Don't hire HLIS
Latest Update: Feb 20, 2026
I regret anything positive I have ever said about this company. I sit here today more than 4 years since I began and 22 MONTHS after making FULL payment for a product that has not been delivered yet. after more than 18 months I asked HLIS to replace the incompetent team with senior engineers who could fix all the issues. Here we are 6 months later with the new team, still using bad code, poorly implemented API's, bad structure, incomplete backend. 2 years ago my startup cohort advised me to fire this company and find a US-based dev to fix all the issues and do it right. I'm only one person trying to do the impossible and I'm all-in. The amount of money is insignificant compared to the amount of time from my life I can't get back. Don't hire this company.
Previous update: March 16, 2025-
HLIS was hired to design and create a web-based software and mobile app. The project was started more than 4 years ago. My original review mentioned how many delays their team faced. Initially, the design aspect was done very well. When it came to applying code to design, they have taken much much longer than was necessary. As far as people go, I enjoy working with the team. They have good work ethic and have mostly said “yes” to issues needing to be addressed. However, to be transparent and honest with my updated review, they have taken many many months to resolve issues that I believe should have either not been issues or should have been resolved much faster. The best example I can give is HLIS gave me a hard deadline of May 18, 2024 (this was given to me as a threat after I expressed disappointment at the slow rate at which the team was making any progress). I paid in-full and expected to be finished by then. I was assured my app and website would be completed quickly. In December 2024 I left my original 1-star review. I left that review after feeling the financial burden and stresses of many months passing without a finished app or website. Some of the issues had been unresolved for more than a year at that point. Today is March 17, 2025. With limited testing of the latest update, it appears the team has resolved the major data loss issue with the app. Only further testing will determine if it is resolved and I have not finished testing as a write this. The website and backend have not been finished yet. While many months have passed and issues were repeatedly not resolved in the app, the website and backend have been neglected, even though I paid for a finished product last May. I would expect more progress overall on multiple facets of the software at once to be more efficient with time, especially with my time.
Is the team capable? It appears so, however, at a very costly slow pace. It is not just the cost of the software development, it is also the cost of insurance, AWS, SMS, emails, web, etc. that adds up every month while I wait for the software to be completed that I have long-ago paid HLIS to develop.
Are the people on my team pleasant to work with? yes. They are good people.
Biggest problem I have with HLIS? If someone on the team is not capable or not experienced enough to handle an issue, be transparent about their abilities and get help from someone who is able or experienced. I should not have waited as long as I have for the results I’ve received. I belong to a startup cohort and I have repeatedly received advice from other developers and startup founders that my experience with HLIS was not acceptable for numerous reasons.
4 stars? These are human beings and I believe they are doing their best. When they get something right, it makes my life less stressful. When they take many extra months to resolve a major issue (plus many smaller issues) and make me spend countless hours of my limited time doing testing that constantly reveals the same issues, it has been extremely stressful. I think the people at HLIS are 5-star people. I think the product I have right now is a 3-star product that will be a 5-star product once completed. I hope it is finished soon because I am tired of friends and family asking me how the software is going, to be honest.
It has turned into embarrassment for me instead of feeling accomplished or excited about this investment I made for my business.
27. joulukuuta 2024
Oma-aloitteinen arvostelu