Complaint Review: Sonitek International - richmond hill Ontario

I had worked with them for about 3 years, paying them in excess of $100,000 to build my platform.  When i asked to have my source code transferred to my servers, they refused and created a fictitious bill of $50,000 for work they never did.  I have proceeded to sue them in court.  After 3 years of what i thought was a good relationship, the owner refused to take my calls after levying this amount, and effectively shut down my business, by refusing to release my intellectual property.  I would be very careful dealing with them. 

I also brought them business from 2 other clients, for large projects.  They had estimated that it would take between 6-8 months to complete both.  Both projects are beyond 15-18 months, and still not complete.  On one of the projects that was not even deliverd, Sushan the owner demanded the blance of payment before any further work would be done.  I was forced to pay, even though they had not delivered. Even after paying they did not complete the work, and i have been forced to take one of the projects to another developer.  The second project is still being worked on, and hopefully will be completed soon.

When delaing with them, make sure you are in a position of strength, meaning do not pay until they deliver. If you pay, you will be pushed down on their priority list. I had issues (bugs) outstanding for over 8 months for my own project, and after paying everything they refused to release my source code, and transfer everything to my servers.  The reason they gave for not releasing my own code, was because they created a fake invoice for work they never did, of $50,000.  This was for a cost estimate for another project i was working on.  The price they quoted my was initially $125,000 and then jumped to $160,000 (they said because of the weak dollar).  This same project i got quoted from other developers between $15,000 to $85,000 (USD).  I did find a company to do it for $20,000 (USD). 

Why did they make up this fake amount?  It was to try and hurt me and my business.  They had let go one of their employees in December of 2015, and he was someone i worked with closely.  I was told that this person had accumulated a lot of sick days, and was given time off.  This to me seemed like strange timing, considering that we were in the middle of 2 large projects...but i accepted what he told me.  Then a few months passed and Sushan (the owner) told me that this employee, was working in another company to learn things to bring back to Sonitek.  I never questoined what i was told, because really it was none of my business.  Then in July of 2016, this ex-employee of Sonitek contacted me very informally, just to say hello.  By chance, 2 days after this call, Sushan asked me if i had ever been contacted by that person.  I had nothing to hide, and told him the truth, that they had called, and we talked.  Sushan then in his own twisted mind assumed, that this ex-employee and I had joined forces and were going to attempt to steal his clients.

The very next day i got an email from Sushan saying that i could have all my source code transfered to my servers, if I paid him $50,000.  Obviously i was upset, and tried to call.  Sushan refused to take my calls.  After 3 years and over $100,000 paid to him, he would not even get on the phone and tell me what the issues were. I had to put this all together. These are actions of a coward.  Trying to hurt someone intentoinally.  I have sued him and his company.

Please be careful when dealing with them!  After this happend, I did some research, and Sushan & Sonitek have had many other issues with clients, and have been sued many times. Look at this link:  http://fancybar.com/case_fancyvsoni.php 

Looking forward to my day in court!!!