Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  09/24/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In late March 2024, I hired Premier Strategy Consulting, LLC for a machine learning project, expecting 20 hours of work per week with a 1012-week timeline, targeting a July 1st completion. My project agreement was with *** *** alone and it was clearly represented that he would be doing his project. His extensive experience was reflected by the high hourly rate. Early on, Yao informed me that *** *******, a less experienced data scientist, would assist him, which did not raise any red flags. Despite clear communication of the deadline and consistent feedback during weekly meetings, progress was extremely slow, and the output was subpar. Initial updates, especially around data ingestion, were minimal. In one week, the only progress reported was that Anu had fixed a number-formatting issue (she had forgotten to remove commas). Meanwhile, I was paying $2,000 per week. Communication between Yao and *** was obviously poor, and they appeared uncoordinated in our meetings, with *** reporting work and Yao catching obvious, substantial problems. After much prodding, they produced a model with 150+ features validated on just 39 positive points, which was inadequate given the nature of the unbalanced dataset. Over the next few weeks, little changed aside from superficial feature engineering in the form of Anu just commenting out features in the code. Despite being clear with my concerns about the pace and the models lack of robustness, Yao assured me things would improve, but no meaningful progress was made. I then requested a bill and breakdown of hours and was shocked to see 80 hours for data ingestion and business understanding and 125 hours for model building, given the work quality. Yao also admitted that *** had completed 70% of the work, despite her being presented as merely assisting him. This misrepresentation, combined with poor quality work, has severely impacted my project timeline and product launch. As a result, I have lost clients and significant momentum.

  

  Business response

  10/15/2024

  Dear Mr. ********************** you for your continued communication regarding this matter.
  
  BNX engaged Premier Strategy Consulting on an hourly basis through Upwork to develop a machine learning model, which was delivered in June. Premier operated under this hourly contract, where services were rendered based on your approved weekly timesheets over a 3.5-month period. During this time, we delivered all requested work, and all the weekly timesheets were approved by ***. If the work had failed to meet your acceptance criteria, you had the option to terminate the contract at any point. Instead, each weekly timesheet was approved, and no significant concerns were raised until the end of the project.
  
  We understand that project timelines can be challenging, and while there were no guarantees of specific deliverables under the hourly contract, we worked diligently to meet your requirements based on the hours requested. Delays referenced in your complaint were primarily due to data sharing issues on **** end, as well as requests that fell outside the original project scope.
  
  We were surprised by your request for a full refund after 3.5 months of approved work. In good faith, we attempted to resolve the dispute through ******* dispute resolution process, during which an offer was made but declined by ***. Following this, *** sent a demand letter via email, and we engaged in multiple rounds of communication in an effort to reach a resolution. Despite these efforts, including a final offer we made in good faith, *** declined the settlement.
  
  While we stand by the quality of the work delivered and the terms of the contract, we remain open to further discussions to resolve this matter amicably, provided that prior settlement amounts and terms are respected.
  
  Sincerely,
  Premier Strategy Consulting, LLC

  Customer response

  10/21/2024

  Complaint: 22330906
  
  I have reviewed the business' response and am rejecting it because it contains some misrepresentations and fails to address major aspects of our complaints. Firstly, there were no "weekly timesheets" provided to us by Premier Strategy Consulting nor were these "approved." Every week, a vague set of objectives were outlined and these were often unmet. There was absolutely no indication on the stated number of hours performed each week or to which work aspects these hours were attributed. Only upon repeated requests after the conclusion of the unsatisfactory project was an itemized bill of hours delivered. I attached this itemized list to my original complaint due to the clear mismatch between hours billed and hours worked. Premier Strategy Consulting was consistently murky about the details of how the work they put in corresponded to the amount collected. Since this was done automatically by the platform, we assumed that Yao (our primary point of contact) would calculate this number separately and further made clear in calls that some weeks would need to be severely discounted due to the near-zero progress made during these weeks. Yao seemed to agree to this, but has apparently changed his mind.

  This response also completely ignores a core pillar of our complaint, which is the misrepresentation of who performed the work. While Yao stated clearly that he would perform the bulk of the work, he outsourced almost the entirety of it to a less experienced team member (*** *******) and even admitted to this in a call. We had hoped that Premier Strategy would at least address or give context to this point, but there was none. In our initial attempts at intermediation, Yao also avoided this topic.

  In making this BBB complaint, we hope not only for a financial resolution to our case, but to make clear to the business that it needs to adhere to better practices, including clear billing and accurate representation of who is performing the work. As restitution we are requesting a refund of at least 80% of the amount paid to Premier Strategy for this work. I reiterate that not only was the work subpar and required complete redoing, but significant momentum was lost as a result of the delay in results.

  Thank you,
  ******

  

  Business response

  10/29/2024

  Dear Mr. ********************** you for providing additional feedback.
  
  Premier Strategy Consulting operated under Upworks hourly contract structure, where hours worked were recorded and automatically billed by Upwork on a weekly basis. According to ******* policy, timesheets for hourly contracts do not require manual approval; rather, they are processed automatically unless disputed within a designated review period. During this review period, clients have full access to the Work Diary entries, which include activity records and notes for each billed hour. As no disputes were raised within this timeframe, BNXs lack of action implied tacit approval of the hours worked, in line with Upworks standard procedures.
  
