Strut Hair Solutions Helena Gibson, Helena Gibson Consulting Unethical and Dishonest - Does not Honor Contracts Solana Beach California

My company was hired to create and build a re-design by the owner of Strut Hair Solutions, Helena Gibson.  A detailed proposal was provided to her that stated a 7-10 day turn-around time and that the site was to contain a maximum of 15 pages. All additional work was to be charged at our hourly rate of $35 per.

Myself and two engineers spent the next 10 days and some 35 man hours creating a new 28 page website working from the notes taken during Helena Gibson’s first of two free one hour consultations without changing one word of the content.  The look was different as the color scheme and structural elements around the site had been altered to accommodate the design requirements from the spec sheet. In addition, I was asked to review a complex technical document and do some migration work on her server which she had no intention of paying additional for. (About two hours of work)

Helena Gibson Consulting was supposed to contact us to discuss the progress of the site right after returning from a trip to Canada.  We did not hear from her so contacted her ten days later to schedule a conference. During this conference, she preceded to change virtually everything from the header to the footer of every page we looked at. Hours of detailed work from the spec sheet had to be thrown out. I took this difficult call.  At no time did she say the site was supposed to look exactly like her current site.

Why would anyone pay that type of money for a clone site that had all of the same problems we were attempting to correct for her?  Problems we had discussed in detail. This was completely a surprise.  In good faith we revamped just the home page with her newest instructions.  I sent this over to her the next morning asking for feedback.

We did not hear from her for ten days so again I contacted Helena Gibson, the owner of Strut Hair Solutions. She scheduled another telephone conference which she missed, sending a message saying she’d call soon, then preceded to blow us off for 5 additional weeks.  Later she claims she was crying because the work we had done was so terrible. At any time she could have called us, told us what wasn't what she thought she was getting and we could have worked things out. Or even that she didn’t like the work and wanted changes.

Instead weeks later we receive a letter demanding a full refund for the website we had already put some 35 hours of work into.  We were accused of lying about how much work and time the site had taken, even though we had a flat rate for the project, and also that we had pushed her into agreeing to a new site.  The truth is that she was encouraged to change templates and make numerous modifications to better present her company online.  A menu that allowed visitors to access every page of her site from every page of her site, a slideshow that subtly presented the services and mission statement of her company and a cohesive color scheme were some of the many ideas Helena Gibson was amenable to during the first of two free one hour consultations. She mulled over the proposal for several days then agreed. No one pressured her.  This assertion is insulting.

We were later also accused of not doing what we were instructed to do.  Helena Gibson maintains that she expressly said she wanted the new site to look exactly like her current site. This is entirely untrue. Had she said this I would have recommended she have her current developer make some modest changes and stay with what she had. Even though she'd had two previous developers she still sought out a third.  It wasn't until sometime into the project that we realized why.

I have been a developer for 12 years and have never had this type of a client.  If you access our website and look at the portfolio page you can see 15 current sites we've built plus a plethora of positive references from our clients.  It doesn't do us any good to leave unhappy clients. I also will show you the site we created for Helena Gibson’s Strut Hair Solutions then you can look at her current site, which she designed and maintains to save money, then you can be the judge.

I cannot recommend doing business with Strut Hair Solutions owner Helena Gibson.  I don’t think she really understands that the whole business world is not a wig you try on approval for several days then return because it doesn’t make you feel pretty enough. I don’t think she understands that you do not play games and attempt to stiff engineers for 35 hours of highly technical development work because you changed your mind. In the end she filed a chargeback claiming non-delivery with American Express.  Even after we presented evidence that we had done what we had promised they still awarded their client the win, effectively stiffing us completely.  Helena Gibson thinks she is justified in this.

Although initially we found the owner of Strut Hair Solutions, Helena Gibson to be affable the more our business relationship transpired the more apparent it became that she is fickle, egocentric, flaky, a bit self-absorbed and cannot really be trusted to keep a contract or her word.  She is prone to behave more like a spoiled child than a grown woman who is running a business. Absolutely everything hurts her feelings.

And worst of all, for a woman in a position of power not to have the spine to call us to discuss issues, difficulties or anything else, was probably more disappointing even than her unethical and dishonest business practices.

Strut Hair Solutions and Helena Gibson – GET IT IN WRITING, GET PAID UP FRONT and MAKE SURE SHE DOESN’T USE THE AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD.  Their chargeback program will stun you!