Custom Software & Mobile Development for Crypto Wallet Firm
- Custom Software Development Mobile App Development
- $10,000 to $49,999
- Jan. - May 2024
- Quality
- 0.5
- Schedule
- 0.5
- Cost
- 0.5
- Willing to Refer
- 0.5
"Our collaboration with the company resulted in one of the most disappointing experiences we've encountered with a development team."
- Information technology
- United Kingdom
- 1-10 Employees
- Online Review
- Verified
MVP Masters was hired to develop the frontend UI of a crypto wallet firm's platform. The team was tasked to deliver a no-code prototype.
MVP Masters failed to complete the project on time and within budget, much to the client's dismay. The team was highly deceptive about the project's scope and requirements, and internal stakeholders were particularly disappointed in the service provider's lack of commitment and ownership.
This review includes the vendor’s response.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and position.
I am the CEO of an information technology company
Describe what your company does in a single sentence.
We provide software for users to easily interact with the decentralized world
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What specific goals or objectives did you hire MVP Masters to accomplish?
Develop Frontend UI
SOLUTION
How did you find MVP Masters?
Contacted Us
Why did you select MVP Masters over others?
- Pricing fit our budget
- Was a new company looking to start and showed strong interest in the project
Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.
MVP Masters was supposed to deliver the frontend UI for a mobile app in 3 months, the work was very simple which consisted of only creating the frontend UI as a demo app with no logical code.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
There were not measurable outcomes we were scammed out of both time and money by MVP Masters, now we have signifcant losses and damages to cover due to their incompetent and unprofessional behaviour.
Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?
Our initial experience with MVP Masters began very positively, largely attributed to David the lead/only developer working on the project, rather than Ivan's "CEOs" terrible management (there was literally no management, instead David and myself had to act as management on the project).
This positive start though quickly turned into a nightmare near the end due to Ivan's actions. Regrettably, our collaboration with the company resulted in one of the most disappointing experiences we've encountered with a development team, despite having worked with hundreds of developers throughout our careers. This was primarily due to instances of blackmail, persistent dishonesty, contract breaches, and numerous other issues instigated by Ivan the CEO of MVP Masters .
The main points of issue with MVP Masters:
- Makes commitments that he never delivers: During the course of our relationship with Ivan and his company MVP Masters we were given multiple commitments that were constantly never delivered and we were constantly lead on to believe that they were getting delivered.
- Blackmail: On the last few days of our relationship with MVP Masters, Ivan tried to blackmail us into providing a 5 star review upfront before completing the project for them to finish the project and release funding for a milestone that remains incomplete, if we didn't they would not continue (yes very suspicious and unprofessional attitude, as why would he need a 5 star review and closing the project with payment released before finishing the work?)
- Outsourced development: MVP Masters broke a legally binding contract by outsourcing in the last few weeks the work to a random low quality developer that made a complete mess of the code and in hiring this random contractor he breached a legal agreement (which we could hold him liable for)
- No management: During the course of this project there was literally no management, while we had weekly calls with David the lead developer there was very little input or even communication with management. Even David himself so I have been told was upset from the lack of management from Ivan.
Overall after 3.5 months we have only 20% of the project complete when the project should of only taken 3 months at maximum to 100% complete, we could now suffer significant damages in losing both investors (Ivan lied about what was complete and resources constantly leading us on) and requiring to onboard and outsource to another team to fix the remaining milestone 1 and 2 that MVP Masters got paid for, but never fixed (the code we received from MVP Masters is incomplete and requires around 2 weeks more of costs to remove all the unusable code to even make milestone 1 & 2 usable unless MVP Masters reply and provide the correct code) and complete the remaining 4 milestones that MVP Masters never delivered.
If you are ever to work with MVP Masters I would be very careful as their CEO Ivan has zero respect for any agreement, he will try to change the terms of the agreement and will provide constant false commitments while lying about the progress of the work and who is working on the project to essentially lead you on.
What was your primary form of communication with MVP Masters?
Email or Messaging App
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Nothing
Are there any areas for improvement or something MVP Masters could have done differently?
- Not attempt to blackmail to continue project is give 5 star rating upfront and payment before finishing
- Not break a legal binding agreement
- Not make commitments and constantly lie
Company Responses
The vendor responded on May 18, 2024.
I’d like to first start this feedback’s feedback with stating that I am baffled how some people spend their time and energy and how carried away they can get by their ego and pettiness.
I can assure everyone that this person received way, way more than what he paid for - and I have the receipts to prove it.
I’ve worked with various people my whole life in different capacity (as a leader, service provider, employee, manager, client, team member etc.). I have to say that this person (notice how I use “person” instead of stooping so low as to use actual names within such a public discourse, something he had no problem with) stands out in how difficult he was to work with.
There were red flags from the start - such as never turning on his camera - (I’ve yet to learn how this person looks like 😅) however we wanted to build our Upwork profile with some quick jobs as we were experimenting with a new acquisition channel, so we proceeded - what could go wrong, right?
It turns out - a lot!
The scope kept getting pushed, milestones were never approved, new iteration requests kept popping up and communication was very difficult. When we reached the third month of unpaid work the engineer assigned to the project was so sick of dealing with the person he threatened to quit.
That is when I decided to pull the plug, I tried doing it as amicably as possible with this person however he threatened to leave bad reviews if we do so, I guess that was one thing he kept to his word on.
We transferred full ownership to the code repository which had 4 months of full-time development work, which he received paid next to nothing for.
RATINGS
-
Quality
0.5Service & Deliverables
-
Schedule
0.5On time / deadlines
"Never hit a deadline and lied about the progress of the work"
-
Cost
0.5Value / within estimates
"Cost was average cost, but now due to their damages we have costs in the tens of thousands in damages thanks to them and months of time wasted"
-
Willing to Refer
0.5NPS
"Never, I would advise anyone that works with MVP Masters to be very careful