goodnplenty

Hi everyone,
I found your site on line and hope that you can help.

Our organization hired new person to update text (a list of Chamber members) on an existing web page. The name of her company is ByStephanie.com . She charged us almost five hours of time to "fix" our page, which we did not authorize, her to do, she was just supposed to add names to an exsiting list. ByStephanie.com pulled our website down for non-payment, but the invoice was never sent to the Chamber, it was sent to one of or members through an email. When the chamber finally saw the invoice we found out how much time ByStephanie.com charged. We disputed it, but ByStephanie.com is holding our site hostage until we pay in full. We are paying the bill to release the website, but have spoken to two web designers that felt that ByStephanie.com took advantage of the Chamber and that ByStephanie.com charges were excessive.

Is there anywhere to report her actions? Does anyone know if what she did was even legal? Is there anywhere to add her name to on the web so if someone looks up ByStephanie.com a complaint will pop up in the results?


Thanks everyone!

goodnplenty

bump for others to see.

nworbs

Hello,

I am the owner of byStephanie.com and in my defense “goodnplenty” is not telling the entire story.

What he is leaving out is that I did in fact submit the invoice multiple times to the member of the chamber that hired me. She kept claiming to have lost it and forgot to submit it so I patiently resent it to her multiple times. She was also fully aware of the cost. I do have all of this in writing.

Another part that “goodnplenty” is leaving out is that they actually tried to tell me that even though I did the work, they want me to be a member of their chamber and pay their $200 member fee so that they can say they do business with only members. When I refused to become a member of chamber for a city I don’t even live in, they had a problem with the invoice. We aren’t talking thousands of dollars; we are talking a couple hundred. Suddenly my work wasn’t good enough and they were not going to pay.

They attempted to file a complaint with the BBB. The BBB found there was no basis for this complaint since I did have everything in writing. Now, they just go around slandering my name on every website they can for no reason but spite.

Thanks!

Stephanie

goodnplenty

Yes, we were told of Stephanie’s charge per hour.. and agreed to it, but we never authorized Stephanie to " fix" anything. She was only to add names to our membership list. She took it upon herself to do unauthorized work then charged us for it. She failed to address that issue. When we tried to dispute the charges, she pulled down our website (which she did not own, or host) until we paid her “ransom”. Now the work that she “Fixed” has to be re-done so you do not have to scroll from side to side to see the entire page... We do not feel that she did quality work.

We never told her that she had to join our Chamber. We do work with plenty of non-members, and memberships are only $100, so her facts are a little lose.

Our Chamber did file with the BBB, but again, her facts are lacking... She never provided a contract before starting her work…which was our mistake. We trusted her…again, our mistake.

ByStephanie.com has a “C” rating with the BBB….and her case was “Administratively Closed” meaning “The parties could not provide sufficient information to support their positions nor were they agreeable to make reasonable efforts toward resolving the issues of the dispute.” So saying “The BBB found there was no basis for this complaint" is just not true. Look it up on the Dallas BBB website, then ask who is being truthful…

I would advise anyone against considering using ByStephanie.com based on our Chambers experiences with her work, and what we feel are her lack of business ethics.

Sincerely,
The Greater Robinson Chamber of Commerce

nworbs

First, I would like to say you need to get over it. It's been almost a year. You didn't like that I took your site down, I didn't like that you didn't pay me on time. Life goes on.

Second, to clarify my comments so you can better understand, I have attached my response to the BBB. My response has actual quotes from the emails I received from your members and you. I have all of these emails saved if you would like actual copies. Whether you want to believe it or not, your members did tell me that I had to become a member in order for my bid to be considered. If this is not how you do business, then take it up with your members. (Isn't it funny that they requested a $100 refund through the BBB which happens to be the exact amount of their membership fee?)

nworbs

................

nworbs

My response to BBB:

The Greater Robinson Chamber of Commerce did contact me to update their membership list. Despite Mr. Lashombe’s statement, all website pages require coding. They were quoted $50/hr which they did agree to. I was solicited by Margaret Ferguson, a member of the chamber, and a byStephanie.com client. She first contacted me to submit a bid to redesign the chamber website. The chamber decided they wanted some immediate changes made to their online membership list prior to the redesign, so Margaret contacted me to complete the changes. Margaret was the only chamber representative that I had contact with. She contracted me to do the work and agreed that I send her the invoice. She also had her intern, Nicole, send me the information that needed to be updated. Along with the membership list updates, I fixed the navigation which was also not working on the page. When the work was completed, she agreed that I should send her the invoice. She did not make me aware of anyone or anywhere else to send the invoice to. Not only did I send Margaret a copy of the invoice, I also sent a copy to Nicole at the same time to ensure it was received. The initial invoice was sent to both parties on 6/29/08. I received a response from Nicole, saying thank you for the work.

