Apotheis
Midland,#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, February 05, 2007
We are pleased to learn that client will not be posting additional libel and further damaging our business. As with our previous replies, each issue client has raised is specifically and directly addressed below. 1) Client purchased 80hrs of our time. Client did not purchase 80hrs of our time, one 'Free Pass' for additional production with major design changes that ~doubled total project hours and the right to libel us here at this website. Client was completely aware of the budget at the time feedback was posted and purchased hours expended. It was very clearly agreed with client that feedback would be requested when purchased hours were expended. Client feedback was requested by us and posted by client without hesitation or protest. Here is our agreement with client: "Once we have delivered our agreed hours, we will request, and expect, Perfect 5 Feedback be posted." Here is the feedback that was posted by client: "Great work, very fast response times!" Adherence to cost - Perfect 5.0, Quality of work - Perfect 5.0, Responsiveness - Perfect 5.0, Professionalism - Perfect 5.0, Subject matter expertise - Perfect 5.0, Adherence to schedule - Perfect 5.0 Please note client's rating of 'Adherence to cost', Perfect 5.0. As well, from a previous post in this same thread, in client's own words, At that point in time, everthing [sic] was on budget as well. 2) Client wanted the additional deliverables that we produced beyond the original 80hrs purchased. Client paid for those deliverables and our time required to produce those additional deliverables. Client then came to this site and posted libel and damaging our business. 3) Client has libeled us at this website. Client has damaged us with this libel. Client has continued to damage us with follow-up posts. Client has now stated there will be no additional posts - we hope this is the truth. 1% of our client's give us this kind of trouble. It is simply part of this business. Not all our clients work with us in an honest and truthful manner. Apotheis myWEBSTARS Note to Prospective Clients: We have prepared a brief on this incident and will share it with you. Contact us direct at our website for details. Disclaimer: We do no accept the State of Arizona as exclusive jurisdiction for any reason whatsoever.
Aaron
Honolulu,#3Author of original report
Mon, January 29, 2007
Apotheis states: "Client is taking the position the hours required to produce the project would remain the same after client provided a major change in design direction which ~doubled required hours." I am in no way taking this position. Apotheis has failed to understand my position from the very beginning despite my numerous attempts to make it clear to them. I do believe that more work = more $. Here is my concern again, which has yet to be addressed: I was **not notified** that the extra work had taken more hours than those I had already purchased until **after** the work had already been performed and presented. This is my issue. I think I am justified in being upset about this. This is my last post on this matter. Potential customers: decide for yourself, but be careful and request that Apotheis notify you if extra expenses will be incurred before finishing. The last thing you want is to be told that the final project took more hours than you had purchased AFTER the project has been completed, and that you will owe more money to have it delivered.
Apotheis
Midland,#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, January 29, 2007
Our agreement with client was very clear that we would request feedback be left when their purchased hours were expended. We requested feedback be posted and without hesitation or protest, Perfect 5Star Feedback was posted by client and in client's own words At that point in time, everthing [sic] was on budget as well. Yet, client claims they had no knowledge of the project's budget - an untenable position. Our policies are clearly outlined in the FAQ and Terms at our site. Most notably, we provide a breakdown of hours when it is requested by client, not before. The reasoning for this policy is simple; the vast majority of our clients prefer tangible deliverables to administrative expenses - more value for less money. Client is taking the position the hours required to produce the project would remain the same after client provided a major change in design direction which ~doubled required hours. Based on the fact client clearly understood this was not a fixed-price project, client had purchased hours of our time and client posted Perfect 5Star Feedback for this project. This is an untenable position. This client's use of our absolute satisfaction' standard is a common fallback position for the very few clients who do not deal with us from a place of integrity, honesty and credibility. Clients who expect free service will not be absolutely satisfied'. Apotheis is a business not a charity. Every post at this site by client, lacking a full retraction of client's libel, increases our damages. We will neither use this site as a forum to discuss this client's libelous claims nor as some type of mediation channel, as client appears to have attempted with this most recent post. 1% of our client's give us this kind of trouble. It is simply part of this business. Not all our clients work with us in an honest and truthful manner. Apotheis myWEBSTARS Note to Prospective Clients: We have prepared a brief on this incident and will share it with you. Contact us direct at our website for details. Disclaimer: We do no accept the State of Arizona as exclusive jurisdiction for any reason whatsoever.
