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Review 1/28/2009
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I recently finished a fairly large project (interior design with a remodel) with Cherie. Although Cherie is very creative and has a keen sense of design, a lot of her ideas were "pretty" but not functional. But my biggest issue was her invoicing and billing methods. We had ordered a remote-control, electric roman shade. When it was installed it didn't work. Well, it didn't work because the motor wasn't strong enough to hold the shade. Then Cherie said the replacement rod would take 10 weeks to come in. During that time, I finally saw the price (I had to ask her many, many times for invoices and it took 6 months to finally get them) the price was triple what she originally quoted. I immediately cancelled the order but I didn't get a credit on my card she charged. When I asked her about it, she casually said "oh, you have balances on other invoices so it will just balance in the end." So, I told her "no more charges on my cards until we reconcile my invoices/account." She then went on to charge several more times. I eventually got her to sit down with me 6 months after the job started but I still didn't have all my invoices, so even though we sat down to go through the issues, without all my invoices I was stabbing in the dark to reconcile. I finally got my invoices 1/2/09. I then painfully entered all the invoices into Excel and started reconciling. I had $9K in returns or cancellations. Much to my dismay, in the end Cherie had overcharged me $11K (including my returns).
I got her to meet with me on 1/19 but she still couldn't believe my analysis was correct. So after 90 minutes of looking at the issue from all directions, I think she finally got it.
Interestingly enough, I was able to source an electric rod that arrived in 2 weeks and was significantly less than Cherie wanted to charge me.
We still have outstanding issues. We ordered a floor rug from her and it arrived flawed. It has been 5 months and we still don't have the replacement. Odd that the first rug came in 30 days and the replacement is taking so long.
I gave Cherie 5 business days to send me a check. Fifth day, no check.
On the positive side, Cherie has remained professional and has not lost her cool. She is very talented in design work but when it comes to managing your money, watch out.
If you use her, make sure you have agreement up front what the price is and watch your payments and charges. I am glad I charged via my cards because I at least now have some recourse other than jjust small claims.
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