I used Penguin Suits years ago for a basic website. It was acceptable..it was very basic, something that I realize now that I could do by myself with godaddy programs, but at the time I didn't know all of that.The owner, Fast forward. Now, years later, I decide to have a somewhat more detailed website. I know that it isn't something that I can do myself, even though I am now pretty proficient with basic designs. After spending weeks on the phone talking to designers all over the world, i remembered Penguin Suits and gave them a call.
I told Debi the owner how fearful that I was to deal with companies that are out of the country as many are, and would prefer a local company. She listened to what i told her that i was looking for, and I gave her a few sites to look at that were similar to what I wanted. She got back to me in a timely fashion with an estimate that wasn't the highest of the others that I had received...but was not near the lowest either. I figured that it was a fair price ( it was in the thousands ) and she assured me that the site should be up and running in 6 to 8 weeks. She required over half of it to be paid up front with the balance upon completion.
Fast forward to 7 months from then. My website is still not up. I am being told that they have fired the company in India that they had hired to do the site and that they were trying to find someone else. Wow...had I known that they were going to hire complete unknowns in India, I would have done it myself ! I offered at this point to try to find someone myself to finish it, and we agreed that if I did I would pay the balance owed to them and not her.
I must have called 20 places. debi and I agree on one thing...between all of the searching that she had done and all the I had done, neither of us could find anyone willing to "fix" the site. they all wanted to start from scratch and of course charge the full amount over. i told her that I couldn't find anyone and that she had to either finish the site or refund my money. She sent me a letter stating that she had put x number of hours in it and that no..she would not give me any money back, nor did she apparently have any intent on finishing it.
I explained to her that if I went to baker to buy a cake and when I arrived the cake was charred and burned and inedible that I should not have to pay for the hours that he took to make the cake, nor for the ingredients. She said , "well, you have what we have done of the website". i told her that i had no intention of acquiring any unjust enrichment and she could keep the entire mess...along with the domain and name. She still absurdly believes that she owes me nothing. Our agreement was "you make me a functioning website and I will pay you for it". not, "You try to make me a functioning website and if it doesn't work out and you get sick of it and quit then I will pay for any time and energy that you have expended on the project". Still can't figure out how this company can justify keeping my money.
Forced to have to file a lawsuit ( which i have done ) , as sometimes it takes a third party opinion to beat some sense into people.
I would not recommend this company, unless you need a very basic website, (the one that I had paid them for was NOT some crazy difficult site,,,it was actually just a simple search site) but would still be hesitant about paying them any upfront fees.
Penguin Suits Reviews
I used Penguin Suits years ago for a basic website. It was acceptable..it was very basic, something that I realize now that I could do by myself with godaddy programs, but at the time I didn't know all of that.The owner, Fast forward. Now, years later, I decide to have a somewhat more detailed website. I know that it isn't something that I can do myself, even though I am now pretty proficient with basic designs. After spending weeks on the phone talking to designers all over the world, i remembered Penguin Suits and gave them a call.
I told Debi the owner how fearful that I was to deal with companies that are out of the country as many are, and would prefer a local company. She listened to what i told her that i was looking for, and I gave her a few sites to look at that were similar to what I wanted. She got back to me in a timely fashion with an estimate that wasn't the highest of the others that I had received...but was not near the lowest either. I figured that it was a fair price ( it was in the thousands ) and she assured me that the site should be up and running in 6 to 8 weeks. She required over half of it to be paid up front with the balance upon completion.
Fast forward to 7 months from then. My website is still not up. I am being told that they have fired the company in India that they had hired to do the site and that they were trying to find someone else. Wow...had I known that they were going to hire complete unknowns in India, I would have done it myself ! I offered at this point to try to find someone myself to finish it, and we agreed that if I did I would pay the balance owed to them and not her.
I must have called 20 places. debi and I agree on one thing...between all of the searching that she had done and all the I had done, neither of us could find anyone willing to "fix" the site. they all wanted to start from scratch and of course charge the full amount over. i told her that I couldn't find anyone and that she had to either finish the site or refund my money. She sent me a letter stating that she had put x number of hours in it and that no..she would not give me any money back, nor did she apparently have any intent on finishing it.
I explained to her that if I went to baker to buy a cake and when I arrived the cake was charred and burned and inedible that I should not have to pay for the hours that he took to make the cake, nor for the ingredients. She said , "well, you have what we have done of the website". i told her that i had no intention of acquiring any unjust enrichment and she could keep the entire mess...along with the domain and name. She still absurdly believes that she owes me nothing. Our agreement was "you make me a functioning website and I will pay you for it". not, "You try to make me a functioning website and if it doesn't work out and you get sick of it and quit then I will pay for any time and energy that you have expended on the project". Still can't figure out how this company can justify keeping my money.
Forced to have to file a lawsuit ( which i have done ) , as sometimes it takes a third party opinion to beat some sense into people.
I would not recommend this company, unless you need a very basic website, (the one that I had paid them for was NOT some crazy difficult site,,,it was actually just a simple search site) but would still be hesitant about paying them any upfront fees.