Notre expérience avec Kraftbase, une agence web indienne, s'est révélée profondément décevante dès le début. Malgré un objectif simple axé sur l'exploration des thèmes Shopify, la création d'une mise en page uniforme et l'organisation du contenu selon nos directives de marque - sans nécessiter de personnalisation via Figma ou du code - le projet a rapidement connu des difficultés. Lors de la première réunion de découverte, il était clair que le gestionnaire de projet et le développeur n'avaient pas lu notre cahier des charges détaillé, et ils sont arrivés sans aucun plan ou vision à présenter.
Nous avons fourni tout le contenu et les images nécessaires, mais ils ont été chargés dans des champs de texte basiques, ignorant les demandes spécifiques concernant les icônes, les styles de cartes, les diapositives et autres éléments visuels qui étaient réalisables grâce aux fonctionnalités natives des thèmes. Malgré les promesses d'un suivi de progression malgré les problèmes croissants, rien n'a vu le jour, et il y avait peu d'activité sur notre magasin Shopify.
Des conflits sont apparus très tôt, avec le fondateur essayant de déplacer la responsabilité en affirmant que le choix du thème dépendait des photos de la marque, alors que nous avions choisi un thème puissant conçu pour les entreprises alimentaires. L'équipe insistait constamment sur le fait que « tous les thèmes Shopify sont les mêmes » et refusait d'explorer les fonctionnalités du thème, considérant nos indications comme « impossibles ».
Après avoir demandé un remboursement en raison de la non-livraison, Kraftbase a affirmé avoir travaillé 28 à 30 heures sans fournir de feuilles de temps vérifiables, d'artefacts ou de validations. Le fondateur avait précédemment affirmé que le site pouvait être terminé en une semaine, contredisant ainsi leur estimation initiale de 100 heures. Ils essaient maintenant de convertir rétroactivement notre contrat de seuil en facturation horaire à des tarifs hors contrat, malgré le fait qu'aucun travail n'ait dépassé l'étendue convenue.
Nous avons perdu 50 % des frais payés et deux mois sans aucun seuil atteint, transformant un projet de quatre semaines en un calvaire de huit semaines. Le comportement professionnel de Kraftbase, ses excuses et leurs tentatives de modifier les termes du contrat nous ont fait regretter entièrement cette collaboration. Nous conseillons fortement aux autres d'éviter cette agence et de chercher d'autres alternatives pour leurs besoins en développement web.
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.