DREAM HOUSE STUDIOS INC

We've never used a designer before and that was obvious to the company. The designer we worked with was really nice and we thought she "got us." However, after we paid a retainer of $2000 very little was done. The designer wasn't available for meetings, and instead of providing us with ideas, as we thought she would, she dropped off a portfolio of pics that may have been copied from their files or from websites and asked us which of the pieces we wanted. She included a contract agreement with the pics. The prices for the furniture were steep, thousands of dollars and there was no further discussion. We didn't sign the contract. After that, we saw very little of her. Except for the bill -- we were charged $2562.50 for hours of services that weren't provided. There were multiple hours spent on a CAD design, but a real CAD design was never done -- just some measurements. Other charges seemed seriously inflated. We questioned the bill and received a notice from the designer that she was leaving the company and turning us over to another designer. We wrote an explanation of what charges we thought should be subtracted and why and gave a generous estimate of services rendered at $1700. About 2 weeks later, another designer left a telephone message saying that she would like to take over the account and that she hoped our experience had been a good one. I returned her call, -- she wasn't available -- and left a nice, detailed message about the problems we'd had and the overcharges. We never heard back. We contested the bill, but still wasted $2000 and ended up feeling conned.