PRELIMINARY ROUND 1

“BET, NO ONE SAW THIS COMING!”

PANDORA’S WIZARDS AND VIRTUAL VIBES LTD.

COMMON FACTS
In May 2019, Pandora’s Wizards, an international betting company, decided to engage Virtual
Vibes Ltd., a dynamic and widely endorsed web design company, based in Bombi, to completely
revamp their existing website and social media handles, making it more accessible and ‘woke’ for
their young and evolving clientele. The contract stated that Virtual Vibes would design an entirely
new website for Pandora’s Wizards through which their customers could gamble on various
aspects of a single sporting event and create their own bets on the spot, without any restrictions.
The idea was to make the platform more communal and creative, making the customer feel like
they literally ran the show. The agreed contract price was INR 30,00,000.

Work began in full flow, and the two parties seemed to get along just fine. Virtual Vibes were
confident that they would be able to complete the contract by the 29 February 2020, which was
the agreed completion date for the delivery of the website and the social media handles, in full
operational order. Given that the website was due to be delivered on the last day of February,
Pandora’s Wizards made arrangements for a spectacular soft launch party on 15 March 2020, the
beginning of the UEFA Champions League knock-out rounds and months before the Olympics,
when they would have the big bash launch party.

As the weeks went by, paranoia creeped into Pandora and the betting wizards became increasingly
concerned about the lack of progress on the social media handles and a dysfunctional website. The
contract outlined fortnightly meetings where Virtual Vibes would gather feedback from Pandora’s
Wizards of the work development. Unfortunately, four meetings due to take place in November
2019 and December 2019 were cancelled at short notice by Virtual Vibes. Pandora’s Wizards
became increasingly frustrated over Virtual Vibes’ “unprofessional” attitude and ordered the
finance team to stall the second instalment of payment that was due on 15 January 2020.

After an exchange of a few hostile emails, representatives of both firms met in the first week of
February 2020. The meeting revealed that the website was only partially complete with a number
of elements of the original design non-functional. However, Virtual Vibes maintained that the
website was capable of being used in accordance with the original design, albeit with a “few
compromises”; the operation of the website was also slower than expected, but Virtual Vibes
promised to work on the problem and have the site moving much faster on the due date for
delivery. Encouraged by this, Pandora’s Wizards decided to go ahead with the soft launch party
and continued to promote the new look website to loyal patriots, who eagerly subscribed on loyalty
discounts.

1
Regrettably the launch party on 15 March 2020 was an absolute flop. There were clear technical
problems with the website and the whole design looked more like a “shabby job done by amateurs”
– a review by a local newspaper. The response of many elements of the press was scathing. With
loyal customers and first-time millennial customers flooding the complaints box, the senior
management at Pandora’s Wizards were much embarrassed and anxious of the future. Bad reviews
spread like wildfire, and so did rumours of the betting company sinking into an abyss of doom.

And then came Covid-19, and the world went into lockdown.

Pandora’s Wizards put the matter in the hands of their external solicitors, Malhotra and Daughters.
The solicitors immediately served notice purporting to terminate the contract for fundamental
breach. In the second week of April 2020, proceedings were served on Virtual Vibes under which
Pandora’s Wizards sought to recover the sum of INR 15,00,000 which was paid in the first
instalment in June 2020 and further claimed damages of INR 10,00,000 for investing in a “wasted’
launch party. The solicitors have also discussed with Pandora’s Wizards about claiming losses
resulting from the vanished potential profit of over INR 50,00,000.

Virtual Vibes responded to the claim by asking for time for the dispute to be negotiated, stating
that they had an “attractive deal”, they wish to discuss. Accordingly, both parties have agreed to
negotiate the matter. At the negotiation. Pandora’s Wizards will be represented by their managing
director and an external counsel, and Virtual Vibes will be presented by their financial advisor and
in-house counsel.