On 7/20, I sent an email to both Margaret and Nicole stating that the invoice was still unpaid and would accrue a late charge on the 29th if it was left unpaid. On 7/22, I received a response from Margaret asking that I forward another copy of the invoice to her. She also informed me that I cannot be considered for the redesign bid I put in unless I become a member of their chamber. Her email stated “…to be considered in the bidding process you MUST be a chamber member. Chamber membership is $100 annually, but is prorated at $75 right now… Forward me the invoice ASAP via e-mail or whatever other means, and to take the next step (being considered for the upgrade bid) you need to join soon. We can trade it off (services already rendered) OR you can send a check, whichever is easier for you…we're down to the wire now on the actual proposal. So, get with me when you can via e-mail or call me and we'll talk further.” This email confirms that I was to send the invoice directly to her and not to anyone else. It also confirms that they did not want to do business with me because I am not a member of their chamber. I received another email from Margaret that same evening. It stated “I Printed off copy of the invoice and will drop off with our accountant tomorrow. Hopefully it will be paid first of next week. Will let you know if there are questions or problems.”

I sent Margaret another email on 7/29. This email stated that I still had not received payment and that a late fee had been charged to the invoice. Margaret responded later that evening. Her email stated “I know, I'm sorry... I turned it in to the Treasurer... I will probably see her tomorrow night at a board meeting. If so, I will ask her about it. Thanks for your patience.”

My invoice clearly states “Balance is due upon receipt of this invoice unless otherwise stated in the Official Quote. Accounts that remain unpaid thirty (30) days after the date of the invoice will be assessed a service charge in the amount of $25 and an additional $25 every (30) days thereafter. Non-payment may result in suspension of your website or hosting account.” After non-payment and no response to my invoice or my emails, on 8/01 I proceeded to suspend the website until payment was received.

I did not receive any payment or any further response until 8/06. I received an email from Mike Lashombe. I had never met Mr. Lashombe nor did I know he was associated with the chamber because he had never been involved in the agreement or contract to complete this job.

His email stated “We are having issues with the website, and was wondering if it was on your side, or our host side.” I responded the same day by letting him know that the site was suspended for non-payment of the invoice, and I asked him to “please pay today to avoid further interruption.” I also received another email from Margaret on 8/6 as well. Her email stated “I got a call from our Past President today wanting to post a page he'd designed onto the website and he said he went to our website and he said the website was down.. I told him to call Prompt Technologies, our host and they said it wasn't them. He thought to call Sue our treasurer to assure that she had paid your invoice and she said she never got your invoice. (I sent it to her 2 weeks ago).” Again confirming that she received the invoice and submitted it for payment.

Her email went on to say “So now we have several things to discuss... 1. resend your invoice as I already deleted it, since I had given it to Sue. 2. can you find out why website is down? 3. Can you add a page? 4. Can you send detailed invoice because one I printed just had an amount and I'm sure once they see it they are going to want to know what you did on the website that cost that amount. 5. Went before Board of Chamber and they approved the motion for us to go before City. Met with City Manager this morning and he has us on the agenda for next Tuesday's City Council Meeting. He says we have a 50/50 chance, but has given me alternatives to getting the $$ for website and other line items that we'll pursue with City should it not be approved by Council. So will continue to keep you posted on that. I think I mentioned last e-mail to you that you have to be a chamber member to even be considered for the website design and we have to have 3 bids (you already saw one... the 3rd one we don't have yet, but I will get if I have to after Tuesday's meeting). Once Website is up and running, what would it cost to add the golf tourney page?” This statement expressed to me the interest in continuing my service with the chamber and by no means expresses an issue with the amount charged. This also reiterates their motive to make me become a member “in order to be considered.”

