Upholstery Plus Deceitful Upholstery Shop Owner Not Ashamed to Rip Off Hard-Working Single Mom Placerville, California

Upholstery Plus Owner/Operator Clarence quoted me a price not to exceed, in his own words, "Not more than $65 to $67 dollars" to make a new cushion for my two-year old daughter's glider chair. When I came to pick up the glider, I was presented with a bill for a whopping $132.09! For one chair cushion, NOT including the fabric!

I am a single working mom on a tight budget in these hard times. I have had the glider since my daughter was born, and now at two years old, it is her favorite chair. In recent a move, the back cushion to the chair "blew off" down the highway out of the moving truck, and was never recovered. I found the exact fabric on the internet, and it cost me a hefty $40 dollars for enough yardage for a new cushion to be made. The fabric has a jungle design with cute little monkeys which my daughter adores.

I decided to use Upholstery Plus because of a recommendation by my mom who knew Clarence, the Owner/Operator of Upholstery Plus, and said he provides services to many local businesses including law enforcement, in the very small community. I thought I could trust him to be an honest business man because of her recommendation. But I was wrong.

The chair was delivered to Clarence for his inspection, along with the fabric, the snaps & straps still attached to the chair, and two clear photographs showing what the original cushion looked like. We spoke over the phone about the chair and his quote, and I was very careful to explain to Clarence that I am a single mom on a tight budget, and that the fabric already had cost me $40 dollars, and I could not afford to sink a lot of money into this chair, and to please be accurate in quoting me a price so I can determine if it is even worth it to invest any more money into the chair, but that I hoped I could get it done affordably because my daughter loves the chair so much.

I told him the snaps and straps that were still attached to the chair needed to be re-attached to the cushion, and he quickly assured me he was familiar with these and knew what to do with them. Clarence also assured me repeatedly that he would not charge me over his verbal quote to make the new cushion including labor and the foam (the only material he would supply as I provided the straps, snaps, and fabric), not to exceed in his own words "$65 to $67 dollars."

When I came to the shop to pay him, he presented me with an invoice for $132.09! I asked him why was it so high when he had promised the cost would not exceed his quote, and he completely denied his quote! Additionally, he included charges on the invoice for the snaps and straps and labor to make/attach them. I asked him about this, and he literally called me a liar when I reminded him he knew the straps and snaps were already attached to the chair when it was delivered, that we had talked about them before, when he stated he knew exactly what to do with the straps & snaps. Then he said he wasnt going to argue with me over $4 dollar snaps, and adjusted the invoice to credit me $4 dollars. Then he also said that he expected the labor to only be one hour at $40 dollars, but it had taken two hours to make the cushion, hence the $80 dollar labor charge. For one chair cushion--two hours?

At this point I stopped arguing, wrote him a check, and left with my cushions, telling Clarence I would send someone else to pick up the chair the next day.

That evening I told my mom what happened. My mom was really upset, and offered to go pick up the chair the next day with her truck, and was curious to see how Clarence would react in seeing her picking up the chair.

When she picked up the chair, Clarence offered no discussion, and she took the chair and left without incident. She said he acted "sheepishly."

So I am filing this rip off report so everyone knows to be wary of Clarence, Owner/Operator of Upholstery Plus, located in Diamond Springs on Missouri Flat Road (Placerville area), who is not ashamed to rip off a single working mom on a tight budget.