Consumer rights with software developers

jsa986

Hi All

In June of this year i approached a software developer to produce an iPhone app for me.

We had a couple of web meetings and a price was agreed and i was informed that they estimated it would be competed and on the app store mid august. We are now in november and my app is still not complete. More than seven deadlines for completion have been missed. Moreover the actual BETA (test) app they delivered earlier this month, crashed and was not to spec even basic spelling was not correct. I since found they are farming out the coding to India I have paid 50% of the cost of the app upfront.

It was made clear to them that a competitor was developing a similar app when they found out about mine was in development, theres was out in August. Suffice to say i have lost a huge amount of potential customers who have used my competitors app and i cant get the developers to finish my project. In summary I have paid a thousand pounds up front for a app that was expected in August and have nothing to show for it.

What would your advise be for my next step, when I challenged them on the delays i keep getting fobbed off with "thats the nature of app development" Can i request my original money back as app is not fit for purpose and breach of contract for timescale? Do i have to give them a timescale first to put the app right? bearing in mind its three months late.

Any comments/opinons gratefully received

TonyMMM

You can request, but everything will depend on the actual wording of the contract you/they agreed. What exactly does it say about delivery dates, delays and grounds for cancellation ?

Assuming the company is UK based, you could start a Small Claims process to recover your £1k.

wealdroam

Your title asks for consumer advice.
Is this not a business to business transaction?

As such, most of your 'protection' will depend on what you agreed to in the contract.

Might be worth seeking further advice on the Small Business board.

Andy_L

jsa986 wrote: »

It was made clear to them that a competitor was developing a similar app when they found out about mine was in development, theres was out in August. Suffice to say i have lost a huge amount of potential customers

Since thus is a business-to-business transaction Consumer legislation doesn't apply and it is, as TonyMMM says, a matter of contract law

InsideInsurance

What does it actually say in your contract? Or as I suspect, do you not have a contract?

Without a contract which states a definite delivery date and repercussions for failing to meet those deadlines you aren't going to have a strong case. Even if you do have a written contract I'd not expect it to give a drop dead date because developer's don't like to have them because legitimate things can occur that result in delays.

You ultimately need to have a frank conversation with them.

You could look to issue county court proceedings against them but firstly validate who "they" are as you dont want to throw good money after bad and end up issuing against some 14 year old who runs his "business" from his bedroom in his parents house.

jsa986

Thank you all for your informative replies. Its very much appreciated.

There is no contract with delivery dates as predicted. I have an email stating

"This is extremely well timed and we should be in a position to have your app ready within 4 weeks."

Am i right in saying contracts dont have to be the traditional sighed variety and can be implied? Also would there be a reasonable time factor in all this? Based on the companies statement of four week program i bought there services. Id not have used them if thought it would be four months.

As no face to face contact has been made have i got any redress under distance selling regs?

Company is a LTD concern, not some guy in his bedroom thankfully!

The real issue here is that the guy who initially took my order massively underestimated the time this would take and now is dragging this out as i think all his profit has gone out of the project.

If I issue county court action im concerned i would have a counter claim against me for the work they have done and i have to take it up the tail pipe twice!

Ive had conversation after conversation with them and its just a hit a brick wall now.

vuvuzela

Dsr is for consumers, your transaction sounds like a business to business one.

jsa986

Duly noted

InsideInsurance

A contract doesnt need to be documented, signed or witnessed but without any of these having been done there is much more room for argument over what was actually agreed. As a precaution and for both parties protection a document should be drawn up to close off gaps like this before they happen.

The problem you will have is they said it "should" be 4 weeks not that it will be. It will not be overly difficult for them to come up with legitimate sounding reasons as to why it has taken longer than they first estimated and they will say that it was never expressed to them as time critical nor that they ever warranted that it would be delivered within a set timescale.

Remember that an Ltd can be setup online in under 20 minutes for about £30 these days and given it could have no money and only a single £1 share issued so dont make the mistake of thinking it is automatically any better than a sole trader. You certainly should investigate them more before issuing.

Have you ever spoken directly to the developers and cut out the middleman? Have had to rescue others projects before and done that; sometimes we've been able to get the development back on track and delivered in a reasonable time, others though we've discovered the developers simply dont have the skills to deliver the solution. This hasn't been good news for the client but at least we could cut it off there and let the client decide to do next rather than them thinking it will be coming "next week"

jsa986

InsideInsurance wrote: »

A contract doesnt need to be documented, signed or witnessed but without any of these having been done there is much more room for argument over what was actually agreed. As a precaution and for both parties protection a document should be drawn up to close off gaps like this before they happen.

The problem you will have is they said it "should" be 4 weeks not that it will be. It will not be overly difficult for them to come up with legitimate sounding reasons as to why it has taken longer than they first estimated and they will say that it was never expressed to them as time critical nor that they ever warranted that it would be delivered within a set timescale.

Remember that an Ltd can be setup online in under 20 minutes for about £30 these days and given it could have no money and only a single £1 share issued so dont make the mistake of thinking it is automatically any better than a sole trader. You certainly should investigate them more before issuing.

Have you ever spoken directly to the developers and cut out the middleman? Have had to rescue others projects before and done that; sometimes we've been able to get the development back on track and delivered in a reasonable time, others though we've discovered the developers simply dont have the skills to deliver the solution. This hasn't been good news for the client but at least we could cut it off there and let the client decide to do next rather than them thinking it will be coming "next week"

Yes I do deal directly with the developers. The director that i initially dealt with, who made the claim of four weeks now only gets involved when i tell them the work they have produced is not to an acceptable standard or not what i asked. Usually with some nonsense about we are working as hard as we can to get this done for you. They are aware its time critical as one element of the application is defunct as of jan 2012! (app is electrical certification) I was very interested to read about you experience with app development, specifically regarding the "not having the skills to deliver the solution", I think this is the case here.

What do you suggest are the options to do next?

Demand all monies returned and use a another developer (with a contract drawn up)?

Give them a deadline?

Cary on waiting for another four months and loses all customers waiting to download the app?

arcon5

I would avoid the court route as far as possible.

I doubt a software company will have expensive assets you can seize.

You should though start demanding the product is completed by a specific (but agreed) date and make it clear if it is not you will expect a refund. Hopefully the second the 'r' would is mentioned they'll pull thier finger out