Using Codeleap for Website development
I used Codeleap for a social/business app idea I had in 2020 whilst the company consisted of just the two founders, Kamil (Ryszkowski) and Victor (Gimael). Over the course of 2020/21 they built the app and I was very impressed with all the facets like communication, quality of work, responsiveness, planning, etc. At the end of/during the latter part of this Project Kamil left CodeLeap to presumably, pursue other interests.
On the back end of the work on the app I submitted a positive review, which CodeLeap use on their website. I then decided to build a website to complement the app, continuing to use Codeleap. Unfortunately, this is where things started to go wrong, coincidentally with Kamil's departure imo most likely a large factor.
I presumed (ignorantly) that Victor would use the app as a base for the website - the two were after all supposed to work together. For reasons unknown, and in hindsight and what I can only put down to incompetence, CodeLeap:
- built the website from scratch, instead of using the app's database model
- did not provide a beta site for 8 months despite me asking several times
- added unwanted (and unworking) features which were delivered as 'free'
- ignored my (four) requests to focus on specific items
-did not provide a basic plan or roadmap for 8 months.
There was not even standard follow-ups to meetings (that I had requested), to confirm what was to be worked on. Whilst I initially put this down to incompetence, in hindsight I believe this was deliberate, with no transparency on the work nor what I was paying for e.g. he had hired a designer who designed a set of icons, (despite me providing them upfront), and a 'title page' which I did not either request or require. The quality of the website was also awful, with no working features, and the app was rendered useless as it was not in sync with the new (website) database model.
I subsequently terminated the contract, and relayed to Victor the reasons for such. We tried to discuss a solution going forward over my dissatisfaction over the Project - during this discussion phase, whilst I acknowledge that the contract had ended, I considered the service very poor, with replies to emails coming a month or two later. I was subsequently offered partial corrective work at a 50% discount, and then for nothing after I mentioned that the best way to satisfy the disagreement was to do so in Court, as per the Contract.
However, during these discussions Victor blatantly lied stating that '..in our meetings I did ask whether you wanted a roadmap, but you said it was not needed.' Logically this made no sense - why would anyone not want to know how their project was proceeding, and what they were paying large amounts of development for? This false statement was subsequently repeated a couple of times.
This put a completely different perspective on things, and made me question CodeLeap's integrity as well as the true reason as to why a roadmap/plan was never provided, why CodeLeap consistently ignored my requests to focus on certain areas, made no follow-up notes to meetings, etc - in fact, the complete opposite to how the earlier app work was performed.
Of course, the above is from my perspective only, and Victor will have his opinion - for example he vaguely stated that my development requests were not clear (despite being stated verbally and in writing numerous times)- well, if they were not clear, 1. why were they not questioned and 2. why were they worked on regardless?
Despite me asking (twice) for CodeLeap to remove my referral from their site they continue to place it, hence the need for me to write this review.
I have also noted that last year CodeLeap changed their address to a virtual office, making it difficult (but not impossible) to submit legal documents, which have to be served to a Director/the Directors.