Mr. Lashombe responded back to me on 8/6 stating “I just spoke to our treasurer, who is the only person that checks our PO box, and she said that she has not received a bill from you.” According to my records and many confirmations from their representative, the invoice was personally delivered to their treasurer. I responded by sending him a copy of the invoice charges along with an explanation of charges. I also offered to email a copy directly to his treasurer if he needed.

I received another email from Mr. Lashombe on the night of 8/06 stating “We do have an issue with almost five hours of time charged to add names to our membership list. This was not expected, and truly is excessive based on our previous webmaster. We will pay this bill, but we will not be needing your services in the future.” He also sent an additional email asking where he can send payment. I responded promptly with a link to pay online for faster release of the site as well as my payment address if he chose to mail payment.

Over the next few days Mr. Lashombe continued to send me harassing emails until the invoice payment cleared. His emails were threatening and intimidating. At one point I asked Mr. Lashombe to stop continuing to send me these types of emails and I would notify him as soon as the payment cleared and the site was up. He did not stop emailing. He threatened me and gave me deadlines to do what he wanted or he would get his attorney involved and contact the BBB.

I received an email at 8:18 am on 8/12 from Mr. Lashombe stating “Your payment has cleared, but you still have our site disabled. Please respond.” I had not received any response from my bank stating that the payment had cleared nor did my account show that the payment was completed. At 8:37 am, I finally received notice from the bank that the payment was complete and I instantly unsuspended the site. Within 15 minutes of my receiving the notice from my bank, the chamber site was back up and running.

His site is and has been up and running since that time. He continued to send this complaint to the BBB and in his statement stated “We also asked that our website be restored since she did not even send an invoice to the correct email address. She refused to do both.” This statement is incorrect. I have multiple emails proving that not only did I send the invoice multiple times; it was received and delivered as it should have been according to their representative Margaret Ferguson. I also restored their site promptly as promised.

During this entire time I never received one concern regarding the work that was completed or the amount that was being charged. Nor did I receive any other complaints regarding the site or any response to the multiple reminder emails I sent until the site was suspended. I did everything in my power to ensure the chamber received a copy of the invoice and had an opportunity to pay on time. I feel that the charges are fair in today’s market and justified for the amount of work that was completed.

(Response continued on next reply)

nworbs

Response continued:


I was recommended to the chamber by Margaret, a past customer, because of her satisfaction with my work and fair price. Prior to making the changes in question, I was asked to give a bid for redesign of the entire chamber website. I proposed a bid that was $7,600 less than the competitor bid for the exact same services. After reviewing my bid, they felt that it was the best offer, but then decided I had to become a member in order to be considered. To become a member I would have to pay a membership fee, which they stated “We can trade it off (services already rendered) OR you can send a check.” I declined becoming a member because their chamber services and offers are for the city of Robinson. I live in Plano, 122 miles away. Once I declined becoming a member of the chamber is when Mike Lashombe, Robinson Chamber of Commerce representative, began his dispute. The multiple invoices that I sent were misplaced and weren’t paid. My original bid for the chamber website was declined, and the price of the invoice became “excessive”. Seeing that my prices are below the market value of their other bids and the satisfaction of my past client, their member, I do not feel that a refund of $100 to the chamber is justified. $100 also happens to be their exact annual membership fee.

nworbs

Oh, and the reason the BBB states I have a "C" rating is not because of your complaint. It is due to the following reasons:

Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of C.
Reasons for this rating include:

• BBB does not have sufficient information to determine how long this business has been operating.
• BBB does not have sufficient background information on this business.

But, that will change. Sorry to burst your bubble.

goodnplenty

Contrary to what Ms Brown attempts to assert, our request for a refund was based on what two web designers in our area said is a reasonable charge for the time that it should have taken to do the work, and the quality of her work.

In Stephanie's response she has admitted to doing all of the things that our Chamber contends were wrongfully done, so we do not feel that we need to argue our points any further, other than to say that telling customers to "get over it", as she told us in her previous post will give potential customers some insight into the way she deals with her customers.



Kind Regards,

The Greater Robinson Chamber of Commerce