Media Mechanic Review

PLEASE DON T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! If you care about your bank account, your business plans, or your sanity, do NOT USE MEDIA MECHANIC!

I first signed on with them in late 2015 with an estimated timeframe to design and develop a site and custom web application of somewhere between six months (June 2016) to 10 months (October 2016) maximum.

The site was to be released in phases, but that never happened deliverable due dates were missed or postponed with lots of great excuses. I was constantly lied to and BS d along the way about when I could expect any deliverables.

As for planning to actually launch the site, I was told dismissively for months by the owner (Paul Ward) that this was a business decision, as if it was not an important goal or the ultimate objective in having a site and application developed in the first place!

Meanwhile, I continued to shell out five figures every month for over 10 months. I was never given access to project hours or actual costs / budget data along the way but after 10 months, I was informed that they had gone way over budget with development costs and needed more money in order to pay their developers...It felt as if they were holding my site / application hostage at that point, since I still hadn t received anything that worked right for which I d already paid plenty.

The website that was delivered in early November never worked correctly and contained a lot of basic functionality and other no-brainer errors that were never fixed even after I paid them extra to do so.

In late November of 2016 the custom web application was delivered for my testing / review and that s when I discovered that it had not been properly tested or debugged nor was the development of major components of it completed; it was not close to being operational or functional. Nevertheless, I was told I had just 30 days to identify any issues / defects in order for them to honor their 30-day bug free guarantee any other issues detected outside of that timeframe would cost extra to fix. I spent the entire months of December of 2016 through March of 2017 chasing my tail in circles trying to identify, report, track, test and retest over 200 defects and issues, going back and forth with their receptionist (who was the only one communicating with me throughout that time). Very little if anything worked correctly and whenever something did work correctly one day, it was soon broken and no longer working correctly the next.

Finally, in mid-April of 2017, I was informed that all defects had been addressed and that everything was working as it should, and the site / application were ready to launch. I already knew this was NOT the case due to ongoing testing efforts and numerous errors received while trying to use or demo the application / site.

I then spent $15,000 to have another developer examine the code for the site and application. I was informed that not only was the codeset very poorly architected / developed, but that this spaghetti code could not be launched and was in no way manageable, would not support multiple users, would not facilitate mobile applications / APIs (which was communicated as a requirement from the beginning), and that it would cost me more to have someone try to make changes / maintain the existing code than it would to pay someone else to start all over from scratch.

Over $165,000 and 18 months later, I still do not have anything close to a functional site or working custom application. So now I am faced with the prospect of paying someone else tens of thousands of additional dollars and waiting several more months to have a site and custom web application built correctly that I can actually launch (and that can support user activity). I m still unsure whether I ll be able to salvage any of my content / data or at least some of the overall design.

So the moral of the story: BUYER BEWARE. And I also now know that I m not the only one who has been ripped off and big-time duped by Media Mechanic

You might find bigger teams out there, but you won't find better people. One sit down meeting and you will know you came to the right place. I started working with the MM team back in 2008 when they first opened in Portland. I have known the owner Paul since the mid nineties. Over the years we have worked on numerous projects together for all sorts of different clients. I have seen his work first hand on award winning projects for Fortune 500 clients. I have also seen his work on small mom & pop clients. What I give him and his team major props for is treating everyone with respect and dignity no matter the size of the client's project. I have the utmost respect for him, his team and the work they produce. Paul is a credit to his industry and you won't find anyone with more experience in as many disciplines. He is a Designer/Developer/Project Manager all rolled into one. Since 2008, I have gotten to know his amazing team. He has had some really talented people work for him that can build things I can't begin to fathom. He is loyal to his team and once he enters into an agreement with a client, his word is his bond. If a member of his team screws up, he owns it, and does everything in his power to make it right. What blew my mind was seeing that Media Mechanic has clients that have been with Paul since the early 2000s. Now that is loyalty. In my view it's a reflection of the kind of people Media Mechanic has working for it.

Media Mechanic created our new company website. I asked for something professional and great looking. They provided exactly what I was hoping for. Our new site looks great, is extremely fast, has great content and is easy to use. Now they are helping with our SEO. Their team has met the budget we agreed to in the timeframe promised. Great work!

I have worked with Media Mechanic along with knowing the owner personally for almost 7 years now. They are positive, knowledgeable, professional and deliver a quality product/service. They even went above and beyond when I needed fine tune adjustments to my initial request. I would highly recommend them if you are looking for a web/mobile app development team!

I have been doing business with the Media Mechanic team since 2010. I have worked with them as a client and I have partnered with them on projects. In both cases I have found their team to be beyond reproach.

When hired, they met every objective, budget, and timeline I gave them. When working with them on a shared client's project, I watched their team manage a very complex project for a major silicon wafer manufacturer with flying colors. They offer candid advice to their clients and stand by their product. They are some of the most level headed people I have worked with in my 30+ years in business.

Owner Paul Ward's two decades of experience clearly show. Their programmers are smart, and their designer is a great person to work with. Their office environment is fun and friendly.

My company has been relying on Media Mechanic s web development services for over 5 years now. Being a small business, my website is vital to my business income. So meeting budgets and deadlines while also making sure my site is always online was a huge consideration when I originally selected a vendor. They are currently building a second site for me and once again, they are knocking it out of the park.

I would highly recommend their services to anyone.

We at the Oregon Ki Society hired the Media Mechanic team for several projects. They have helped several of our dojos develop websites, helped with our organizations SEO campaign, create print and marketing collateral, and are currently in the process of building a new web system to track clinic trials for our Kiatsu program. After their help on our SEO, our traffic doubled within a year and has helped to bring in new students.

We have found their team to be honest, responsive, thoughtful and fair. Considering we are a non-profit organization they have always been sensitive to our budgets and never exceeded them. We would recommend them to anyone.

Although I speak from a place of bias (knowing them all personally) I can say that the team at Media Mechanic continuously impress me with the professionalism and knowledge. You should certainly consider speaking with them for all things web & mobile.

The team at Media Mechanic created the website for my dojo. I could not be happier with the outcome. It looks great and the SEO work they did had me at the #1 slot in search within a week of launch. I am amazed at how well they did. I highly recommend them to all.