Aaron
Honolulu,#5Author of original report
Tue, January 23, 2007
The mentioned feedback was left. I do not deny this fact. I left it because at the time that I was asked to leave it, I was happy with the way things were going. The incidents that I wrote this report about happened after I left the feedback. From the beginning, it looked like Apotheis was an excellent company and I had no reason to believe otherwise. At that point in time, everthing was on budget as well. I have no issue with Apotheis charging an hourly rate as opposed to a fixed price per project. I just like every other customer of any service expect to be informed before my purchased services expire, and before work is continued. At the time I requested the 2nd version of the website, I was not notified clearly that there would be an extra charge to complete the work. This is my main problem. Only after the work was completed was I notified that I would need to pay more to receive it. I may be the first person this has happened to, in which case I think that Apotheis has a great record of overall customer service. If you are thinking about doing business with Apotheis/MyWebStars, they are probably a fine company. For all I know, this may be the first time this has ever happened. The only reason I am posting here is because I feel that these issues were not handled professionally or fairly when I brought it up with the company. I do not feel like my "absolute satisfaction" was all that mattered. I would be satisfied if Apotheis assured me and everyone that sees this message that in the future, they will inform their clients when a request for updates will run over their alotted hours before continuing with it, or at the very least, tell them a few hours before the time runs up. It would also be nice if they had some way of showing clients how many hours have been used on a project before just saying that their time is up. I think this is a fair request.
Aaron
Honolulu,#6Author of original report
Tue, January 23, 2007
The mentioned feedback was left. I do not deny this fact. I left it because at the time that I was asked to leave it, I was happy with the way things were going. The incidents that I wrote this report about happened after I left the feedback. From the beginning, it looked like Apotheis was an excellent company and I had no reason to believe otherwise. At that point in time, everthing was on budget as well. I have no issue with Apotheis charging an hourly rate as opposed to a fixed price per project. I just like every other customer of any service expect to be informed before my purchased services expire, and before work is continued. At the time I requested the 2nd version of the website, I was not notified clearly that there would be an extra charge to complete the work. This is my main problem. Only after the work was completed was I notified that I would need to pay more to receive it. I may be the first person this has happened to, in which case I think that Apotheis has a great record of overall customer service. If you are thinking about doing business with Apotheis/MyWebStars, they are probably a fine company. For all I know, this may be the first time this has ever happened. The only reason I am posting here is because I feel that these issues were not handled professionally or fairly when I brought it up with the company. I do not feel like my "absolute satisfaction" was all that mattered. I would be satisfied if Apotheis assured me and everyone that sees this message that in the future, they will inform their clients when a request for updates will run over their alotted hours before continuing with it, or at the very least, tell them a few hours before the time runs up. It would also be nice if they had some way of showing clients how many hours have been used on a project before just saying that their time is up. I think this is a fair request.
Aaron
Honolulu,#7Author of original report
Tue, January 23, 2007
The mentioned feedback was left. I do not deny this fact. I left it because at the time that I was asked to leave it, I was happy with the way things were going. The incidents that I wrote this report about happened after I left the feedback. From the beginning, it looked like Apotheis was an excellent company and I had no reason to believe otherwise. At that point in time, everthing was on budget as well. I have no issue with Apotheis charging an hourly rate as opposed to a fixed price per project. I just like every other customer of any service expect to be informed before my purchased services expire, and before work is continued. At the time I requested the 2nd version of the website, I was not notified clearly that there would be an extra charge to complete the work. This is my main problem. Only after the work was completed was I notified that I would need to pay more to receive it. I may be the first person this has happened to, in which case I think that Apotheis has a great record of overall customer service. If you are thinking about doing business with Apotheis/MyWebStars, they are probably a fine company. For all I know, this may be the first time this has ever happened. The only reason I am posting here is because I feel that these issues were not handled professionally or fairly when I brought it up with the company. I do not feel like my "absolute satisfaction" was all that mattered. I would be satisfied if Apotheis assured me and everyone that sees this message that in the future, they will inform their clients when a request for updates will run over their alotted hours before continuing with it, or at the very least, tell them a few hours before the time runs up. It would also be nice if they had some way of showing clients how many hours have been used on a project before just saying that their time is up. I think this is a fair request.
