لقد كانت تجربتنا مع Kraftbase، وكالة ويب هندية، مخيبة للآمال منذ البداية. على الرغم من نطاق بسيط يركز على استكشاف قوالب Shopify، وإنشاء تخطيط موحد، وتنظيم المحتوى وفقًا لدليل العلامة التجارية لدينا - دون الحاجة إلى أي تعديلات في Figma أو الكود - فإن المشروع سرعان ما فشل. خلال المكالمة الأولى للتعرف على المشروع، كان من الواضح أن مدير المشروع والمبرمج لم يقرؤا المذكرة التفصيلية الخاصة بنا، ووصلوا دون أي خطة أو رؤية لتقديمها.
قمنا بتوفير كل المحتوى والصور الضرورية، فقط ليتم تحميلها في حقول نصية بسيطة، مع إهمال طلبات محددة بشأن الأيقونات وأساليب البطاقات والشريط المتحرك وغيرها من العناصر المرئية التي يمكن تحقيقها باستخدام ميزات القالب الأصلية. على الرغم من الوعود بمسار تقدم أثناء تراكم المشكلات، لم تتحقق أي منها، وكانت هناك نشاطات قليلة على متجرنا على Shopify.
ظهرت خلافات مبكرة، حيث حاول المُؤسس تحويل اللوم بالادعاء بأن اختيار القالب يعتمد على صور العلامة التجارية، حتى وإن كنا قد اخترنا قالبًا قويًا مصممًا لشركات الطعام. أصر الفريق مرارًا على أن "جميع قوالب Shopify متشابهة" ورفضوا استكشاف ميزات القالب، واعتبروا توجيهاتنا "غير ممكنة".
بعد طلبنا استرداد المبلغ بسبب عدم تسليم المشروع، ادعت Kraftbase أن العمل استغرق 28-30 ساعة دون تقديم أي جداول زمنية قابلة للتحقق أو أدوات أو مراجعات. كان المُؤسس قد أفاد سابقًا أن الموقع يمكن إكماله في أسبوع، مما يتناقض مع تقديرهم الأولي البالغ 100 ساعة. الآن يحاولون تحويل عقد المراحل الخاص بنا إلى دفع بالساعة بمعدلات خارج العقد، رغم عدم وجود أي عمل تجاوز نطاق الاتفاق.
لقد خسرنا 50% من الرسوم المدفوعة وشهرين بدون أي مراحل تم تحقيقها، مما حول مشروعًا مدته أربعة أسابيع إلى مأساة استمرت ثمانية أسابيع. سلوك Kraftbase غير المهني، والمعذرات، ومحاولات إعادة كتابة شروط العقد تركتنا نندم تمامًا على هذا التعاون. ننصح بشدة الآخرين بعدم التعامل مع هذه الوكالة والبحث عن بدائل لاحتياجاتهم في تطوير الويب.
As a freelancer with relevant experience, here’s my perspective:
If you have a signed contract specifying deliverables and timelines, along with evidence that they disregarded your requirements (such as ignoring your brief for icons, card styles, carousels, and other visual elements while simply uploading basic content), consider sending them a legal notice for breach of contract.
Even if you don’t plan to pursue legal action, the formal notice shows you’re serious and may prompt them to complete the work properly. At minimum, you could file a complaint to attempt recovering your funds.
Regarding the 50% fee loss mentioned, that’s certainly disappointing. I hope you were able to salvage something useful from whatever they delivered.
The issue is that they appear to lack the necessary expertise. Their developer was unfamiliar with payment gateway integrations such as GoKwik, Razorpay, and Shiprocket, and also seemed unable to work with the Shopify theme. During calls, they consistently came unprepared and resorted to gaslighting. The situation they’ve created is chaotic, and their unpleasant demeanor has made it impossible to continue working with them.
It sounds like a chaotic and terrible experience.
I wish you the best in your ventures and hope you recover your money. Don’t let this discourage you or others from hiring agencies or freelancers—not everyone operates this way.
I have experience with Shopify websites and can guide you with your theme, from layouts to payment gateways. Since you’ve already lost money with no work done, I’m happy to help for free.
You hired a company that doesn’t even list an office address on their website?
I made the mistake of speaking with 4-5 people about my website and overlooked this issue. Another concern is their location: their founder’s Behance lists New York, and LinkedIn says San Francisco, but they are actually based in Vadodara, Gujarat. I only discovered this while researching their reviews and background. I should have been more thorough. They also have a negative review from an international client on Reddit in r/design. I wish I had gathered more information about them earlier.
Sorry to hear about your poor experience. Next time, consider working through a freelancer platform or using an escrow service.
While it may seem simple to use a downloaded WordPress theme and an editor, Shopify integrations and customizations take time. I’ve seen startups pay 5 lakhs and end up with nothing to show for it.
I advise not skipping the mockup stage—do it in-house if necessary. This makes communication easier and ensures the final product matches your vision. Many decisions are clarified during mockups, and the functionality can be clearly communicated to any freelance developer. All necessary assets would be included, leaving no room for misunderstanding between your idea and the execution.
As you mentioned, you wrote a thorough brief, but no one read it. Review the paperwork you signed and send a legal notice after consulting with an advisor. I know of two bootstrap startups that have been taken advantage of by agencies, so this does happen.
I hope you get a great website and recover what you’re owed. Best of luck.
Thank you for sharing your experience. We didn’t expect the work to be simple or quick, which is why we agreed to their proposed timeline and 100-hour billing over four weeks. However, when one of their developers took an additional week off after the Diwali break and we raised concerns about delays, he claimed he could finish the project in under a week. This suggests the initial 100-hour estimate was inflated.
We provided more than just a mockup: we reviewed websites, shortlisted features we liked from three to four examples for each page we wanted designed, and shared that brief with them via a screen-sharing walkthrough. Based on this, I believe they are not operating honestly.
I hope you registered your domain under your name or business name. Some companies have been known to register domains for clients and then demand payment to release them.
We have access to Shopify as well. We had granted them developer access, but we have since revoked it.
It sounds like you handled everything correctly and gave them plenty of time.
If you plan to hire another company or startup from India, feel free to contact me before finalizing your decision. It’s important to verify their capacity. You can also do this yourself by asking about ISO or SOC-2 protocols, which will help you assess their capabilities, capacity, and commitment to growth in the development business.
Thank you for sharing this information, and I’m sorry to hear about your experience.