Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/01/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid ****** Archambault $6,270.50 for interior design services, and she has sent me none of the associated source files I have paid for. In addition, she inflated billable hours for deliverables that should not have been done and are highly inaccurate since they were fabricated. As a result, I am asking for a $2,170 refund for following charges in dispute:Invalid charges for fabricated drawings:$520 (IN-10663) - Creation of floor plan in AutoCAD. I already had a floor plan in AutoCAD which is standard in the house design process. She should have asked for it, rather than blindly create a new one without asking. $350 (IN- *****) - Plumbing elevations in AutoCAD. I never approved the creation of these elevations since I had not selected plumbing fixtures in the 11.21-12.1 timeframe for the invoice in question. The drawing is fabricated and unusable.$? (IN-?) Switching plan. I did not approve the creation of a switching plan and do not want to pay for a highly inaccurate one that is based on a draft lighting plan. She never told me she was going to create a switching plan, nor did she review it with me. In addition, I require a refund for the following software files, I have paid for, but never received:$875 (IN-10665, IN-*****, IN-*****) - AutoCAD file for lighting plan $425 (IN-*****) - Sketchup and AutoCAD files for fireplace elevation (Included in the $875 lighting plan charge detailed above) - AutoCAD file for the switching plan. ($350 charge included in the section above (IN-*****)) AutoCAD file for plumbing elevations.I have requested these files and these refunds over the phone and via email several times. I also emailed a proposal to settle my account which she refused. I called to speak to her twice and she did not return my calls. I hand-delivered a demand letter to ****** to which she has not responded. And I sent a reminder email as a follow-up to the demand letter with no response.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/14/2024

