Wayne Deviney - A Bad Experience
My last post, got me thinking about how the world changed and how one can find out a lot about a person by just searching for that person’s name.
Specifically, the thought that employers are looking online for more info on candidates made me think of “employee reviews” sort of like restaurant reviews. Of course, I am not talking about posting someone’s annual review here. I believe an Employer-Employee relationship is something that is almost like a marriage 
. It’s a deep bond where both sides sign on with a trust that they will engage in this business activity together. An employee (especially the one who take stock options) make a deep commitment to the company’s well being and employers offer to help improve employees life rather than just simply giving money for work done. Given that, i donot think it’s fair to share reviews, assessments about co-workers and employees with the rest of the world. Confidentiality is implied and critical.
However, if i hired a contractor ( a company or person) and that contracting entity did not deliver, then they are fair game for a online review in my opinion.
Here is my experience with one such contractor.
His name is Wayne Deviney. At the time of this incident he used to live in san ramon. He had prior experience as a CTO at Go Interactive LLC, Director at Scene One, Engineering role at Incenta and a long stint at Microsoft, among other roles. He responded to my advertisement on craigslist for a contract opportunity to code a IE toolbar. He was prompt and clear with his communication, and vouched that he’s also doing a contract for Hotjobs (Yahoo). He said that he’d be a better bet for doing something like this because of his long tenure at microsoft and his expertise. In fact, his contention was that he can build this very quickly (2 weeks). So we agreed upon a sum, and contract terms. He came over from san ramon to palo alto on a sunday to sign the contract and pick up the check.
Of course, as you expect, this is when my troubles began. He sent over some xml that i need to prepare for the toolbar to behave as i want it. I asked him some questions on it. He kept on saying that i’ll get something to you by end of day and missing. Then he started blaming his ISP, saying that he’s been prompt and sending me emails but i haven’t been getting them.
Suddenly he stopped responding to my emails, then my phone calls, then my voicemails. He definitely cashed in that check though. I talked to my lawyer and sent a notice to him that i fired him and he needs to return my money. Of course he hasn’t yet.
So, if you want to hire Wayne Deviney - Go Ahead. But If he tells you that his isp has ben acting up and his gmail has been acting up, you know what’s coming next.
July 29th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
Like with employers and employees, I think confidentiality is implied and critical even with a contractor and his/her employer. In my book, you don’t have the right to publicly say good/bad things even about a contractor unless
1) it was agreed upon in the contract or
2) at least you informed the contractor that you would post feedback on your blog if the contractor didn’t respond to your emails/phone calls in a timely manner
I hope you will consider pulling this post from your blog.
July 29th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Garam Chai,
i disagree. If i hire a contracting company to do some repairs around my house, and i write a review about them it seems fine. If i write a review about a restaurant i visited, or any other business entity that i interacted with, it seems fine. Why would an independant software contractor (a business entity) be different?
July 31st, 2006 at 10:18 pm
‘cozunlike a business entity, it is hard for an individual to change name when his/her name gets tarnished? (That’s why I think you can blog your bad experience only if at least one of the two conditions in my original response was met.) Also, your post might make your prospective employees think hard before agreeing to working for you—even if it is clear that your post is in response to an unethical behavior!!
September 6th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
Nothing this guy has said is slander or libel, see this link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libel
… “statements presented as fact must be false to be defamatory”…
This guy Wayne was a creep, and got stung for it, serves him right.
September 10th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Recent Update ***
Wayne was hired to evaluate and make recommendations to our software called Webcopilot. My partner took him in to our company and gave him a workspace and a dedicated server etc..
Well as of yesterday, Wayne Deviney now located in a holding cell at the Clinton Police Department, in Clinton CT for casing our store, then robbing it and stole several customer’s laptops and other things he could carry on a bicycle. He told us him and his wife were just closing on a house in Madison, CT, however he was living out of a motel. When he gets out of jail, You should never hire this guy, I wouldnt even let him near you. If you need verbal confirmation of this post, I would call my Partner at Networks+ In Clinton CT 860-669-4395, He can confirm everything I have posted.
Anyone ever wronged by this guy, speak up, this is your chance!!!
-Ernie
September 12th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
He got more than “stung” for his dishonesty, rescently he has been arrested in clinton connecticut for stealing over $4000 worth of computer equipment at PC Computers. He is currently locked up and awaiting trial. Unfortunately he has not been caught for his past debaucheries and offenses toward every person(buisness or otherwise) that he has ever come across. You are right sir he is a creep, much more than anyone really knows.
September 13th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
[…] About 45 days back, i posted about a contractor who was unreachable after taking some advance money from me. It took a bit of introspection for me and hesitation to post something negative like that. Eventually, i felt that as a contractor he is different from an employee and he deserve get reviewed online. I caught some flack for blogging about this contractor - private as well as public. I suppose most people were either indifferent or appreciated the warning. So couple of days back someone posted a comment to my blog about a wayne deviney who stole goods from them and got arrested, I was surprised. I went to news.yahoo.com to search for wayne deviney and i found this. The photo is the wayne deviney that i signed contract with. So now i feel that i should have blogged about wayne earlier and not have hesitated as much. oh as an aside, google news did not find this article, just yahoo news. Oh, i also saved it on my web, so the article can be cached. […]
September 13th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
If you search wayne deviney under google.com, your blog is the first thing that comes up…you might want to research his history with past employers in central Florida as well…
January 1st, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Personally I am glad that Ravi posted this on his blog now I know were my ex-husband is.
Tammy
March 1st, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I’m an educated craftsman,self employed consultant to the metal trades 40 years; recently I got stung for $3000. and $2,750 two different contractors each the referal of one bayarea design group- not one person has tried to contact me don’t return calls etc. . But they got my work and my goods-the’re dead beats scamming with no intention to pay in full . and to simply refuse to pay they can
invent a plausable reason (lie) or not- we have no power to collect.One contractor got so hostile towards me- I had to back away to protect my back leaving with out my pay.. And forget small claims it ends up costing more than it’s worth. I’m glad the guy that stiffed everyone got nailed we need to publish a contractor’s history and “behavior list blog” so these guys have something to fear if they go astray.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I have recently been swindled by a building contractor out of state. I terminated him the weekend I visited my New Orleans house expecting to find it in a state of “substantial completion”, only to find it far from that, and existing work done in a substandard manner. I terminated him with reasons in writing. I have asked for monies back, sent for materials and labor never delivered. He invited me several times to find a lawyer. I let him know I wanted to settle this amongst ourselves, and extended a deadline twice. I have put into motion processes with the BBB, Angie’s List, and the Louisianna Attorney General.
MY QUESTION: Is it OK to post pictures to a public facing website? It would save me a lot of time emailing pictures to various entities and involved parties. As long as I stick to the facts, isn’t it OK to share this information in such a public way? Will this hurt me in litigation if it goes that far? I’d like him to know they are available online, as well, to help influence a more expedient resolution.
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:15 am
I am a Central Florida business owner. I hired Wayne Diveny as an independant contractor for some minor technical work on my website. He took the money and ran. Anyone interested in Wayne Diveny should look up the public records in the Central Florida area for more information on his unscrupulous activities. This man is a bottom-feeder.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I was also scammed by this guy Russell Deviney, which I later found out his real name is Wayne. He scammed me for thousands and I’m sure he is getting a lot more from others. I don’t see any postings for him as Russell, so hopefully when someone searches for Russell Deviney now you will think twice before hiring him. HE WILL SCAM YOU!!!!
January 27th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
His Leagal name is Russell Wayne Deviney