I signed a contact with a web developer (based in New York) on 9/21/2009 to build a website for me. The cost for the total project was $6000, and we signed a contract for the developer to be paid 50% upfront ($3000). The last half of the fee would be paid when the project is finished. In the contract it reads, "the web design company will take all reasonable actions to complete project by December 20, 2009. " I have not seen any work from the project and I have not heard from the web developer since January 18, 2010 in which he stated, “I will be back from South America at the end of the month and will provide you with a realistic timeline that will enable us to get this site up and running.” I have sent several e-mails since that e-mail, called their phone number minimum 20 times, and left several voicemails and still have not heard from the developer.
I finally received a response on 7/23/2010 after I contacted two of the web developers friends to make them aware of the situation I am in. I then immediately heard from back the web developer e-mail within 2 hours of sending a e-mail. However the web developer did not respond to me, it was his wife. All she did was apologize on behalf of her husband and continue to feed me excuses that her husband has "undergone a very traumatic experience with the loss of several of his family members."
I warned her that I need to hear back from her husband before August 25 or else I would have to pursue legal actions, and she followed that by he will be back in the country before then and will get in contact with me.
This all SCREAMS scam to me. And I had a strange feeling in the back of my head PRIOR to sending him the money that it was a scam but I was so caught up in wanting to get this project done by a professional that I ignored my thoughts.
First I directly deposited the $3000 to their bank account, and yes I still have the receipt. That was a major NO NO, and I knew that at the time but since he appeared to be legit and has created some good projects I thought nothing of it. You should never directly deposit money into ANYONE account and I knew that. We were in contact for 2 months after depositing money, he spoke to me nearly everyday on MSN. However we never talked about the project and if I ever asked about it he would say there's nothing to show at the moment because he is working on the coding. But he would contact me everyday to have a regular chit chat.
The MAJOR issue I have is that we signed a contract but I no longer have the signed version of the contract! He sent me his signed version of the contract via MSN, however my computer lost all data on it while doing a upgrade to Windows 7. So now all I have is the contract and agreement with no signatures. I also no longer have the MSN conversations. All I have is the contract with no signatures, e-mail communication, and receipt of bank deposit.
I would like to have the money refunded to me. What are my options since I don't have the signed version of the contract anymore?