  My response 
  Id like to state a rebuttal addressing the following accusations. I have attached a copy of a detailed outline of communication between my client and I, stating the false accusations of events and a breakdown of how our company structure works. My client should have hired an independent contractor (freelance interior designer), instead of a **************************** Firm for the way she would have wished business was conducted. In the document attached, you can see that my client had received the deliverables paid for in email that were posted on our *** design platform and/or sent via email. These documents were listed in a Concept plan that was viewed in our client-designer in-office meetings. As listed in the document I attached, there are many slides that we reviewed with the client with confirmation via email of her approval and reception of the designs.
  Floor plans: These were created, placed in her presentation, presented, invoiced, and viewed by our client several months before she had an issue with the fact that we created them. Refer to the document attached for proof. If she had floor plans in a *** format, she would have sent them to us. This client was very detailed, and that is not something she would have missed. You will be able to see in the email screenshots in the attached document of her level of detail. We pay our employees every two weeks, and our Senior Designer drafted those plans, published them, and they were viewed by her before we paid him for that task. If there was an issue, it should have been addressed immediately. I cannot pay my employees out of my own pocket for work on a client's personal home. Giving her a refund for a task she clearly did not have an issue with after it was complete is not a bill that is my personal responsibility.
  Plumbing elevations: Shown in the attached document to demonstrate that these were completed and she had access to them on her *** Dashboard. She has asked and specifically requested these plumbing plans several times, which is listed in the document. Plumbing elevations are not documents that need specific selections to create. She requested a plumbing plan and we delivered that plumbing plan! Every shower needs a shower head, a temperature valve, and depending on whether the bathroom has a tub, it will need a tub filler. The reason we have these elevations made is so the plumber can run hot and cold hoses and pre plan for where the fixtures are going to be located. This has nothing to do with the actual fixtures themselves and more to do with the estimate that is needed from the plumbers to gather the clients' quotes. By asking us to create these plans, she is absolutely approving these plans because these types of plans are never permanent decisions until right before the plumber is ready to install. As the nature of construction, products are sometimes backordered, etc., and changes are inevitable.
  Switch Plan: Our client approved a switch plan when hiring us. Our quote to her had a lighting plan on it, therefore the typical course of action for a lighting plan is to place lighting fixture options into a floor plan to see the types of fixtures placed, decide on the location of switches and where they will turn on and off, then select the specific lighting fixture in correlation to the placement decided in the initial part of the lighting plan. The switch plan is a natural part of this process. And as shown in the document provided with this rebuttal, you can see that the switch plan is accurate to the placement of where the fixtures are located, and the argument made by our previous client that its highly inaccurate is a false accusation that is clearly disproven in the attachment. Any electrician that can access this switch plan file will, in turn, be able to lay out a more efficient wiring plan that will inevitably save her money. This is not a refund that I find feasible nor necessary. In the complaint submitted by our previous client, she demands a refund for not having the *** files. We currently have an outstanding balance with this client of $1,140.25. Until this balance is paid for all of our hours worked, we own the rights to these files. When our client has paid her final bill, I am more than happy to send the files she has paid in full for. Im a young business owner who has sacrificed a lot to have a team of successful interior designers for our company to provide the best service possible. However, I will not support letting this previous client intimidate me or my team into working for her for free. She hired us to design her house, and we did it with the best possible outcome given the working conditions she created for us.
  Because she has not received SketchUp or *** files of her fireplace elevations, etc., does not make her eligible for a refund. She has received access to *** files in her *** Dashboard. Only ***************ers and Architects use SketchUp and *** files. They are not files that are necessary to have for a client unless they are hiring another designer. Im happy to share those files when the client has paid her outstanding invoices. She has access to her approved *** versions for all of the documents listed above, so there is no viable reason for her to receive a refund. There is also proof of her viewing the work in the document I attached with this response.
  She is correct in stating that she has asked me multiple times to deliver these documents to her, and I have also stated that when I receive full payment, I am happy to deliver these requested documents. She will not be receiving any refund, and late fees on her overdue invoices are accumulating as stated in her contract. Our contract states, "Invoices more than 14 days past due will accrue a 10% late fee per month."
  Wrote a check from a closed account: Our client had made a partial payment for what she felt was reasonable (which was not a mutual decision. We did not approve this), and when we went to deposit this check, the bank let us know it was written from a closed account
  A screenshot of the returned check is in the *** document. 
  Im happy to provide any additional information such as a photo of the check, that will be helpful to get this resolved and closed as soon as possible, as I have a schedule that is very demanding of my time and do not have the time to spend proving that I need to be paid for the work Ive already done.
  In conclusion, I had to have a conversation with our client about ending our designer-client relationship. This is a project our firm chose to end due to the fact that our client was not willing to pay a second retainer. We work from retainer only and she wanted us to work month to month and thats not in our company structure. We also did not feel any respect from our client for our design choices. I personally felt disrespected as she had hired us knowing that I am the Lead ***************er of this firm and would not allow me to do my job as she stated further into the project that she was going to be the Lead designer and wanted me to work alongside her. That is not how I conduct business as there are many people out there that would make great personal assistants but I am not an assistant. Im a certified interior designer with a degree and a **************************** firm and need to have a mutually respected relationship that my clients give to us and we give to them. I chose to end this project in a respectful timeframe as the client had not yet broken ground on the construction of the home and there was still plenty of time to find an assistant or freelance designer that could continue the project the way my client would like it to work for her. We do, however, need to collect outstanding balances to release these trade-accessed files if she wished to have another certified designer complete the work we started.  
  The $6,270.50 was the total of design hours that myself (Lead Designer), my Senior Designer, Junior Designer, and assistant worked on this project. Those hours included Exterior selections, interior selections, architectural details, architectural renderings, Plumbing plans, Lighting plans, Countertop selections, Multiple in-person meetings, Multiple zoom meetings, Multiple phone call meetings, Samples for all selections, day trips to meet and look at said selections, etc. These hours were billed at a very reasonable rate for the amount of hours we put into this project. When a client respects and trusts the hired designers decisions, that is the most affordable way to work with an *************** Firm and we unfortunately did not have that experience with this particular client. 
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/20/2024

   
  Complaint: 21500781
  
  I am rejecting this response because my claims are valid and ****** has not addressed the facts of my complaint nor has provided a valid response. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************