Complaint Review: Global Web Design

In October 2013 I contacted Ryan Hilton, Vice President for Global Web Designs to inquire about a auction type website. I specifically asked if Global could build such a site. He said they absolutely could. I also asked if they could most definitely handle hosting such a website, Ryan said not only could they, but they have their own in house servers and are more than capable to manage a site and would do very good for us. 

I provided Ryan with specific custom functionality that I was looking for in my website. He said he was pretty sure they wouldn’t have any issues with any of it, but he wanted to check with his lead programmer to be certain and get back with me. I got back with me and said it would be NO PROBLEM AT ALL!

I contracted with Global Web Design in October of 2013 with the understanding they would be custom building the site and we were to have it completed by January. We held up the process with some design decisions and completed them in January. We met with Ryan and his project manager at the end of January to go over the project in detail and they said they had no problem at all and we would be ready to start placing auctions on the site on February 17, 2014. During this meeting, Ryan showed us a pre-built auction module they purchase from Open Cart for the website. It was listed around $149. I questioned why they were doing that when we were supposed to have a custom website. He claimed that it had all of the functionality we needed and it would be fine.

February 17th rolled around and they had still had not even started on our website. We had a meeting and told Ryan that if we didn’t see some movement, we would be going somewhere else. So, around March 10th, Ryan provided a web link where they host the sites during building. He told us it was a start, far from complete, but it would give us an idea. He said they had plugged in the auction module, but it was not working right and they were going to have to work out all of the bugs and finish the remainder of the programming, but we could log in and play with it. He provided us with a log in user name and passcode to get into this link that was housed on their server. This was not completed site. We had a lot of trouble even getting to it. 

I know enough about this to know they simply bought that module, programmed in our designs and that was it! They did it to buy themselves so more time because we were treating to go somewhere else.

Over the next several weeks, we called, text and emailed trying to get status updates on our site and they just kept saying they were “plugging along and working out the bugs, we should have it done sometime in the next couple of weeks”, we got the same answer, over and over every time we asked. After a solid month of this. I called Barron Hilton and told him that we were getting nothing but the run from Ryan and that I was tired of his lies and I want to know what is going on with my site. I told him he had already had all of our $9000 and we were supposed to have launch our site on April 4th and we can not get any straight answers. Barron said that Ryan is not a lier and he didn’t know anything about our site, but to get with their project manager because she knows what is going on, not Ryan that Ryan was just the salesman.

We requested multiple meetings with Ryan, the project manager and the programmer on the site and Ryan would not except a meeting. He just kept saying they were working on it and we would have it soon.

On April 16, 2014, I contacted Ryan Hilton via text message and again, we got the same answer, the site wasn’t done, they were working out the bugs and that he would be meeting with the programmer on Monday of the following week. I asked him if it would be done on Monday then and he responded with I don’t know, we are still working on the bugs.

I had been logging in multiple times a week throughout this entire process since they had given us acess to the server and nothing was changing from the first time we saw it. So I contacted the project manager as Barron had said. I asked her if they were building the site on a different web link, or was it still on the same one they originally gave us. She said it was still on the same one, she went to it and verified it was still it. I questioned her why it hadn’t changed when they had been telling me it was being worked on and had the site really been in programming. She told me she didn’t know anything about the site and that I would have to check with Ryan. I knew this was not true because she is the supervisor over the programmer working on my site and Barron had already told me she was the one in charge. So again, we are just getting the run around and they have “NEXT WEEK’ED” us all we could take.

On April 17, 2014 I called my credit card company to charge back. We went through every level and Global won their case. I spoke to my credit card company and asked them why they would have ruled in their favor, when I had all of the text messages and screen shots of the site not being finished and the link where they could go to verify. They said they are not a legal process and cannot investigate the site. They could not take any of my pictures or text messages as documentation. Because we had a contract for a site and Barron provided them with that link to the place where they were building the site and an IP address showing I had logged in, to them it looked like we were giving a site. Barron specifically lied to my credit card company claiming I had a site since March 10, 2014 and that he couldn’t help that I didn’t like the design. I never said I didn’t like the design. The site didn’t work! PERIOD!

After the charge back case was closed. I requested through Ryan Hilton, who had made initial email contact with me, to have Barron send me in writing how he can say to my credit card company that I had a legitimate website in March. Barron never responded to my request. Two weeks later, I sent Barron this email 

From Kelly on June 13th - Barron,You have claimed that I have had a working website since March. I have yet to be able to get into a admin for this site. The timers have not worked on the testing site and you Ryan has not put in any of the content that I sent to him and that he supposedly had done either. We paid you $9000 for this website and I want to know what you are going to do to rectify this situation?

I have made several attempts to get these questions answered with no avail. I have made multiple requests in writing to Ryan, your Vice President, for you to get in touch with me and I have yet to hear from you.  I expect you to provide me with some answers to why you do not feel the need to get in touch with me. If these claims are true, then why haven't I've been given an admin? Provide me with the admin and make the site live today. I expect if your claims are true then I should have no problem having a working, fully functioning site up today.

Barron’s response is, pay close attention to what is bolded in RED...

On Jun 13, 2014, at 12:44 PM, Barron Hilton wrote:

 Kelly,

You've got to be kidding. You have not tried reaching out to me. If you did, I would have received a phone call or a text or a voicemail. You have my

cell number in your cell phone so going through Ryan is absurd.

Immediately before and after the credit card dispute ordeal I tried calling you multiple times and I left multiple voicemails to discuss this. But you

wouldn't call me back. Now you want to talk.

Lori will reach out to you when she is available, it won't be today. Our firm is very busy right now. Had you worked with me and Ryan before the whole credit card dispute ordeal this could have been completed by now. But because of your little stunt, you have wasted 2 months of time.

We will send you the link information, but you will not be wasting any more of our my time. You have lied, wasted my time, and now you have pissed me

off.

Barron Hilton - President

After a heated debate (if you would like to see it, let me know and I’ll forward it to you) this was Barron’s final email to me...

On Jun 13, 2014, at 4:44 PM, Barron Hilton wrote:

Lori will be sending you a dropbox link with all the web files so you can

do what you want with the website. We have completed our end and the

project is

done.

Barron Hilton - President

I received the dropbox, but it was not a website, it was a bunch of files I had no clue what to do with, so I called another web company and they said that was a horrible thing for them to do and that there would be no way for me, not being a web builder, to know what to do with that. They also said they didn’t include any configuration files, but they have reviewed websites they build and wouldn’t take on their work because they don’t know what they are doing and they wouldn’t want to give me a site that was started from them. 

So, no site, can’t use what we have, Global will not give us our $9000! They also do not have in house servers they can host their client's servers as Ryan had told me. I have submitted a claim to The Missouri Attorney General's office. If you, or someone you know have had similar issues with this company, please let your attorney general's office as well!