Tanner L.
More Than Five Years, Roughly $100,000 Spent, and Still No Finished Product
My experience with Crowdbotics lasted a little over five years and was one of the most frustrating professional experiences I have ever had. I hired Crowdbotics to build a custom software platform for my business and was originally told the project would take approximately 6–10 months from start to finish. More than five years later, after investing roughly $100,000, I was still left without the completed, functional product I had hired them to build. Throughout the project, I worked with numerous project managers and developers. People regularly came and went, which meant I repeatedly had to explain the project, requirements, and previous decisions to new team members. Instead of consistently moving forward, the project often felt like it was starting over. There were also repeated disagreements over functionality that I believed had been included or already paid for. In at least one instance, I was able to produce invoices showing that I had already paid for a specific feature, yet I was required to pay for it again. Even after paying twice, that functionality was never successfully implemented. I also paid separately for additional design and development work. Some paid work was never delivered, while other work was, in my opinion, nowhere near the quality expected for a commercial software product. As the project continued, outside developers eventually became involved because Crowdbotics was unable to complete certain critical functionality internally. This resulted in significant additional expenses for me, yet important components were still never properly integrated into the overall platform. Another major concern was losing access to years of project communication that had taken place through Slack. When I later attempted to review the project history and gather documentation, I discovered that I no longer had access to the workspace. I cannot say whether it was deleted or whether my access was simply removed, but either way, years of important project discussions were no longer available to me. At one point, I began questioning whether my expectations were unreasonable because I am not a software development expert. To make sure I was evaluating the situation fairly, I hired an independent QA professional through a reputable third-party company to review the software. His assessment strongly validated my concerns. He found significant problems with the application and believed rebuilding it from scratch could be more practical than attempting to repair the existing work. That was extremely difficult to hear after investing more than five years and such a substantial amount of money into the project. My biggest complaint is not one isolated mistake. It is the overall pattern: repeated delays, constant turnover, disputed or rebilled features, undelivered work, additional expenses, incomplete functionality, and years of missed deadlines. Had the project been completed anywhere close to the original 6–10 month timeline, I believe I would have had a meaningful opportunity to bring my product to market years earlier. Instead, the project remained incomplete while the competitive and technological landscape changed dramatically. After more than five years and roughly $100,000 invested, I still did not have the finished software I originally hired Crowdbotics to create. I have invoices and other documentation supporting many aspects of my experience and would be willing to provide them if Crowdbotics chooses to seriously review what happened with my project. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Crowdbotics for custom software development. I also believe a meaningful refund or reimbursement for work that was paid for but never successfully delivered would be an appropriate resolution.