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:08/02/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore 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.

  ********************************* of Life made Simple should not be trusted. She over promised and under delivered her services to my family. My dad passed away unexpectedly and we needed help to prepare the home to be sold. This involved organizing, packing, donating and cleaning the home. She was rude to my family during the experience and also to the people she hired to help. She took items from my parent's home without permission and, when was confronted, lied and said she was was going to sell the items for us. She did not have the home deep cleaned--My husband and I had to spend an entire week re-cleaning the house after she left. She charged me $10,000 cash upfront and then an additional $700 cash on Sunday. She arrived late on Friday and left early on Sunday. I also paid for food for the workers and the hotel for her and the workers on top of that. I regret hiring her and am planning on taking her to small claims court to try and recoup some of the money she charged. I sent her a demand letter and she denied any wrong doing. I felt taken advantage of and exploited.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/05/2023

  ***************************, (Client)
  Thank you for your concerns regarding work performed at your fathers home. As I understand
  the circumstances, Life Made Simple by ******** was contracted to perform work at your
  father's home nineteen months after his passing. The work provided included: de-cluttering the
  home; packing items for client and labeling property in the home to sell, donate, keep, or trash;
  packing a moving truck; deep cleaning, vacuuming, and dusting all rooms; clearing all property
  from the upper levels and basement and transferring all property to the main level, garage and
  moving van; taking photos of items in preparation for sale and disassembly of furniture, as
  required. Removal of personal property was done with the permission of the family to assist the
  family in selling as many items of personal property as the family wanted. At no time were any
  items of personal property removed without prior permission from the family or not returned to
  the home if the item was unable to be sold. Due to the extensive (3.5 hour) travel to the remote
  area and multi-day work requirement, food and lodging were additional expenses negotiated and
  agreed upon prior to our services being engaged. A walk-through of the house was conducted on
  Saturday, June 24, 2023, and again on Sunday, June 25, 2023. At no time were concerns
  presented at the final walkthrough that would have indicated that you were unsatisfied with
  the service Life Made Simple by ******** provided to you. Upon completion, a family member
  who was present at the house stated, this is the cleanest this house has ever been. Upon
  completion of the walkthrough on Sunday, your family signed off on our work and indicated
  Work completed to standard IAW [in accordance with] agreed contract, signed by (client).
  Please understand that after our initial services were completed, additional services outside the
  scope of our agreement were requested on Saturday, June 24, 2023, and Sunday, June 25,
  2023. Upon your request, we discussed the additional cost, and you agreed at that time that the
  cost was fair and appropriate for the scope of the additional services to be provided. I do
  understand that after the work was completed and signed off on by you that you may have
  determined there to be an issue of concern. My company prides itself on providing great
  services to our clients and I received no information to the contrary at the time of our services
  to you and your family. I did receive this text message from you: Thank you again for
  everything-there is no way we could have gotten all of that work done without u and your crew
  helping us. If any of the crew was perceived as rude to your family at any time, please accept
  my deepest apologies. I trust in all of my assistants to provide the highest level of
  professionalism and do not believe it was anyones intent to offend.
  Respectfully,
  ******************************* ********

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/14/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

  ******** did in fact take many items from my parents house without permission. Once I confronted her she apologized and returned many of the items...she has taken a lot more than I had thought. She took hunting jackets, shoes, a dog gate, dishes, garden sheers, art....(see attached) things that she would want for herself NOT things that you would normally sell for someone. The only reason I knew she took anything was because my sister in law, niece and nephew saw her putting things in her car. She was shaking and apologizing and telling me she was so sorry and prayed on it all night. I was so mad I didn't even want to look at her let alone talk to her. That is why my brother ***** came to talk to her. He didn't realize what he was signing when he randomly wrote down on a piece of paper what he wrote--we just wanted her to leave. She kept following me around asking me if I forgave her and I said no.  I should have called the police right away and had them search her car because I believe that she took other things and I will never know now. She scribbled the note I attached to list the things she took as a means to cover it up. This list was given to me after she was caught. 

  They came late and left early on Sunday. They did not complete what they said they would complete. The workers told me that ******** told them NOT to deep clean the house and kept ******* them to finish. She rude to her workers and to my kids. 

  She was supposed to also assist in hiring landscapers, electrician and a plumber....none of this worked out as promised. The landscapers that came were random high school kids and they did not do a good job. The plumbers came and she did not help them to know what to do...I paid $450 because there were two workers and all they ended up doing was installing a dishwasher! Time was wasted because she gave them NO guidance at all. The electrician she was suppose to have hired never came, never followed up with me so I ended up hiring my own electrician the following week without any help from her. 

  They did not donate a single thing at Goodwill or anywhere else. The garage was filled with stuff when they left. I had to make two runs to charity and one run to the dump. 

  They never took down the dog run--they had no equipment to do so. 

  I came back the following week with my husband. Spent the entire week cleaning, donating, fixing things they had promised to do. Her apology letter made it sound like my parents's house was abandoned and trashed...it was not! My mom had been living there up until a week before they showed up. I had also done a lot of cleaning the week before they came even. 

  This woman is crooked and took advantage of my situation. She over charged me for the services she did provide. If she had actually done everything she promised me I would have been happy to pay her what I did...but she over promised and under delivered. I trusted her because a friend of mine recommended her. That was my mistake. She has been in business for over 10 years and I believe that she hasn't been caught until now. 

