ComplaintsforPowder Keg Web Design-Econoprint Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  11/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Need a Web Developer? If u want to work w/one that will destroy ur functioning website, confiscate & hold it hostage w/extortion schemes & unethical billing practices all within 8 months, Powder Keg-**********, ******, ** is the *** for u. If u are fine w/paying $17K for a home page facelift, a pdf print button, a variant to a product build, a flipbook w/simple formatting, shell out more for a new website because PK never stabilized ur platform, reduce the *********** plugins before starting any projects, realize that due to this, their handiwork further destabilized rendering it worthless, this is the *** for u. If u want ur site confiscated by hidden hardcode, charge u to restore what u had & you catch on & are ok w/that, this is the *** for u. If u want a *** that operates w/o transparency & makes u dependent on them to change a font, pic, color, etc., bill u to restore those tools & billed before a project is finished to ur approval, this is the *** for u. If u want ignored emails, missed deadlines, stay locked out, experience increased unwanted dependence on PK, realize their goal is to ensure their rev stream & blow yours, this is the *** for u. If u want a *** to maintain ur site & security yet it is compromised 3x, be left to ******************** u w/a bill demanding payment before they will help, this is the *** for u. If u want to be dismissed, get intentional poor work, ask to speak to a sup/owner, to no avail, this is the *** for u. If u have a fam emergency, become a caregiver for a parent w/Alz. & are ok knowing it was their opportunity to increase self-serving predatory acts, this is the *** for u. If u want to have ur brand/vision destroyed, non-mobile friendly, dismantled nav/links, this is the *** for u. If u want to write endless dismissed emails, ask for a refund & have an atty threaten legal action to collect on manufactured bills, this is ur *** The same auditor & graphic designer prior/post PKs extortion ***************** can attest to all.

  Business response

  11/18/2022

  ************************************************************************************************ of *********
  10019 *****************************************
  *********, ** 53214
  *******************************************************
  RE: *************************** B.B.B. Complaint ID #********
  Dear ****,
  I represent Powderkeg *********** All future correspondence regarding this matter should
  be directed to my attention.
  **************** has a pattern and practice of not paying her bills and then filing complaints
  with the BBB as soon as payment is requested from her. You need to look no further than
  the baseless complaint she filed against IQ Foundry. Simply put, Powderkeg vehemently
  denies the accusations set forth in ****************** complaint. Any resolution will require
  **************** to get her sizeable account receivable with Powderkeg paid in full.
  Powderkeg takes its clients' trust seriously. Clients frequently trust Powderkeg with access to
  sensitive data, and to work on technology that is critical to their business. Furthermore,
  clients routinely trust Powderkeg to help them invest wisely in services, such that
  Powderkegs efforts have the highest possible chance of leading to a return on its clients
  investment. If it were to habitually, or even occasionally, lose sight of how important it is to
  maintain that trust, Powderkeg would not be a successful business. Instead, there would
  likely be a litany of complaints, and Powderkeg wouldve be out of business long ago.
  As to the exact accusations made by **************** in her complaint, it is impossible to address
  them. Most of the accusations are simply and patently false, and many others that do have a
  grain of truth are so mischaracterized as to be nothing like reality. We don't know if Ms.
  ****** believes that her accusations are true, or if she is purposefully being dishonest. One
  such example of ****************** deliberate dishonesty, is with respect to the source code.
  Thats a Wrap owns its own hosting account. Any coding changes Powderkeg did were
  November 17, 2022
  
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  BVV:emh
  November 17, 2022
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  always uploaded to that hosting account that Thats a Wrap owned and always had access to.
  That is the only way coding changes work -- Powderkeg cant upload code somewhere else
  and have it work on Ms. ******* live website. In fact, to prove she always had access and
  ownership of hosting, **************** locked Powderkeg out of the hosting account completely
  on August 23, 2022, and told Powderkeg to cease and desist all work. Here is the email text
  **************** sent which clearly shows she is and always has been in full control of her
  property:
  Ive taken your login off the hosting company for now and the backend of the website. This
  email is to serve you and Powder Keg to please cease and desist from doing anything further
  with all things related to my intellectual and confidential property aligned with my Company
  or my website. If there is activity on my property, I will view it as trespassing and act
  accordingly.
  In short, Powderkeg remains willing and open to a resolution with ****************. However, any
  resolution will need to account for the amount **************** still owes to Powderkeg.
  Very truly yours,
  ****** LLP

  Customer response

  11/18/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 

  The attached docs are SOME of the correspondence supporting my position. As well as images from the social media world that commented on Messenger specifically stating the same frustrations I have laid out in many of the correspondences with Powder Keg-Econoprint. I was ignored, played and exploited. And as a nice kick, they have launched their attorney to attack me as a person versus a CFO doing the job. I do not have any collections filed against me or my business. **********'s post quitting bills are a pattern of this industries need to have governmental regulation and new laws put into place to protect those of us who are seeking help and only end up with children with their hands in your cookie jar. In fact, I found evidence that showed the gross negligence on **********'s part and ************** scheme to ******* and those emails are posted on BBB. I have no collections against me from **********, and since you were also his attorney, you would have been the one to file it. What a coincidence that you are always the gun web developers go to with web development fraud. Don't they say there are no coincidences in this world?

