Neon Digital

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as a designer for a design company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with  Neon Digital?

We needed to update our website and add some new features to it. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Neon Digital provided SEO services and worked on overhauling our new website. The expectations were mainly for the website to have a lot of new features and to accomplish that in a timely manner. We wanted to have it done quickly. 

What is the team dynamic?

We contacted two people working on the project. 

How did you come to work with Neon Digital?

They came to us and offered their services, telling us what they could do.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around €6,000 (approximately $7,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Neon Digital from December 2017–January 2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

The project started out correctly enough, but there were a lot of frustrations because of delays and changes to what was originally agreed upon. When we were discussing things in our initial meetings, we heard a lot of “yes” and “no problem” answers. 

Things were good until Neon Digital became difficult to contact. After missing a deadline that they imposed on themselves, they became difficult to communicate with. When it was time to implement the features we wanted, everything became an issue. One feature wouldn’t work, or another would turn into something else. We had an extremely watered-down version of our original vision. 

In the end, we did get ongoing SEO services, but the website wasn’t as we agreed. It wasn’t good, and I wouldn’t call it an improvement from what we had before. We only kept it because we didn't like to do it again.

How did Neon Digital address the challenges that arose?

We sent them emails, but they wouldn't send them back. We tried calling them, but they weren't picking up. It became very frustrating. They were missing deadlines and were suddenly very hard to contact. 

How was project management handled?

Neon Digital’s project management wasn’t great. They did try to fulfill the things they told us they were going to do. In fact, they were able to do some things quite well and quickly. However, there were also things they completely dropped the ball on. It became too much work to gamble since we had to test whether or not — or how well — tasks would get done.

In hindsight, they weren’t very transparent. There were a lot of times where deadlines weren't met, even if those were deadlines they put on themselves. 

They would tell us they’d finish a task by this date or would have something done by another date. That time would come around, and they wouldn't even contact us. They would do nothing. We had to contact them through emails and phone calls until they even got around to saying they didn't actually do the task. 

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

They're great at sales and promoting themselves. 

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

I wouldn't recommend working with them unless the customer is very tech-savvy and knows exactly what they should be doing and what they should expect.