Charmante Architecture Design

On April 24, 2926 Angi provided 3 referrals for this project. I interviewed all 3 and selected Charmante based on location and claimed experience. By April 29 We established a SOW and price and on May 2, 2026 paid Matt Arellano a $1,750 retainer for first phase one. Ive made a list of all the phone calls, e-mails, and meetings to create the following time line of events. I had given Matt most of the information needed to do the work at the initial and get a quote meeting so he was able to start right away. On 5/14/26 he sent me a preliminary floor plan and elevation that were somewhat similar to but not like the scaled drawings I had submitted. There was a volley of e-mails and phone calls that led up to our second meeting to make corrections to the floor plans as nothing had been done on the site plan or elevations. I hired a surveyor to develop a certified topo map of the property which I sent to Matt on 6/3/26. He acknowledged receipt and replied he would look at it. On 6/8/26 I sent an email requesting a meeting to review action items from last meeting. We had a meeting on 6/9/26. Results were very disappointing. Nothing had been done on site plan even though with the surveyors input provided 8o% of the work. The floor plan still had 1/2 dozen errors or missing corrections and nothing had been done on elevations. Also nothing had been done on the unattached garage included in the SOW. Note I had provided scaled drawings for everything including details for areas that needed correction. We tried at both meetings to make corrections real time at the restaurant meeting place but both times his computer battery died before we finished. We agreed to meet again on 6/23/26 at the meeting. On 6/16/26 I emailed to confirm the upcoming meeting but didnt get a reply so I tried calling both the phone numbers for him and had to leave messages. Didnt hear anything until 6/24/26 when I received an email from him stating he would send the site plan and elevations by end of day. At 9 PM I hadnt received anything so emailed him, His response was I still have three hours left. I went to bed and in the morning found a message he couldnt find the file. In its place he sent a copy of the original preliminary elevations from 4/29/26. Thats when I confronted him via email he had breached our SOW and I wanted a refund of the $1,750 retainer. He refused saying that was to cover his effort so far. Bottom line we gave Charmante $1750 to produce specific documents in a reasonable amount of time and provided them with more than enough input. They have not produced even one useable complete or acceptable document in more than twice the time they said in the SOW is typical. The have wasted 2 plus months of our project schedule and I believe I have put more time and effort trying to support him than he has put in this project. I dont believe his website is truthful.