TechAvidus/Bhavesh Tarkhala Varsha Keshvala Failed to build app as contracted, missed deadline, refused refund Gandhinagar Gujarat

I contracted with Bhavesh Tarkhala (TechAvidus) via Upwork to develop a minimally viable product (MVP) app that required they complete according to furnished wireframes. Bhavesh offered two payment methods:

1) Fixed price or

2) Dedicated Resource, but really pushed the dedicated resource model - for a reason, as I later discovered.

I accepted Bhavesh's proposal on Upwork but he asked me to cancel that acceptance and directed me to Varsha Keshvala's profile to make payments. It appears the reason they do this is so that any poor review someone submits is done on Varsha's profile (84% job success rate) that is not used to solicit business while leaving Bhavesh's profile, the front man, unvarnished (100%) to lure additional customers.

The contract specified the backend be written in Node.js, the frontend in React.js and the database as MySQL. They missed the deadline (still not complete 7 months later), wrote the backend in C# and used MsSQL as the database. After discovering this gross error, Bhavesh insisted that I had changed my mind on the backend language the day before we signed the contract that stated the specific tech stack to be used.

I had an independent project manager review their code. It is plagued with problems and crashed all the time as they were running an enterprise app on a local machine, in addition to numerous other problems. It is as though they had no idea what they were building.

They had received, at final payment, $9,690. I demanded a refund, they agreed to refunding 1/3 but then we agreed they would rewrite the backend and fix all the problems under supervision from my project manager as my interest was in getting the job done. Once the refund was off the table, they stopped working altogether and vanished.

I attempted to get resolution via Upwork's resolution process but they said that since it was a "fixed price" contract, despite TechAvidus using a "dedicated resource" model (hourly work in disguise to circumvent Upwork's tracking software) they wouldn't do anything about it.

No amount of pointing Bhavesh to the terms of our contract would have him later accept responsibility for breaching the contract. Additionally, they had purposefully concealed that they wrote the backened in C# while collecting money for writing it in Node.js.

While I would caution anyone considering hiring TechAvidus, if you do, DO NOT agree to a dedicated resource model if going through Upwork. This is how TechAvidus circumvents Upwork's platform that would allow you to see what they're doing and, if there is a problem, disputing the billing on an hourly basis before paying them. If not, you will not see anything they are doing, if anything at all, while paying them per date-dependent (not work performed) "milestone."

The contract called for a September 25, 2021 deadline as I was taking the app to a conference. Because of the many holidays, family emergencies (and there were too many to count) and other personal days off, they did not meet the deadline for delivering the MVP and never completed the project.

Bhavesh and his team repeatedly contradict themselves, fabricate "facts" to conform to their stories, blame the client incessantly for every one of TechAvidus's missteps and believe themselves to be untouchable because they are in India and their clients are elsewhere.