  And thank you for bringing up **********, because I learned good and bad. At least he broke out and itemized his bills per project and how many hours were dedicated to it. Powder Keg-Econoprint did not. ** also started charging 'progressive billing' without notice even though they said they work by the hour. I knew to go to other web developers to audit and confirm that **********'s work was the beginning of the bloat with the website. I have those auditors reports also making sure I had my evidence prior to engaging with any website entity. Those are attached. There is no reason you can come up with that would negate that I didn't share these with Powder Keg, I DID. Look at the entire first 6 months of emails and BaseCamp Team correspondence where I ask for it, it is in every checklist and it has been confirmed by the same auditor that Powder Keg-Economprint did not correct the original problem and built their house on sand.

  And, there are many, many forms of coding: CSS, HTML, hardcoding, soft-coding, PHP etc. as well as many different themes, etc. How many comments did they interlace with their code to add bloat? Your **** comment that all code is the same is ridiculous like it is no harder than the alphabet.

  I want a full refund, and I have shown in the many, many ways with documented proof that malfeasance has occurred. Where is yours?

  Regards,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  11/23/2022

  see attached

  she has a potential practice of not paying her bills 

  Business response

  11/28/2022

  November 28, 2022
  
  VIA E-MAIL AND **** MAIL
  BBB of *********
  Attn: *************************
  10019 *****************************************
  *********, **. 53214
  ********************************************************
  RE: *************************** Complaint ID # ********
  
  Dear ********************,
  I represent Powder ************** (Powder Keg) with respect to the above-reference
  matter. I am in receipt of your November 21, 2022 letter to Powder Keg with ******************
  additional fabricated complaints. Powder Keg stands by its previous correspondence. Any
  resolution will require **************** to pay her bill in full. Powder Keg will not respond to any
  further inquiries until payment has been received.
  
  Powder Keg reserves all rights and waives none.
  
  Very truly yours,

  Customer response

  11/30/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  From the response, I can see that there is still a lack of attempt to come to any kind of resolution and this one sentence response from Powder Keg-Econoprint's attorney is just as indicative of the lack of professionalism and due diligence owed a client. Thus I have attached examples of:

  1. Powder ***'s Web Developers actual work that looks like it was designed by a child and misses all the simple web design 101 elements. They destroyed a branding, the 100% not mobile friendly platform with cutoff images and no navigation.

  2. Post from my ******** page where I received messages of people stating that can't access areas on my website, they no longer can find things, and a worst case scenario 'are you closed'? They affected the following I have had and with anything in this day and age, there is only so much time people will spend with anything on the internet. The product you see that Powder Keg implemented gives ample evidence to show that did not have concern for undoubtedly undermining ***********, product and contributed to losses both personally, professionally and financially.

  3. I also did online audits that are readily available to anyone. They are also attached that show without a doubt a child did actually design this website. Again, these audits speak of absolute gross negligence and incompetence in black and white. I used 4 different "health check" audits and they act as neutral auditors where Attorney Sicklin or Powder Keg can say that I manufactured. Because there is no accountability by Powder Keg, only "we completed our work" as the Director of Operation (*****) explained, this give ample proof that indeed they did not. And then when I asked for a cure, they quit.

  4. I also googled the internet and found several articles that show how other's have had similar or the same experiences with web developers. This is a scam industry since one of these articles is dated 2013 and it reads just as accurately today as to how the scams work and how things go sideways quickly. I have underlined many portions in both articles that I have experienced between Attorney *******'s clients, IQ Foundry and Powder Keg. My experience combined with the articles give added proof that this industry is fraught with fraud, misrepresentation and opportunistic predators. My documentation cannot be refuted.

  Powder Keg-Econoprint have devalued my brand, my reputation, my livelihood and after 22 years of building all of those, they destroyed and damaged it within 10 months. If I spent as much time chasing, asking, repeat, chasing, asking, repeat, I should have done just built the website myself and saved myself $20K. They have made it even more difficult to be a caregiver, and once they knew I was, the billing ballooned. They showed that they are opportunists. Powder Keg quit while I was in the middle of a crash of the website. All 3 crashes happened on their watch, and I was left to find out that the area that they were entrusted to caretake for me on the website was breached by a bad actor. No other entity would know the core logins except for me and my hosting company, yet they deny any knowledge of how this happened or why nor did not nothing to find out. They already knew the answer that they were the bad actors. They pocketed $20K and botched projects and left me high and dry. They had zero accountability for all of this and continually tried to turn the tables. I hired them to do what is supposed to be their highest best use. Look at the evidence, they are delusional in making any kind of assertion that I would bring any of this onto myself.

  I again, at a minimum, ask for a full refund and an apology in how their actions have adversely hurt, effected, damaged and destroyed absolutely every aspect of my life. I wish I never would have trusted this company and let this serve as a warning for others who are considering working with them.
  

  
  Most Sincerely, *******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