Still, I can't imagine the culture falling that far in two years. Their was tons of meaty dev work being done. And day 1? Maybe they were just trying to ease him into the team? This might have been an effective Mr. Miyagi type move to help him get a greater understanding of how all the pieces work together.
This story smells bad, I would be interested to hear more details.
But they were plugging holes as fast as they could with contract recruiters that were throwing whatever would stick. I didn't even get to meet my team before I had an offer in hand.
From mine and his experience, whatever department that was (an ecommerce frontend), seems chaotic, with massive turnover.
Still accepting advice on how to negotiate a 100% raise.