Blue Sky Creative Studio

A web-design contract from February was breached by [redacted] In April I was promised a refund by [redacted] Nothing but silence from [redacted] since. On February 3rd, 2014 [redacted] (on Behalf of [redacted] Realty Inc.) contracted on 1 new website from Blue Sky Creative Studios. $247.50 was paid as 1/2 deposit and the check cleared shortly after being sent. Although [redacted] was helpful in discussing my situation with me, and resolving a few website glitches of my own on another website, she never delivered a single deliverable on our written contract. Each time we communicated it was because a deadline had passed and she had not fulfilled her obligations at that point. [redacted] would then request information I had already sent her, as if she was starting from scratch. There was always an excuse related to technical issues, and the claim that the work would be done "this week". By April 2014 I was frustrated, and had lost lots of time. I sent an email explaining my frustration and [redacted] sent me an email offering a refund, of which I immediately accepted. At that point [redacted] stopped responding to emails, phone calls, and I have no idea if she is okay, or even alive at this point although I do notice that her own website seems to change regularly leading me to believe something is happening in her office. I have done business on the internet, as in, purchasing services without an in-person meeting many times in the past, and have never had such a massive failure to acquire the help of a person who can deliver on their promises. [redacted] is knowledgeable, and her prices are on the lower end, and I believe that is how she earns business. She does not have a [redacted] place page for which to leave a positive or negative review which is a bad sign that I over-looked during the vetting process.Desired SettlementI want [redacted] to send certified funds made out to [redacted] Realty Inc. The amount is $274.50 that we are owed. Please send to:[redacted] NC XXXXXBusiness Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted]Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXXContact Email: [redacted].comThis web design client, [redacted], breached the terms of our written contract by not providing the new website content within the first 30 days from the signing of our contract.This Customer has not provided me with the content for the new website within the first 30 days of our contract. Therefore, he first breached our written contract which states that if the web content is not provided in the first 30 days from the signing of the contract, then the client must pay the remaining balance due to the designer.This client has not fulfilled his obligations as agreed upon in our written contract. He has continued to add work tasks that are not listed in our contract. From the start, this client has not respected my work hours and calls me in the early morning, 8 am, and in the late evening and on weekends.This customer did not provide me with the correct FTP log-in access to download his current website files once his website was moved to his new, second, web hosting account. I tried but I was unable to download the website files from his first website host as access was restricted by his previous web designer in the Admin and files could not be exported. I did log-in to his website on the first web host site and saw several issues in regard to plug-ins and the site theme, therefore I was not able to fully review the work needed to build a new site on a new hosting account. Many plug-ins were old and would have to be replaced on a new, updated [redacted] site. I spent 2 hrs. on this initial website examination of his original website.Work was delayed for several weeks until this client found a new hosting company and had his website moved. The client is responsible for this delay. It took several weeks from the date of our contract until he moved his site to this new hosting account. This client did not provide me with his logo art in high resolution as requested.In our contract, the client is to provide all web content within 30 days from the date the contract is signed or the total amount charged for the new website is due. This client did not provide me with the website content within this 30 day period, therefore he breached our written contract.Therefore, I was not able to setup a preview site to build his new [redacted] site using his current website content. I did setup a preview [redacted] site without content using the new [redacted] theme he purchased but had unexpected technical difficulties with this web server that were not able to be resolved and I had to move this preview site build to another web server. EXTRA WORK: This customer kept adding work tasks beyond what was specifically listed in our written contract. After signing our contract, this customer wanted to add an image gallery with tens of thousands of photos, uploaded remotely by other users. This change meant that his new [redacted] hosting had to be secure, be able to expand storage and handle extra bandwidth. I only agreed to setup a gallery using the content he currently had online. I did not agree to add such a large photo gallery. Per our contract, any additions or changes have to be agreed upon in writing, and I did not agree in writing to setup this huge photo gallery. The customer asked me to contact a new hosting company and ask them about their hosting plans as he needed to move his website from his current host. I had to call this new hosting company in [redacted] NC several times to get through to their customer service and even then, their rep did not seem to know what type of hosting plans were offered for [redacted] I did provide information about this new host to this customer. This task took me 3 hours of billable time. From the start, this client demanded "on-demand" web services, calling me without notice and asking for help with tasks not listed in our written contract. Phone call consultations have to be scheduled during weekday work hours. I told this to the customer and he still called me, esp. on weekends and at night. After the initial consultation, the time I spend on phone calls is billable time and has to be scheduled. This client did not respect this. I have provided several initial, lengthy phone conversations, 6 hrs. total, with this Client advising specifically what he could do to improve his 2 websites, his realty site and a home improvement site. He has benefited from my professional online marketing and SEO suggestions. I also spent 3 hrs. searching for a new [redacted] theme that this client liked, which includes reviewing the features of his current site, the features he wanted