Aaron
Honolulu,#8Author of original report
Tue, January 23, 2007
The mentioned feedback was left. I do not deny this fact. I left it because at the time that I was asked to leave it, I was happy with the way things were going. The incidents that I wrote this report about happened after I left the feedback. From the beginning, it looked like Apotheis was an excellent company and I had no reason to believe otherwise. At that point in time, everthing was on budget as well. I have no issue with Apotheis charging an hourly rate as opposed to a fixed price per project. I just like every other customer of any service expect to be informed before my purchased services expire, and before work is continued. At the time I requested the 2nd version of the website, I was not notified clearly that there would be an extra charge to complete the work. This is my main problem. Only after the work was completed was I notified that I would need to pay more to receive it. I may be the first person this has happened to, in which case I think that Apotheis has a great record of overall customer service. If you are thinking about doing business with Apotheis/MyWebStars, they are probably a fine company. For all I know, this may be the first time this has ever happened. The only reason I am posting here is because I feel that these issues were not handled professionally or fairly when I brought it up with the company. I do not feel like my "absolute satisfaction" was all that mattered. I would be satisfied if Apotheis assured me and everyone that sees this message that in the future, they will inform their clients when a request for updates will run over their alotted hours before continuing with it, or at the very least, tell them a few hours before the time runs up. It would also be nice if they had some way of showing clients how many hours have been used on a project before just saying that their time is up. I think this is a fair request.
Apotheis
Midland,#9UPDATE Employee
Tue, January 23, 2007
Why was this posted anonymously - we can only assume this client did not want reveal his name, domains, nor his clients' information. If so, that is fine. We will respect this inferred request for privacy, for now. Hours of our time were purchased. This was not a fixed-price project. As was agreed, when client's purchased hours were expended, we requested client post feedback for this project. The feedback below was posted without hesitation or protest. "Great work, very fast response times!" Adherence to cost - Perfect 5.0 Quality of work - Perfect 5.0 Responsiveness - Perfect 5.0 Professionalism - Perfect 5.0 Subject matter expertise - Perfect 5.0 Adherence to schedule - Perfect 5.0 Take special note of client's evaluation of our 'Adherence to cost' in the above review. We will send the URL to this feedback upon request. Contact us direct at our site. Client stopped this project at almost full delivery and provided major redirection. The entire site, both Flash and HTML versions, had to be re-produced a second time. It was not, and is not, our responsibility to absorb project overages. Hours of our time were purchased - nothing more and nothing less. In client's own words, in discussions with our Project Manager prior to client's award of this project to us... "I certainly understand... the worst thing in the world is when a fixed price project goes awry and the client starts changing their mind on everything." Once client's hours were expended. We continued production with absolutely no guarantee of payment. Client did not authorize this additional production and we never expected client to pay for it - unless client wanted it. As it turned-out, client did want what we produced. And, client paid for it. Client was offered what was produced for the original purchased block of hours, without any additional payment, and client never responded. Client wanted the completed site and all source files - and, client paid for the hours we expended to produce those deliverables, major redirection and all source files included. Then, client went to this site and posted this libel. The very next day, client approached our Project Manager again and requested a quote from us to complete the remaining CMS portion of this project. Contrary to the libel this client has posted here, we deal with all our clients from a place of integrity. That is the reason we have such an exceptional reputation and why we have so many wonderful testimonials and such overwhelmingly positive feedback for our projects - including this client's Perfect 5 feedback. Unfortunately, not all our clients, deal with us from a place of integrity. 1% of our client's give us this kind of trouble. It is simply part of this business. Not all our clients work with us in an honest and truthful manner. Apotheis myWEBSTARS Note to Prospective Clients: We have prepared a brief on this incident and will share it with you. Contact us direct at our website for details. Disclaimer: We do no accept the State of Arizona as exclusive jurisdiction for any reason whatsoever.