[chhung]

Not sure where I can post my question so I pick this one I feel somehow related.

I hired a Diamond Certified Construction Company to do my house addition/remodeling and I feel I have been ripped off. The reason we chose them was because they are Diamond Certified and their designer has 30 years of experience. The designer was able to come up with a design at our first meeting to impress us. They have two pricing model for their design fee. The higher one $125 can be reimbursed if we choose to have them to do the actual construction or the lower one $85 is not reimburseable. We chose the higher one and trusted them to do a good work on design and then the construction. The first bill we received was $3,125 for 25 hours of design works which covered two weeks. The communication was poor and I have to be more proactive inquering the status and often time I got excuses like they were busy with a couple of presentations or designer had other appt to go to. Any way, the second bill we received was $2,250 for 18 hours of design works which covered the last two weeks. We did not have major changes in design in the last two weeks so I asked for work log or detail work done before I pay. In email exchange, they said "This is not something our company does. This is not standard business protocol." I questioned them how to arrive this number if they don't have any itemized log to back the number. Nothing happened in three days and I sent another email asking them to get back to me. They then called me and left a voice message asking me to call back. I don't know what we can talk. I felt they have abused my trust and charge me whatever they felt like in order to lock me into the construction job for their benefit. The more they charge me in design fees, the better chance they will have the construction job.

What can I do at this point? Any help or suggestion is greatly appreciated.

[smearcase]

Did you have a written contract?

[chhung]

Yes, I do have the contract. It has the hourly rate specified but it has no time limit. That means they can charge many hours they want.

[smearcase]

Depends on what else the contract says and also depends on laws in your jurisdiction. Maybe you could check with the contrtactor licensing board in your state or county, a consumer protection division (usually part of state Attorney General's office), and/or the Better Business Bureau. Not every specific detail has to be mentioned in the contract. Some requirements may be in general law or covered by standard practice. I am not a lawyer, just have some experience with construction contractors and contract disputes.

[MediatorHomeDC]

Dear chhung,

I can help you. My name is Joy Lanzaro and I am the Director of Mediation and Compliance at Diamond Certified. {offline contact info removed} All Diamond Certified transactions are automatically covered up to six months under the Diamond Certified Performance Guarantee. If you have any difficulty or concerns not resolved through direct communication with the Diamond Certified service provider, you may contact me for further assistance and mediation. There is no cost. For more information about the Diamond Certified Performance Guarantee, please visit http://www.diamondcertified.org/diam...ance-guarantee

I look forward to hearing from you.

Joy Lanzaro
Director- Mediation & Compliance
Diamond Certified

[ScottGem]

AMHD's policy is to not allow our members to solicit or provide offline help to other members. Therefore, I removed the offline contact info from Ms Lanzaro's post.

However I researched the website. And they appear to be a legitimate service that rates contractors in the Bay Area. I suggest you do contact them to see if they can resolve your issues.

We would appreciate if you post back how this was resolved.

[MediatorHomeDC]

Hi Scott, Sorry for the inadvertent line-cross. You are correct, we are a consumer resource for finding independently rated service providers in the SF Bay Area and we invite customers to contact us with their feedback or requests for assistance resolving a performance dispute. Thank you for leaving the website up for chhung to follow up with us if so desired.

Joy Lanzaro
Director - Mediation & Comliance
Diamond Certified