Design disaster

COMPLAINT: Kathleen Larson, San Francisco
"I hired Sacred Space Gardens to design a landscape plan for my garden. I paid a $450 deposit for the design phase. They said they would create a preliminary plan and call in one week to share it with me. They never called. After more than three weeks with no call and no preliminary plan, I contacted them requesting a refund of the unused portion of my deposit.

"They e-mailed an apology and indicated they'd been waiting for me to schedule an appointment to review the plan they had prepared. Later they e-mailed me telling me no refund was due because they expended five hours on the project."

DESIRED RESOLUTION: "I want a refund of the unearned portion of my deposit. If they actually completed a landscape plan, I want a copy of it so I can verify it's consistent with the time charged."

RESPONSE: Christopher Hurley, owner, Sacred Space Gardens
"It's regrettable the member was dissatisfied with our services, but every reasonable attempt was made to resolve the situation in a mutually agreeable manner. We offered to meet with the member, but we didn't receive any further communication from her.

"Because of the lack of communication, we made the decision to release her from her contractual obligation and sent an e-mail informing her of this decision. As a gesture of goodwill, we're willing to offer her a full refund of the deposit as well as provide her a copy of the design."

STATUS: Resolved
The member accepted Sacred Space's offer.