Powers By Design LLC This company will be quick to take your deposit then toss you to the waste side St. Louis, Missouri

9/10 the client paid 50% of $750 website design with a $375 payment. 9/17 paypal did not release funds to me until 9/17 & that is when work begun. 9/18 thru 10/12 was in email contact w/ client on various levels of progress, but work on larger projects overran our time and I conveyed this to the client early October. 9/28 We presented several designs for the website (the designs are the "skins" and changable). 10/10 Client said she liked one design but wanted one more like  http://www.rei.com/adventures 10/13 Client suddenly asked for full refund because website taking longer than 30 days (no timeframe was given by us or outlined by the client). Typical websites can take 30 to 60 days depending on complexity. This website is a Content Management System (CMS) website and can take the 30 to 60 days on even the most basic website... You're paying for our time to program a website that they can change the text/content/photos/etc with an editor similar to one you'd find on an online email program like Yahoo or Gmail. 10/14 I responded saying I understand but am committed to giving you a product you requested but if you'd rather us NOT work on this then we could discuss a refund. Also note we have spent considerable expense on stock photos and man hours to work already done on client's website. 10/17 You agreed to continue w/ us but firmly stated we had until Nov 2nd to complete website & that demanded a $150 discount  10/19 Contacted client and informed them website COMPLETED and ready to upload to their servers on Yahoo. We need gain access to their Yahoo website to replace it with her new website.  10/20 Within twenty four hours, and after the work is complete, she is demanding full refund and has claimed to "wage war" with us to get her full refund back (including an online smear campaign calling us unethical and whatnot).  Technically we are "just over her 30 days timeframe claim" which was never a condition of this project until this past week. The website is a discounted website $750, normally these websites go for $1,200 with the Content Management System installed--which is a lot of programming.  We provided 15 hours of programming and design work into her website, our billable time is $65/hr and this would equal $975 so far. We were giving her a substantial brake at the $750 website and now she wants a full refund? I don't think this is fair nor has her conduct been entirely truthful or professional. The client has paid for 50% of the total cost invested into this project by myself and my company. Now that the work has been completed, the client is now asking for refunds. She also demanding checks be mailed and not using the Paypal arbitration (which she finally did, which I must tell you they have gotten this report I have written as well).  Also note, I continued to ask the client to call me (she is in a 2 hr time difference) and in the span of 24 hrs, and only after the work has been finished is she threatening to (1) sue me, (2) defame me on the Internet.  I welcomed the client to contact the BBB and resolve this via Paypal (which is how she paid us the 50%). The website is finished per her requirements and ready to upload. I will not release it until I receive 100% payment and not a penny before then. The clients conduct this week has been bizarre and not fully understanding what the cause has been for her issues with our company... On 10/10 she was completely happy and on 10/13 she was unhappy. 10/17 client demanded a discount, 10/19 when work is completed she demanded a full refund. Between 10/20 and 10/21 she contacts us over 16 times in email with various threats about litigation, and defaming our company if we do not cower to her demands.  Our attorney is now involved in monitoring the situation and advised us to only seek action against the client if she defames us outside the Paypal and BBB process. Powers By Design is currently in arbitration (which is binding by Paypal, as they were in source she used to fund this project). We will abid by Paypal's decision in this matter. We will not mail her a check, it must be funded via Paypal.