  We also communicated updates on progress during weekly meetings to ensure alignment on objectives and to provide BNX with transparency about the work being performed. At no point prior to the end of the contract were there significant concerns about unmet objectives or hours billed.
  
  With regard to the roles within the project, our team structure was communicated to *** from the beginning, and all work was supervised to meet the scope of your requirements. While one team member took a role in executing some of the work, this was done under close supervision to ensure quality and alignment with **** objectives. As a matter of fact, the total number of hours the team worked on this project are significantly higher than the hours that's charged as BNX shared multiple times that there would be new work after the first project. Moreover, after concerns were raised by ***, the team spent significant number of hours without any charge with the hope to resolve these concerns. 
  
  As previously mentioned, we offered a resolution through the Upwork dispute process and proposed a fair settlement in good faith, given the circumstances. This offer remains in place, and we remain open to further discussions to resolve this matter, provided our prior terms are respected.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Premier Strategy Consulting, LLC

  Customer response

  11/07/2024

  Complaint: 22330906
  
  While I appreciate the continued communication on this matter, some claims made here continue to misrepresent events and our agreements.

  To begin, we wholly reject the claim that continued payment constituted tacit approval of the work. At multiple points in this process we expressed that we were happy to pay the full price estimate conditional on the work being completed fully and the deliverable finished before a fixed deadline. When we saw early signs of extremely slow progress, we continued to make payments while setting a clear expectation that the pace of developments would need to accelerate to meet our deadline. This was around five weeks in, after a weekly update consisted only of a very minor data cleaning update. Yao reassured us that our timeline was still workable and never spoke to adjust our expectations on the quality or the timeline of the deliverable. Check-ins on our end became increasingly frequent (and worrisome) as we approached our product release date and our model was still woefully underdeveloped. Yao still gave us hope that he could deliver on the model and began claiming that he was spending "extra hours" on our project, unpaid; this despite the ample time given over the course of our timeline. The continued payment throughout the time window represents only that the feasibility of completion was misrepresented to us and not in any way that we "tacitly" approved of the progress. By the last two weeks, we had already paid out so much that we could only **** *** would deliver on his promised level of quality. This never happened, prompting us to ask for an itemized receipt of hours spent.

  On the matter of Anu, we maintain that her involvement was misrepresented. Yao explained in the beginning that she would assist him with the project, which we thought would only improve the quality of our result. In a call on 07/17/2024, Yao admitted that he had done "30 [or] 40%" of the overall work himself. Attached are transcripts of that call, where Yao's statement is timestamped 42:01. After this admission he promised to in effect take over the project, but did not do so to our satisfaction. This was also a few weeks after our stated project deadline.

  The resolution proposed by Yao on Upwork was a $4,000 refund. While we appreciate the recognition that a refund is in order, it is our opinion that a refund of $15,000 is the minimum required to rectify the consequences of this poorly delivered service. We reiterate that our momentum was greatly hampered by this model shortfall and believe this settlement offer is generous.

  Sincerely,
  ****** ********

  

  Business response

  11/07/2024

  Please see attachment for weekly invoices from upwork. 

  Customer response

  12/04/2024

  Complaint: 22330906
  
  I have reviewed the business' response and am rejecting it because:
  
  Attaching the receipts is far from an appropriate response here. We have recorded statements confirming that Yao offloaded the majority of the work to another party when this was not the original agreement. This was only made clear to us after the attached invoices were paid, meaning we paid them under a false pretense. We want to continue seeking a resolution to this and want to remain communicative. We ask that Premier Strategy provide reasonable answers to our claims and questions or we will have to escalate this dispute. 

  Again, the evidence of misrepresentation is absolutely clear here and we have further evidence to substantiate that the delivered work was subpar.

  Sincerely,
  ****** ********

  

  Business response

  12/07/2024

  Dear Mr. ********************** you for your continued communication. We understand that you wish to address your concerns further, and we are committed to responding transparently and professionally.
  
  As previously stated, Premier Strategy Consulting operated under an hourly contract structure through Upwork, where hours worked were recorded, reviewed, and billed in line with Upworks platform policies. This arrangement was clear from the outset, and *** approved the hours worked without raising disputes during the review periods provided by Upwork.
  
  Regarding the allocation of work, the team structure was communicated to *** at the start of the engagement. All work was performed under supervision to ensure alignment with the project objectives. While one team member may have taken a lead on certain aspects, this was done to meet efficiency goals while maintaining the quality of work.
  
  As for the quality of the work delivered, Premier Strategy Consulting stands by the work produced and notes that no substantial concerns about quality were raised until after the contracts conclusion. At that point, we engaged in discussions with *** to resolve the matter and offered a settlement in good faith. Unfortunately, this offer was declined.
  
  While we understand that you are dissatisfied with the resolution offered, Premier believes that we have acted in good faith throughout this process and followed all contractual terms and platform policies. We remain open to further discussion, provided it is focused on reaching a fair and mutually acceptable resolution.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Premier Strategy Consulting, LLC

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