GoIQ.net website

After 9/11, times were tough for developers everywhere, and I reluctantly found work building a data-mining "survey" application for a multi-level-marketing scam, trying to sell nutritional supplements. The "company" was just one sales branch of the MLM, run by a smooth-talking jock real estate mortgage broker. Can you feel the eXcItEmEnT!?!

This was a major application, with multiple data trees and lots of middle-tier development. Due to some serious scope creep, it kept getting more and more complicated. I put the brakes on the development until a new bid was secured. At $88k over 1 year, I was happy and resumed work. However, after 6 months of solid development, working solo day and night, I had only been paid a mere $3k. I halted work completely, demanding the remaining $41k for that six-month period. The client refused, and still owes me for that labor to this day.

Adding insult to injury, the company claimed to the IRS that exactly $5,000 was paid to me as an employee of the mortgage company. This was entirely untrue, as I was an independent contractor. Between the IRS and the state, I was forced to pay fines and interest, totaling over $7,000, all thanks to one shady businessman. The bottom line: I lost 6 months and $4000 on this project.

I'm proud of the work I did on this site, as it was a full 3-tier application with well-formed architecture and multiple interfaces for both public and administrative use. But if I were you, I'd avoid anyone named Robert L. Feland, Lifetime Mortgage, Lifetime Real Estate, Kingsland Properties, Global Mortgage, or North American Real Estate Services... just to be safe. Seriously, you'd do well to watch your wallet and clench your buttocks with this scam artist.