A major auto supply cataloger is trying to recover money it spent on an allegedly faulty software system.
J.C. Whitney, LaSalle, IL, filed suit in June charging that Renaissance Software Corp. (RSC), of Newton, MA, promised and failed to deliver 45 modifications to its Renaissance Direct software, and that the software didn’t work as contracted.
Whitney also contends that it was blackmailed into paying cost overruns of $117,723 when RSC threatened to withhold critical system source codes.
An answer filed by lawyers for RSC was unavailable at deadline, and attorneys for both sides had not returned calls. However, a representative answering the phone at RSC headquarters in early August said the company had been dissolved. Its Web site (www.rensoft.com) has been disabled; the home page no longer links to any pages within.
The firms agreed in January 1998 that RSC would license and install the software on Whitney’s 200-user computer network, Whitney claims in a complaint on file with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
However, Whitney charges it was not kept apprised of project implementation details, including status reports and cost and planning updates. It also says that RSC did not assign a dedicated employee to the project, as stipulated in the contract.
Not as Advertised.
According to the complaint, the base package was to provide online and manual credit card authorization capabilities, Internet connectivity, Federal Express and Airborne Express manifest systems, multicurrency features, accounting interface abilities and more. However, it adds, these functions did not exist.
The “system as delivered does not allow more than seven orders to be entered without shutting down the system,” the complaint continues.
Whitney seeks to recover more than $2 million that it says it will have to spend on third-party vendors to complete the missing modifications.
It also wants to recover overbillings resulting from junior-level consultant work that was billed at senior-level rates.
The implementation price, totaling just over $1 million, included $342,940 for licensing, $200,000 for managing and overseeing the project and $500,000 on parts and labor to make the software compliant with Whitney’s systems, th e complaint alleges.
Network
