Homemade Design

It is a waste of money. The great majority of people are not going to find any value out of the service. If you need design consultation, you need a full service consultation. If you already have knowledge and experience, and you just need to get a few ideas, then you don't need to pay for that. You can just get a magazine or a book since you already have the knowledge of basic designs in your head or a little bit of experience. To have someone call you and give you information over the phone, you are not getting the personal service that you need. You may as well take the money $49 and apply it to something else like getting someone else to come out and give you the service that you need. Because, you are not getting much, you are not getting anything at all. They are going to have you do the work. After talking to them and I was talking to other home designers, I found out that that was a waste of time and waste of money. I gave them a C because they didn't fail at what they do but they don't offer any value for what they do. There's not much value to it. The cost was fair. They didn't do a terrible job and the cost isn't terrible, it was only $49. It just has a very low value. For responsiveness I gave them a B because they will answer your phone and answer your emails.

NA <br />

It went well. After viewing both properties content, i was sent a couple of room plans. <br />

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The furniture was paid for in full over a year ago and was scheduled to be delivered in January.  As the delivery date approached I was told it would be delayed because of the snow.  The company that made the furniture is in the Carolinas and  made no sense at the time.  Then it was due to be delivered in March and delayed again until June and delayed yet again with no rescheduling date.  I was sending regular emails since June and received no response.  I also left regular phone messages during these months that were also not answered. Finally in August Amanda Zettel did call me to say that the delivery truck was in an accident.  I found this truly apocryphal.  She promised I would have my furniture by September 1st.  I told her that if the furniture did not arrive by then I wanted a full refund.   For the last six weeks I have sent numerous emails and left phone messages and no answer.   I am a single mother who lost her job last March and this has been a terrible blow to my family.  I want a full refund of all my purchases so we can move forward.

TERRIBLE.  She is an unresponsive and unprofessional business owner.  She took all of the money upfront and never completed orders.  I literally have half of my projects completed.  I tried to be civil with her and sort out all of this through the attorney general's office but she made no effort.  She only made false promises.  I started this project October of 2013 and now it is the end of September 2015 and no resolution.  I will be taking her to small claims court for $7000 <br /> DO NOT USE HER.  I am unclear why she still maintains a B rating on Angies's list.   <br />

