets of unsuspecting programmers in India and businesses like my own.
All1Source and the man behind the mask
It's only fair that both identities are properly recognized. Obviously, as you are probably reading this from my own domain, you realize that Music Forte is the company that contracted All1Source for their project. As for All1Source, it was only recently that I learned about their operation. Wilson Wong could no longer hide the truth, although he did his best. Despite the delays, and errors that occurred, he always claimed his team (which he led me to believe was there in Singapore with him) was in the office and working hard.. I spent many late nights on Yahoo Messenger, trying to get him to finish a project that was over a half-year behind, and he could never make any progress because he knew nothing about programming. He even had me personally complete part of the database integration because he didn't know how. So where was the actual development team? They had abandoned this project long ago, either due to Wilson's failure to pay them on past work they had completed, or because he simply felt Music Forte did not need to be a priority.
Of course I asked Wilson Wong many times, where is your team? How can we get this done if they are not there to help you? But with one excuse after another he kept me tagging along, believing that they were not in the office at that moment for one reason or another.
"As I have explained, everyone in the team has been working on it overnight and there is a limit that I can force them to." Wilson told me. In fact, when I finally heard from the developers, I learned that they had not been working on it at all, because All1Source had not paid them!!!
Yeah, I know I sound awfully naive. But in my own defense he had some leverage over me. We had already put about three thousand dollars into the project. I did not want to lose this money by giving up on him. So I mustered on to as much hope as I could.
Wilson Wong and the BIG secret
After being fed a hand full of lies, I finally pulled the plug on the operation. It was only then that the true brains behind the operation appeared. Wilson was working with a development team in India that contacted me via email. They explained to me in detail about how Wilson had lied to me and to them. The reason my project had not been completed is because he had not paid this development team for work they completed on earlier projects. They told him that they would not continue with Music Forte until they were properly paid for the work that they had completed (I don't blame them a bit). What was Wilson doing with that money? Whatever it was he did with it, I'm sure that he never paid 1 cent to the backbone of his business. It's such a shame that he would take advantage of an honest development team. They worked hard for him and they never received a dime.
The Bottom Line about Wilson
Wilson Wong claimed that they had lost money trying to complete our project. This statement astounds me. All1Source did not even get as far as hooking up our payment processor. But more importantly, Wilson did not lose a dime. Where did he lose his money? I know that the development team he lied to were never paid, and my money was never used as the contract stated. Maybe Wilson enjoyed a shopping-spree. If that's the case, I hope he'll pawn it back to rightfully pay the development team and issue a refund that I strongly feel entitled to. We've shelled out nearly $10,000 in business expenses over the time that All1Source first began working for us. The project was to be completed in only 12 weeks according to our contract. We could afford 12 weeks out of business - but over half a year? Give me a break!
After those 6 months of frustration and stress, we were told that there would be no refund, and we could keep the incomplete script. What am I going to do with that? At one time, Wilson Wong tried to hang onto us as a client, by claiming that no other development team would be able to easily come in and pick up on the phenomenal work they had created. He bragged about how top of the line it was, and how it was even beyond any similar project he has seen created by Yahoo or MSN. That story suddenly shifted when he knew we were leaving them. Now Wilson Wong told us that All1Source would be keeping our money as we could easily give the project that they started to a new development team, and probably have it completed for less.
Here is my conclusion - I could go out of my way to provide transcripts of my chat sessions with All1Source. I could even show you the Project Proposal plan that they so skillfully crafted in 31 pages (actually, the development team in India wrote that proposal, and Wilson passed it off as his own work). You might understand how we were awed into working with them. Everything was laid out in precise detail showing that they had a complete understanding of what we wanted done and exactly how they would do it.
Instead of getting into every detail I will summarize by saying this. All1Source can not be trusted. They've done plenty of work in the past for other businesses and managed to have success. I just wonder how many programmers he ripped-off to get that far.
The All1Source Scam - "The Proof is in the Pudding"
I have plenty of transcript available for the sharing. Including email from developers explaining how Wilson Wong had lied to me.
Several thousand dollars have gone down the toilet and I don't want to see him profit anymore through this deception that has hurt many businesses. Wilson kept two secrets.
One - he did not actually have an office where he could directly work and communicate with the programmers, because they were in India (I remember how he sold me in the beginning about how much better a Singpapore team was. "Indian teams will do it for less he said, but you'll get what you pay for.") Isn't that misleading? Obviously it's not true.
Two - The programmers were not working hard on my project every day like he insisted. They weren't working on it at all, because he had already failed two pay them on past projects!
I doubt much more than just a few weeks went by before the outsource development team had decided not to work with Wilson. And why should they have? He had lied to them as well and never paid them a cent. What a greedy little man he seems to be.
He did not finish the project even with over a half year of extended time. He lied to me, avoided me, he ignored several of my messages via messenger and email, and left us with nothing but incomplete script that he once claimed no other team would ever be able to finish.
All I can say to you is that if you are considering working with All1Source, think again. There are plenty of development teams that will do the work correctly. I'll be happy to recommend the good ones to you. The last thing that you should do is work with a lying project manager who doesn't have any programming knowledge and has no means of direct contact with his programmers. It's a recipe for disaster.
We asked for a refund of a few thousand dollars. Wilson replied to me, "Effort, manhours and development is spent, refund is never possible but we are releasing the source file for you to continue with your decision. In fact, we did not bill you for Delivery of Beta Test as we should be because I realize and appreciate that we are way behind schedule and it still has some minor bugs."
Thanks for nothing, Wilson. I truly hope the end of your scam is near. You've wasted over 6 months of my time. You've wasted my money. You've cheated Indian development teams out of their hard work. Music Forte is now moving on, and will be sure to get the work done from a person and team with integrity. Someone that can be trusted.
Greg
Naperville, Illinois
U.S.A.