Michele Bitter Designs

Review: I had contracted [redacted] to develop Plans for the interior design of my apartment. She was unable to perform her duties per the Agreement and on her own accord terminated the Agreement, citing differences in work styles. None of the items were completed from the Agreement, however she did not refund me. Her decision to terminate without cause has compromised my plans and resulted in additional expenses and lost time to me. I have requested a refund for the full design fee plus applicable NYC tax. [redacted]'s work was unusable, incomplete, unprofessional and has cost me valuable time and money. She was not available, did not come on site to prepare for the plans and did not meet with building staff, as is normal process for a project such as this. Any proposed plan she did provide was inadequate and could not be used for building approval and I was forced to rescind the plan submission. Per our agreement the design fee was to include: Plans and layout of interior space of Apt, including demolition plans, new construction plans, reflected ceiling plan, furniture layout, electrical work (basic telephone, speakers, TV, and cable locations- See 2), built-in radiator enclosures, possible built-ins in all rooms as needed, and interior closet designs, as needed for proposal to the Clients building and the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) for construction; Scope of Work for construction Drawings to include new kitchen plan and elevations, laundry room plans and elevations, three (3) new bathroom plans and elevations; Specification of new flooring materials, hardware, paint schedule, window treatments, fittings, fixtures and equipment (F,F&E) for three bathrooms and kitchen, appliances, moldings (crown, base and casing), architectural lighting (such as recessed down lights and under cabinet lights as specified in Plans), plumbing and tile/ stone selections. NONE of these items are completed, most never even started.Desired Settlement: Full Refund of balance of fee $7,500 plus tax, $7,828

Business

Response:

This Complaint relates to a fee dispute that is subject to arbitration. Due to my prior generosity of returning half of my fees along with delivery of my designs, I am in not in the position to make any further offers of reconciliation.

[redacted] contracted with me to design her apartment’s interior. I offered my services to her at a “friends and family” discounted flat-fee basis, which was payable in installments and set forth by written agreement. In order to prevent the potential for abuse that a flat-fee service may encourage, the agreement provided for, among other things, termination by any party at any time. After several weeks of service and only after an extended revision period provided after first approval of my designs, I was forced to terminate the agreement. In good faith, I offered to refund half of my design fee earned ($7,500 plus tax, of the total fee of $15,000 plus tax) which [redacted] had already paid.

[redacted] accepted my offer and in exchange, I wrapped up the project and delivered the scope of work, AutoCAD drawings and the plans (the “Work”), all of which I had created. I also refunded half of my fees paid. I further waived payment of her next installment ($9,000) which was already due but unpaid, as well as accrued out of pocket expenses and canceled our agreement. After initially agreeing to these terms, and only after receipt of my Work and the refund, [redacted] requested the return of the remaining 50% already earned, accrued and paid for – in other words, seeking to obtain custom design plans that I created for her apartment for free.

Because the initial design phase took place over several weeks and because I had expended approximately 85 hours performing design work under the agreement, I refused to comply with her new request, citing her acceptance of the 50% refund along with delivery of my Work. I explained to [redacted] that the 50% initial design fee retained represents only a fraction of what would have earned had I charged my usual hourly rate and only half of what we had agreed to for that phase. I offered [redacted] the opportunity to contact my attorney should she wish to pursue her request further.

[redacted] has not contacted my attorney; she has instead elected to air her dissatisfaction by making this grievance public while also filing for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association; in other words - she has an agenda beyond resolving a simple fee dispute. As such, a full refutation of her baseless allegations will be provided in that forum.

Notwithstanding, I must correct several misstatements in her Complaint. First, it glaringly omits my right to terminate the agreement, my prior refund of half of fees earned and my waiver of her next installment due. Second, it misrepresents key facts - claiming, for example, that I never came on-site which is clearly contradicted by her email correspondence and the super with whom we met (together), my initial site measure for which she was present, not to mention the contractors that we interviewed (together at her apartment). Third, the items which she lists as never having been provided include design items that were either delivered at the termination of our agreement or items that were to have been prepared only after the initial design phase. Finally, the remainder of her grievances – unavailability and quality of work product – are defied by my routinely taking her daily calls and answering her many emails throughout the project late into the evenings and on weekends, as well as her email accolades and sign-off on my plans weeks before I terminated.

I take pride in going out of my way for my clients so that each has a final custom design that fits their interior as well as their lifestyle, with as little headache as possible. As one can imagine, “no good deed goes unpunished” and providing a favor by offering a “friends and family discount” to a client with a stringent budget can only come back to haunt you. I tried my best to accommodate [redacted]’s ever-increasing demands, but my extra efforts went unnoticed and her needs exceeded her budget. [redacted]’s manner of handling this dispute evidences the manner in which she handled the project and further affirms my decision to terminate my services.

Business

Response:

I

have reviewed [redacted]’s reply to my response to complaint ID# [redacted],

and my attorney has contacted the Revdex.com. Unfortunately, we

have concluded that this matter cannot be resolved in this forum. As such, I

will not be communicating further at this time other than to again correct the

record.

First,

I never threatened legal action against [redacted]. I do not threaten clients with

legal action. Instead, I simply stated in writing that any further

communication should be with my attorney. Why? [redacted] attempted to renegotiate

the terms of the termination of our agreement after cashing my refund of half

of my fees paid and picking up all of my design plans as agreed. I then hired an attorney only because I felt

that she was attempting to take advantage of me by demanding the remainder after

already refunding her. Since then, she has commenced initiation of a case with

the American Arbitration Association AND filed for a trial with the New York

Civil Court system. My attorney has yet to hear from [redacted].

Second,

[redacted] again fails to mention my refund to her of $7,500 plus sales tax, nor does

she mention my offer to waive $9,000 in additional fees owed or that fact that

they are still owed.

Third,

[redacted] misrepresents the quality of my work. In our meetings with proposed

contractors for bidding on the project, my designs were not rejected. Why would

a contractor competing to do a project reject a designer’s plans and put

themselves out of the running? With respect to her building, if any part of her

design scheme was refused by her board, it would have been after I terminated

work on the project and for reasons unknown to me. I have much experience with buildings in New

York City and each has their own engineer or architect that reports to their

board, approving and denying construction and alteration plans. Often line

items are refused based upon building policy, past history or simply

infeasibility from a building systems standpoint. Refusal has no bearing on the

designer’s quality of work but merely opens a dialogue for the engineer to

consult with the designer, a process that never began.

Fourth,

the termination of our agreement was not arbitrary. Instead, the agreement’s

explicit terms allowed either party to terminate at any time, for cause or for

no cause. The fact that [redacted] is a

difficult client did not need to be stated in order to terminate the agreement.

[redacted]’s tactics of filing three separate actions for an unwarranted refund only

further support the decision to terminate services.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I need to correct the record as well.