This business is dishonest, and I suspect it is a scam.  Carefully look at the other negative reviews on Angie's List and you will find a disturbing trend: goods and services bought and paid for but not delivered; a seemingly-talented designer named Amanda that takes weeks to respond to clients, if ever; unanswered emails and phone calls that are automatically sent to voice mail.  I would also encourage you to go to the Better Business Bureau website and read a complaint made against this company because of furniture purchased but not delivered to another customer.  I experienced each and every one of these things, and you may too, should you make the mistake of giving Homemade Design your money.   <br /> I purchased the "Unlimited Design Service" at the end of February 2015 for three rooms.  According to the Homemade Design website, this "buys you unlimited consultation with a professional and highly experienced interior designer, with no hourly limits, until you say your room is complete."  At the time of purchase, I submitted a floor plan with measurements of each room, pictures of items we liked for inspiration, and a detailed budget for each room.  The designer, Amanda Zettel, contacted me within a day or two to set up a conference call to discuss the initial plans.  The conference call took place about a week after I paid for the service and was a pleasant conversation.  I was anxious about the budget, having never used an interior designer before, so I asked Amanda specifically if my budget was realistic for the projects I had outlined; she assured me it was.  She ended the conference call by telling us she would be in touch with us shortly with our initial design package. <br /> After a month passed without hearing from Amanda, I felt a little nervous.  I emailed her to politely check the status.  She responded by email quickly, telling me that she had updated her Office software and her email was "not synced properly."  She was apologetic.  Shortly after that, Amanda presented me via email some initial design ideas for my rooms, including furniture that <strong>far exceeded the budget that I outlined at the outset</strong>.  I expressed concern about this and reiterated the budget.  She responded with a spreadsheet that showed where the money I had initially budgeted could be distributed.  For the next two weeks, I had good discourse with Amanda about major pieces for our three rooms, selecting rugs, a dining room table, a sofa.  On May 12 I paid Amanda $4828 to purchase the sofa and dining room table.  She quoted me 8-10 weeks for delivery.   <br /> After that purchase, Amanda stopped making suggestions for our incomplete projects.  Specific questions I asked in emails were unanswered.  Our only correspondence was regarding existing purchases and some remarks about a rug for one room.  She did state, on May 22, "the factory has begun the frame of the sofa."  On June 14 I told Amanda I couldn't work with her anymore because she was not answering emails and was no longer contributing suggestions to my incomplete projects.  I asked for a partial refund and to confirm a date for delivery of the furniture we had already paid for.  She responded on June 15, admitting that her "response times have been slow in a lot of cases."  She then stated:  <br /> <blockquote> "I wasn't told about your overall budget for the three rooms until later in the process, after the original concept had been developed.  The budget spreadsheet that I created for you isn't included in the process, and typically when very critical information like budgets change mid-process we need to start over, and usually that requires an additional fee."  This is patently false.  I never changed the budget.  I never asked Amanda to make a budget spreadsheet, and it wouldn't have been necessary if she had looked at the budget I gave her from day 1. </blockquote> Amanda dismissed my request for a refund because she had "provided options for all of the pieces required for each room" but offered to help "moving forward with accessories and all of the undecided options."  With regards to our sofa and dining table delivery date, she said "I just left a message with our distributor, I will let you know when I hear back.  Your order was placed on May 12th, and was quoted an 8-10 week lead time.  8 weeks from that date is July 7th.  I would add a week to that quote because the factory closes for the July 4th holiday week."   <br /> Against my better judgment, I decided to give Amanda another chance to finish our projects, mostly because I already had so much money tied up in this silly endeavor, and I didn't want to haggle over a refund.  To my surprise, she did re-engage over the next week with new suggestions for accessories for one of our rooms, and I thought we might actually finish these projects.  Alas, that lasted only for the week.  We never heard from Amanda again after June 24.  All 3 projects incomplete.  $4800 of furniture not delivered.  I emailed repeatedly, pleading for a response.  I called the Homemade Design number daily, but the dialing menu, regardless of which option is chosen, always went to voice mail.  I posted on the Homemade Design Facebook page.  No response. <br /> On July 29 I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the Consumer Protection Agency of Boston.  On July 31, I was able to find the personal email of Jeff Zettel, the so-called vice president of sales and marketing for Homemade Design Corporation.  I emailed Jeff and told him that we had not heard from our designer since June 24 and our furniture, promised to us 8-10 weeks from May 12, was still not delivered.  Here is a portion of his response on August 3: <br /> <blockquote> "Your sofa and dining table are in production.  Our records indicate that (you) approved the leather sample on May 26th.  The quoted lead time was 8-10 weeks from sample approval.  This puts the manufacturing completion date in the range of July 21st and August 4th.  However when I checked on the order today we confirmed that the manufacturer was shut down for the two weeks around the fourth of July Holiday delaying the completion date.  I have confirmed that the anticipated manufacturing completion date is on or before August 18th." He also claimed that they had no record of emails or voicemails from me asking for a refund. </blockquote> <br /> I asked Jeff Zettel for a name and contact information for the sofa and dining table manufacturer, and he gave me a phone number to a wholesaler in North Carolina.  I called this person and she informed me that <strong>Homemade Design never ordered my furniture</strong>, they had only requested a quote. <br /> <br /> Confronted with this information, Jeff Zettel finally agreed to refund my money on August 18 for the furniture, provided I not pursue "litigation, arbitration, credit card charge backs, or similar activity," but they apparently will not refund even a portion of the design fee I paid for my incomplete projects.  He claimed on August 20 that he had initiated a refund to my account through Intuit QuickBooks and that the transaction would take 7-10 days.   <strong>It is now 20 days since he supposedly initiated my refund, and I still do not have my money back</strong>.  Amanda has e-mailed me since then claiming that there was a bank error with the account number and shortly after that she claimed that a paper check was sent to my old address and they may have to cut a new check to send to my new address. <br /> <br /> <strong>These people have kept for themselves money that I sent them to purchase furniture four months ago, and, despite their many stalling tactics and lame excuses, it seems that they have no intention of returni

The process took very, very long and responsiveness of the designer was very poor.  I essentially got nothing out of the service that I actually used.    I ended up going to a furniture store and using the services of an in store designer.  So overall I feel this purchase was a waste of money. <br />

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I was to provide measurements,  images, pictures, etc of the type of kitchen I wanted to remodel. It was very time comsuming to provide all this information and then I had difficulty navigating their website in order to submit and continue with the project.  I did speak with the representative over the phone - twice and he was very pleasant.  I wish I could have navigated the website a little easier. I feel like I wasted my $99.00

