Was good fast forward interview had 2 rounds the enter interview process took four weeks smooth process all the interview questions were strainf forward , the interviewer was very friendly

While the interviews were good and even enjoyable, communication was extremely lacking throughout. I was asked to do a third interview after waiting on a response from the first two (which I was told would be the only two). I then received very little info other than "we're working on it" for several weeks. This included interactions with different members of the hiring team as the person I was working with originally was on PTO. I was eventually told (by the original person, after they returned from time off) that they had offered another candidate the job based on experience. If the other candidate didn't accept by a certain deadline, I was asked if I was still available. Several days after that deadline, I was informed that the other candidate did not accept, but that they were not going to extend an offer to me regardless as he had apparently shown them what they really wanted for the position. Why was this discovered this late in the process and not when the job description was written up? Absolutely no ability to follow up or communicate clearly throughout the process, both with me and apparently with one another. Several people were involved from the hiring team at different points with very little info shared between them evidently, and at several points they were waiting on responses from others far past deadlines I was given. The interviews themselves were fine. In fact, like I said, I enjoyed them. But the rest of the process was unprofessional and they seemingly changed their minds about things several times. If you're still trying to figure out your interview process, that's fine, but leaving candidates hanging and being uncommunicative to the point it breaks down the hiring process shouldn't be a part of that.