9/10 the client paid 50% of $750 website design with a $375 payment. 9/17 paypal did not release funds to me until 9/17 & that is when work begun. 9/18 thru 10/12 was in email contact w/ client on various levels of progress, but work on larger projects overran our time and I conveyed this to the client early October. 9/28 We presented several designs for the website (the designs are the "skins" and changable). 10/10 Client said she liked one design but wanted one more like  http://www.rei.com/adventures 10/13 Client suddenly asked for full refund because website taking longer than 30 days (no timeframe was given by us or outlined by the client). Typical websites can take 30 to 60 days depending on complexity. This website is a Content Management System (CMS) website and can take the 30 to 60 days on even the most basic website... You're paying for our time to program a website that they can change the text/content/photos/etc with an editor similar to one you'd find on an online email program like Yahoo or Gmail. 10/14 I responded saying I understand but am committed to giving you a product you requested but if you'd rather us NOT work on this then we could discuss a refund. Also note we have spent considerable expense on stock photos and man hours to work already done on client's website. 10/17 You agreed to continue w/ us but firmly stated we had until Nov 2nd to complete website & that demanded a $150 discount  10/19 Contacted client and informed them website COMPLETED and ready to upload to their servers on Yahoo. We need gain access to their Yahoo website to replace it with her new website.  10/20 Within twenty four hours, and after the work is complete, she is demanding full refund and has claimed to "wage war" with us to get her full refund back (including an online smear campaign calling us unethical and whatnot).  Technically we are "just over her 30 days timeframe claim" which was never a condition of this project until this past week. The website is a discounted website $750, normally these websites go for $1,200 with the Content Management System installed--which is a lot of programming.  We provided 15 hours of programming and design work into her website, our billable time is $65/hr and this would equal $975 so far. We were giving her a substantial brake at the $750 website and now she wants a full refund? I don't think this is fair nor has her conduct been entirely truthful or professional. The client has paid for 50% of the total cost invested into this project by myself and my company. Now that the work has been completed, the client is now asking for refunds. She also demanding checks be mailed and not using the Paypal arbitration (which she finally did, which I must tell you they have gotten this report I have written as well).  Also note, I continued to ask the client to call me (she is in a 2 hr time difference) and in the span of 24 hrs, and only after the work has been finished is she threatening to (1) sue me, (2) defame me on the Internet.  We welcomed client to contact our the BBB and resolve this via Paypal (which is how she paid us the 50%). The website is finished per her requirements and ready to upload. I will not release it until I receive 100% payment and not a penny before then. The clients conduct this week has been bizarre and not fully understanding what the cause has been for her issues with our company... On 10/10 she was completely happy and on 10/13 she was unhappy. 10/17 client demanded a discount, 10/19 when work is completed she demanded a full refund. Between 10/20 and 10/21 she contacts us over 16 times in email with various threats about litigation, and defaming our company if we do not cower to her demands.  Our attorney is now involved in monitoring the situation and advised us to only seek action against the client if she defames us outside the Paypal and BBB process. Powers By Design is currently in arbitration (which is binding by Paypal, as they were in source she used to fund this project). We will abid by Paypal's decision in this matter. We will not mail her a check, it must be funded via Paypal.

Here's just a glimpse at e-mail correspondence to show just how unethical this company truly is:

(consumer wrote:) I'd like my full deposit refunded to me as soon as possible. Please respond to this e-mail and confirm that the paypal transaction is in process. I'm expecting this transaction to be in process by tomorrow, October 14th. Not only has it been over a month but you can't even respond to e-mails! Completely unacceptable and unprofessional!

(owner responded)You have a right to be outright mad at me, we dropped the ball on this end. We had a project that was supposed to go live Oct 1st and didn't go live until yesterday, the 13th due to massive delays on a server glitch w/ the hosting provider. I know, this is no excuse. I would like to get you a website you'd be proud of. Can you visit () today, I updated a new theme that looked very much like the () website on clean, white lines and color. I do not have the text file you sent me, it is possible I received it but cannot locate it. I would like to work with you to get this website finished. Now that this client that I was working on has gone live, my assistant and I do have the time to finish your website (and a few others) who have unfortunately gone to the waste side. If you're still wishing a refund, although I'd rather give you a product you deeply need, we can send you a check. Again, if you could resend specific layout (what pages you want) and the content (the text, also any direction on photos) then we can get this website finished.

Owner clearly admitted that I got "tossed to the waste side." He also admits that he lost all of my instructions and I'm to resend everything to him! Owner never once called me- how does a designer build a website without talking many times with the client?? It wasn't until after I requested a refund that he tried to put a homepage together at the last minute so he can try to show something just so he can try to get out of refunding my deposit! This owner cannot show any documentation that he provided good customer service, nor can this owner provide documentation that I was a satisfied client giving my approval!

Bottom line: find another designer! An ethical business puts the customer first! Owner still refusing to refund my deposit!!

Only after the BBB and Paypal rules in favor of Powers By Design now does the client seek taking it to small claims court.

I'm pleased to report that the owner contacted me and has refunded 100% of my deposit. I'm very pleased with this outcome!