  I plan to take her to small claims court as well--I don't want this person taking advantage of vulnerable people. I have many more pictures, evidence from witnesses and contractors, and people willing to testify or give written statements. I attached what I could but there is more I could have attached if it let me. 

   

   
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 09/20/2023

  ********,
  I am sorry that my initial response did not resolve your complaint. I can understand that the process of packing and cleaning out a home would be overwhelming, but I would again like to assure you that no items were taken from your parents home without permission.At the time this suggestion was made that I had possession of certain items of personal property that you claimed were missing, your brother was allowed to search through my vehicle and confirmed that no items from the home were in my possession.
  Per the contract, the description of work was limited to: ********** home; pack up items and label: Sell,Donate, Keep, Trash; Load ****** Truck; Clean out, clean, vacuum, dust all rooms in house; Get all items to main level and garage; Take photos of all items for sale; and Take beds apart and bring to main level, if desired. My company was not hired to deep clean the house or assist in hiring landscapers, electrician and a plumber. Additionally, the contract does not indicate that it was my companys responsibility to physically make any donations on your behalf. We were only hired to label all items and move all items to the main level and garage as directed. This would account for why the garage contained so many items after we completed our work. Further, the contract does not indicate that a dog run was to be taken down.
  While we attempted to go above and beyond for you given the state of the house and your need for assistance, I could not and did not warrant any of this additional assistance. To the greatest extent possible, my crew and I helped you and your family to the best of our ability outside of what my company was hired to do.
  Again, I am truly sorry that you feel taken advantage of and that you do not believe our work was performed as required under the contract. It does remain my position that all work was performed as required under the contract and none of your or your familys personal property was stolen by me as you allege.
  
  Sincerely,
  ****************************

  Business Response

  Date: 09/21/2023

  
  
  I am sorry that my initial response did not resolve your complaint. I can understand that the
  process of packing and cleaning out a home would be overwhelming, but I would again like to assure
  you that no items were taken from your parents home without permission. At the time this
  suggestion was made that I had possession of certain items of personal property that you claimed
  were missing, your brother was allowed to search through my vehicle and confirmed that no items
  from the home were in my possession.
  Per the contract, the description of work was limited to: ********** home; pack up items and label:
  Sell, Donate, Keep, Trash; Load ****** Truck; Clean out, clean, vacuum, dust all rooms in house; Get
  all items to main level and garage; Take photos of all items for sale; and Take beds apart and bring
  to main level, if desired. My company was not hired to deep clean the house or assist in hiring
  landscapers, electrician and a plumber. Additionally, the contract does not indicate that it was my
  companys responsibility to physically make any donations on your behalf. We were only hired to
  label all items and move all items to the main level and garage as directed. This would account for
  why the garage contained so many items after we completed our work. Further, the contract does
  not indicate that a dog run was to be taken down.
  While we attempted to go above and beyond for you given the state of the house and your need for
  assistance, I could not and did not warrant any of this additional assistance. To the greatest extent
  possible, my crew and I helped you and your family to the best of our ability outside of what my
  company was hired to do.
  Again, I am truly sorry that you feel taken advantage of and that you do not believe our work was
  performed as required under the contract. It does remain my position that all work was performed
  as required under the contract and none of your or your familys personal property was stolen by me
  as you allege.
  Sincerely,
  ****************************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/27/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed are attached. I have three documents of evidence from the owner, *********************************, claiming that they did in fact "deep clean" the home and dusted the entire house. This not true and I attached a few pictures showing that the house was not cleaned as promised. Also, the hand written note given to me from ******** listing all of the items she removed without permission is also attached. This was furnished after she was confronted--she was never given permission to take these items nor did she tell me she did. She also was hired to get a plumber, an electrician and a landscaper. She did not ever get an electrician and the plumbers that came she did not give them any direction as to what to do. The landscapers were a couple of high school students--again not what she said would happen. The dog run was not removed--they only removed the fencing. Again, she arrived late on Friday and left early on Sunday. Her counter claims are misleading. The house was lived in up until the time they came to help with the cleaning and packing of items. I came with a crew the weekend before and ended having to come back the following week to finish what they did not do. I paid her a lot of money--and of the $10, ****** I paid her she only paid her workers $450 each! She pocketed most of the money and did the least amount of work! The workers were not even her employees---she paid them cash. Her mother came also to help clean--and she mostly just got the way. Her mother broke a drawer in the kitchen that my husband ended up having to fix. My brother did not search her car as she claimed so I really have no idea if she took anything else. I should have called the police in retrospect and I regret that now. I didn't do the final walk through because I was so angry with her and felt so betrayed that I honestly didn't want to even look or talk to her.  She asked for my forgiveness and I told her no and then sat in my car while my brother dealt with her. She knows she is crooked and that she did a bad job. Sadly, she has been in business for a long time and I am shocked that no one has caught her before. She takes advantage of people in vulnerable situations--losing a loved one unexpectedly is awful. Having to sell a house for a widowed parent is very stressful. I felt like I had no choice but to trust her--and I did trust her until she got caught stealing. This whole situation has been extremely stressful for me and my family--I literally hired her to lessen my stress and she did the opposite! I don't want her to do this to another family. That is why I reached out to the BBB--people need to be warned and protected from this business. She took property without permission and did not clean the house as promised. She also did not hire the help that she promised to do--her role was to be a contractor and that she had all the people to get the job done. As far as her driving all the way up to my parents--we all did and that was discussed prior to the agreement. If it was too far or too big of a job she should not have agreed to do it. 
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************