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Custom Postcard Integration for Handwritten Mail Company
“When I saw the output, I was able to recreate it in Excel with one formula in under 30 minutes.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO of a yellow letters and handwritten direct mail company that caters to the real estate industry.
What challenge were you trying to address with Gun.io?
We needed help creating a new type of postcard that clients often request.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They were hired to use a street view API to fetch an image and merge it onto a postcard. The team was responsible for selecting the right image for each postcard and preparing an image from there. The developer used Virtual Box, a Linux VM, and Windows VM.
What is the team composition?
We worked with one developer and two project managers.
How did you come to work with Gun.io?
I wanted a high-quality developer since this was an important project. I looked at Gun.io and another firm, and Gun.io was more flexible in terms of offering a smaller project scope.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $4,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in April 2019, and we wrapped up in July 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The project was a complete and utter failure, unfortunately. I have literally nothing to show for it. The deliverable that they gave me was so over-engineered and over-designed, that it couldn’t even do what they set out to do. The ultimate deliverable took several weeks to get it up and running. When I saw the output, I was able to recreate it in Excel with one formula in under 30 minutes.
How did Gun.io perform from a project management standpoint?
I worked mostly with the developer, who was very qualified. The project managers didn’t participate at all to be sure that the project was on scope, target, or budget in any way, shape, or form.
When we originally scoped out the project, I thought that they would be completed within their intro $2,000 package. I didn’t get feedback on developer hours until they were already used, and we were much farther away from getting a completed project. I ended up spending another $2,000 dollars, to try and get it finished.
Only after I was $4,000 in was when I got an actual quote that it would be another $10,000 to finish the project. When I did finally get this project finished by a different developer, it cost me $500.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I can give them credit for finding a high-quality developer.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They need to do a better job of keeping themselves focused and making sure the project manager actually manages the project. The team also needs help scoping projects, setting appropriate expectations in terms of cost and hours, and what’s being delivered.
They were only interested in getting me signed up for more hours. There was zero transparency with how much it would actually cost me. Not only was I in the hole for this project, but it also delayed me launching the feature until many months afterward when I was able to re-do everything.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
My advice is to be clear about what Gun.io is going to do for you. If all you need is a quality developer, they could find a decent one for you. I wouldn’t go back to them if you care about your project’s requirements being managed properly.
Gun.io’s work failed to meet the mark in every aspect. The team didn’t manage the project properly, which led to a grossly misquoted cost and an uncertain scope. The frustrated client abandoned the project and went to a separate vendor, who was able to complete the project at a fraction of the cost.