Scott LaPlant, Elizabethtown, PA / Apptastik December 1, 2008
This post is to warn the web technology world about Scott La Plant, Apptast!k, LLC. (other Apptastik projects include CalendarApp, InvoiceApp, LettersApp, ProjectsApp and GreatCareersHere). It isn’t to say that all freelancing projects run perfectly, but Scott La Plant having issues with a contractors seems to be the norm, not an isolated incident. If you are considering working with Scott La Plant, please make sure to get a contract and a retainer before performing any work. If you are thinking of purchasing any of his applications, including InvoiceApp, ContactApp, LettersApp, CalendarApp, ProjectsApp or GreatCareersHere, please realize that you may owe money to those who worked on those applications as contractors. I did, eventually, get paid. I do not know if Scott Laplant and James Archer are one and the same.
I had almost the exact same interaction as you did! Almost down to the exact conversations! I had them in summer /spring ‘07 though on the same contact app. I still haven’t gotten paid! You should contact me at the provided email.
Also following up on my previous comment see
http://aaronbedra.com/2007/10/10/why-contract-work-sucks
I didn’t include names, but it looks like I should have for the sake of everyone else that I could have helped.
Calendar app is actually a rip-off of 37Signals backpack. Trust me, i’ve seen it.
( http://www.intranetapp.net/prelogin/unknown )
hey there,
that’s an awful story - i have a friend (female) , graphic designer who did a bunch of work for 2-3 folks online, never got paid and couldn’t make rent that month (she was still at school). horrible
Well well… Scott LaPlant seems to be still ripping off designers and programmers. When he moved from Michigan, he must have been running away for some reason. I was happy that he sold his house living only 2 miles away from him.
You see… I might have been his first ripoff. Every step that you went through - I went through. The great communication. Available all the time. Then he turned.
Bi-polar? YES!!! You should have heard some of the things he would say to me - promises of additional work, etc. Oh, wait, I’m sure you did since it sounds like he was telling you the same thing!
This was back in 2004. I took him to court and WON. He didn’t show up. He called me that morning and asked if we could reschedule the court date because he was still in Indiana. HELL NO. He would have lost his ass off anyway because of all the documentation I had on him. He wouldn’t pay, so I garnished his bank account. It was for only $500 + court costs, but WORTH EVERY PENNY and then some.
He has no attorney. What a joke.
I feel really bad for people who get involved with him. Stay FAR AWAY!
It is amazing to read about this person Scott LaPlant. I am a web designer and I worked for this person and after the work was done, he said that I am fired!!! :))
I was shocked… He never paid me; He is a very strange person. Do not work for this person even if he pays you upfront, which I strongly doubt… I hope this Scott LaPlant will be punished someday for his behaviour.
I ran across your site while searching for something, and I don’t know how but I saw your post on Scott LaPlant and had a good laugh… I am a designer and - take a wild guess - had the exact same experience with Scott… all promises of trade, etc. and no pay. With Bi-polar fits and then apologies of “just kidding”. The most it did for me is help keep me wary of crazy people while being a full-time freelancer. I should have known something was up when he showed me his applications, which were nearly carbon-copies of other people’s ideas.
Anyway, I thought I’d reach out and contribute my story to the pile.
Good luck with other (and better) ventures…
I made exactly the same experience as you guys, with one difference.. it was a guy who called himself James Archer. He made promises and was always available for chat, but when work got delivered things changed.. and I never got my money.
I can only WARN EVERYONE not to work with James Archer. In his chats he always spoke of his chief ‘Scott’. After some research on Google and other sites I came across this blog… and sadly I also belong to the victims of this criminal individual.
the email was apptastikjim@gmail.com
Another domain of this individual/organization is:
http://projectsapp.com
Avoid This!!!
I came across this somehow tonight and couldnt stop laughing. I did work for Scott in October of 2008 and it was the strangest project I ever worked on. He is definitely crazy and would promise everything and then suddenly go crazy yelling at you. I also got “fired” after staying up all night to finish something and never got paid for any of the work. Lesson learned I guess because it was from that point that I required a contract for all work. Also, all of his work is a rip off - nothing is original - he even told me so. He wanted me to copy css styles right down to the pixel of other sites.
http://www.odesk.com/jobs/Rails-Calendaring-Application_~~5c4d88f685b680be?tot=95&pos=1
http://www.odesk.com/jobs/CakePHP-developer-with-extensive-jQuery-experience_~~a36f874ac96b4ace?tot=15&pos=1
http://www.odesk.com/jobs/Reminders-feature-needed-for-existing-application-CakePHP-framework-experience-required_~~9057399f64553edd
Simple advice… Stay away from this guy! Don’t even get into payment up front, just avoid him altogther, your life will be so much happier.
Myself and my friend also started to do work for Scott for his web hosting site and a Hotel project with the promise of another project for Sexual Health for Porn Stars… That’s when the alarm bells started to ring. Never got paid and up until the end, our work was fine then all of a sudden it wasn’t good enough. We spent many late nights working on web apps for him with nothing but a kick in the teeth in return. Alas we were able to do anything about it as we are based in Northern Ireland.
I will say this one last time, even if you do manage to get cash up front do not work for this guy, he is all nice one second then he will just turn on you. His promises are empty, the guy is a con-artist.