Since I have been working at "place company name here" specialising in search marketing, I have been constantly in battle against the web developers. I'm still a newbie--I am mostly a web designer needing to learn about SEO, so I got a job in online marketing.

For two years the website has been in development and since I joined the company 5 months ago, we are still unable to do the most basic of tasks (no interlinking between articles, no HTML editor in the CMS, no customer review facility, no star rating / customer product rating, etc). The main problem is that we have very sporadic response from the web devs. We can't even do "buy one get one free."

It just feels so wrong, and the possibility of getting what we desperately need is just impossible at the moment. Are they working in treacle? How have other companies dealt with these issues? We have tried to say, "You get paid when this gets done," but they say "We can't do it until we get paid."

I know I am new at this side of the industry, but this has got to be a joke and there must be some reason for this. It's not like we are the only large website they have had to deal with, and they have great accounts. Is it the way we communicate? Or are we asking too much?

I won't name and shame them--I am not here for that, but just for advice with how to deal with an outsourced development team who doesn't do what you ask them to do.

Thank you.