Lauren Leonard Interiors LLC

At my first meeting with Mrs. Hindlsey she hired me to to design her kitchen remodel and provided me with the budget and the project scope of what she wanted completed - raised the ceilings, relocate the duct work and move plumbing. After that meeting, she asked me to to take a look at the identical unit across the hall as they were doing the same type of remodel that she wanted to do on hers. From there, I met with the contractor of the job across the hall and he looked at Mrs. Hindsley's condo and said that the items she requested for her kitchen remodel were doable. After that point, I began working on the kitchen design plans - still thinking she had a significant budget and based the design plans around her original project scope. However, Mrs. Hindsley failed to communicate with me over the course of 4 weeks that the budget had been drastically reduced. It wasn't until the day that we met to review the design plans for the kitchen that she informed me that she didn't have the original budget to do all of the items that she had in her project scope. She never communicated with me that the kitchen would have to be scaled back. The kitchen design plan that I gave her could have been implemented based on the original budget.

After that meeting, she sent an email threatening to leave a bad review on Houzz and demanded the balance of her retainer be returned and her keys. In my Interior Design Contract that Mrs. Hindsley signed it states that the retainer is nonrefundable, which is standard for this industry. However, if she would have treated me with the same respect that I gave her throughout the time that we worked together, I would have gladly refunded the money as a good gesture. I sent the keys out the same day that I received her threatening email. I knew enough to take a photo of the keys with the stamped envelope as proof that the keys went out in the mail because something told me she would further threaten me if she did not get the keys back.

With regards to the freight charge for the tile, Mrs. Hindsley hired her own contractor and tile installer, after I was out of the picture, and wants to blame me because neither of them have a vehicle that can pick up the tile and she has to pay to have it delivered. That is an issue that should be handled between her and her contractor.

I enjoy being a member of the Houzz community and have met many wonderful clients over the years through Houzz. However, I will not allow someone to treat me poorly and threaten me for the sake of a good review.