to add and reviewing a new [redacted] theme to make sure all the features needed can be setup.Therefore, I have delivered to this client many hours of valuable advice for online marketing, improving his website presentation with the proper layout and responsive [redacted] theme, and increasing his site's SEO to increase web traffic.I have spent over 14 hrs. of work of billable time working for this customer. He has benefited from my professional advice and assistance. I have made suggestions on how to improve the usability, layout, and SEO of his new website which have been of great benefit to him.I have done 14 hrs. of work in the process of building this new website for this customer. This bill comes to 14 hrs. x $35 hr. rate = $490 due.I have asked this client to contact me in writing so that I have documentation but he prefers to call me often and leave voice messages. We have a bindingn contract in which this initial deposit of $274.50 is non-refundable after the contract is signed by both parties. According the the terms of our written contract, I do not have to provide a refund as this client breached the terms of our contract by not providing the website content within the first 30 day period.Despite all the work and professional advice I have provided this Customer for which I should be paid, I agreed to refund his deposit and will do so in the next 30 days from this date, 5-29-14. Under the terms of our written contract, I am not obligated to provide this refund as he first breached the terms of our contract by not providing the website content in the first 30 days from the date of our contract. Obviously, I am not being paid for all the work I have done for this difficult client. Please advise this customer not to call me, leave me voice messages or e-mail me anymore. If he wants to contact me, he can send me a letter to my business mailing address.Consumer Response Wow, the counterclaims above are falsified, or the result of being disorganized or forgetful. I find it sad that [redacted] resents me for needing to get a hold of her. When you promise a business a website in 1-2 weeks, and it takes 4 months to get nothing, you should expect some disappointment. She has my money, passwords, and yes we spent plenty of time transferring information via email and phone. Her voice-mail thanks you for calling and then promises to call back ASAP. Well, she NEVER calls. I have a folder for this transaction in my email.Just one screen-shot of this folder completely flattens all these counterclaims. Her first statement is I did not provide my content in the first 30 days. I provided everything that was needed to build the site BEFORE we were under contract, by sending a word document filled with photos, text, and links to my old site that have professional quality logos in high resolution. Her second claim, is that I did not respect her, by adding additional tasks and calling at 8 am. Well, had [redacted] ever actually delivered a functioning website, I would have paid her for it, and I would have paid her for the additional work, at her $35 rate without question. [redacted] spoke such a confident game to be able to handle all kinds of web-related tasks, and I asked her for help, and she provided it willingly when we were still in that "new client" honeymoon period. I OFFERED to pay extra for all of this help that WAS NOT RELATED TO THE CURRENT CONTRACT. I have a totally separate website that [redacted] helped me with, but that is again NOT RELATED. Send me a bill, I will pay it. On February 12th [redacted] emailed me to let me know I should use a new host. within 7 days I was migrated over and she had her credentials in her email. On march 4th I had purchased the [redacted] theme that I had chosen on Jan 31st, and provided here that login / password so she could download it. Every other web developer I have worked with would rather buy those themes for their client, and pass this cost on to the client, rather than wait, even an hour. I was very responsive with this request to purchase, and I was surprised she didn't have the desire to do it herself. It would have been much easier. [redacted] goes on to rant about how evil I am for wanting her help, but she fails to realize I am a paying customer, I want to pay her, and I have 3 websites total. Her business acumen should have told her to make us happy and she would have made several thousand dollars doing so, and maybe earned herself a life-long client. I told her when I spoke to her I was looking for a small company that I could get a hold of easily. [redacted] got bogged down in work, decided she hated me, but never communicated that with me. The only reason I annoy [redacted] is because she is impossible to get a hold of and she made a dozen false promises. I expect a lot more than she provides because her sales tactics were misleading. I wish there was a way I could post screen shots of the dozens of emails I sent her begging for better communication. Instead, I printed a screen shot and sent it to her via snail mail, hoping she would understand that I was keeping records. We will see.Of course, everything is my fault, and I am a bad person, and I owe her money. That is the way she sees it. I was excited about having 1(of 3) new website soon, since January, and now I am embarking on a new process, back to the drawing board, in June. You are knowledgeable, and you are helpful, but you need to take better care of your business. [redacted] if you are reading this, I am so sorry it turned out this way. Good Luck to you. Final Business Response As I stated before, [redacted] was responsible for providing all the content for the website within 30 days of signing our written contract. He did NOT provide the site content within the first 30 day period so he breached our signed contract. I will not respond to his delusional, emotional rant except to say that his words reflect his business conduct. I have agreed to send him a refund of his deposit before June 27, 2014. I agree to do this not because I have a legal obligation to do so, but because I want no further dealings with him. If he proceeds with his personal attacks and defames me or my business further, I will take immediate legal action. I have asked him not to call me or e-mail me, to send me a letter if he needs to contact me. Phone calls are undocumented and I have chosen not to talk with him since his breach of our contract. Since he has chosen to escalate his personal attacks upon me, I will not answer any further complaints he files with the Revdex.com. This matter may require legal action in the future. Consumer Response The refund promised by [redacted] of Blue Sky Creative Studios was never sent on or before June 27th.