Services were performed but <strong>not completed</strong>.   I  am going  to small claims court to get the $2900 she owes me.  i absolutely do not recommend her.  <br /> <br /> The one positive comment I can make about working with Amanda is that she is a great designer.   However, I cannot recommend her.   <br /> For a Parsons-educated designer, my project was fairly simple ? decorate a living room and dining room:  2 rugs, pillow covers, light fixtures, panels for French windows and custom made drapes with lining.  I started this in November, 2013 and my rooms are still not finished.  I neither have a refund for $2900, which I requested , nor the drapes, panels or pillow covers I ordered. <br />   <br /> Amanda is extremely hard to reach and frequently unresponsive  - ignoring emails and phone calls.  The most recent occasion is currently is going on.  We spoke on April 1, 2015 about the work I have not received and she told me she would follow up on April 3 <br /> to confirm the next steps.  I followed up by phone and email several times when I did not hear from her on the 3rd and finally received an email from her on April 15.  She claims she has problems with the shop she is working with to make the drapes and is now looking for a new provider.  This may be true.  What I know is that until I gave her an ultimatum, there was absolutely no urgency on her part to resolve the issues (at least that she communicated to me. ) I have no idea if she even has the fabric for the pillows or panels as she has not referred to them in any any of our correspondence.  She has just focused on the drapes. <br />   <br />  When I said I wanted a refund (working with her has become more time consuming than it's worth), her solution was for me to my credit card ompany and see if they would handle this as a disputed charge and refund me.  As I paid the full amount well over 60 days ago, understandably, they cannot do this.  This solution seemed "off" to me when she suggested it but I checked it out anyway. I've written to tell her this and have not received any response.  She has  never answerd her phone when I have called  - it always goes to voicemail.    <br />  It?s 2015 and many of my friends have their own businesses.  I don't know anyone who does not keep their client/customer up-to-date on what's happening or who is unresponsive for 2 and 3 weeks at a time.   I have experienced both of these things regularly when working with Amanda.  Despite her design skills,  I absolutely cannot recommend her.  This has been a frustrating,  time consuming experience .

I feel extremely fortunate to have found Vicki through Angie's List !  She is an extremely talented person who is very easy to deal with. She has a breath of knowledge that allows her to accommodate my tastes, but also ensure that the overall design is in sync with the design and location of my home.  She has  a very diplomatic way of suggesting when I'm going astray with my choices and in every case where she has told me "Trust Me"  I have been delighted ! She is very aggressive in helping me find the best pricing and often times will work with the vendors directly  hence saving me the time.  She also has excellent local contacts.  Everyone I've worked with through Vicki has been timely, professional, and highly competent. <br /> My project is far from complete.  I intend to continue to use Vicki and her expert advice until the end !!!!

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I waited a few months to write this review in part to block the experience, in part to let my emotions calm down in order to write a fair review. On the positive, I have to say that Amanda did come up with a design. She returned emails on a regular basis. At one point I even considered her a friend with all the communication we did. On the negative, I spent a lot of my own time not only in filling out her design questionnaire, but in pinning looks I liked and things I wanted. I knew before starting that I needed a sofa. The problem if you live anywhere but Boston, is that it's up to you to find a sofa of the limited lines available. I spent hours fruitless searching for a brand that wasn't even available to sit in. I believe that it's pretty important to sit in the sofa you are spending$$$ for. I finally found one and that's where this heartbreak began. The time was supposed to be 12 weeks. At 41/2 months, Amanda said the fabric was back ordered. Having ordered custom products for a large part of my career, I know good customer service involves keeping up with those orders to satisfy your clients. I imagine that you can figure out what happened from there. The sofa was "reordered" by another distribution center, only to wait another ungodly amount of time. The end came when the sofa was "damaged" during delivery and would need to be assessed whether it needed a small repair or to be" remade" again. Looking back, I am so dissapointed that I trusted Amanda enough to wait that long. I ended up using another local Angie's list designer to get my Lee Industries sofa in 8 weeks. If you'd like a design based on the work that you do, to end up with a design that calls for items you cannot afford, perhaps this is a good fit. If you'd like to order anything, I would caution you. Amanda insists on 100% money down through PayPal. This in not considered normal for the industry. On a personal note Amanda, you could have told me the truth and we would have worked it out. Making me wait 81/2 months for the "sofa", then another month for the money to be returned was simply unkind and certainly unprofessional. Telling me the truth would have ended in a far more positive outcome and review. As the representative for Lee told my designer " No one waits 8 months for a Lee Industries sofa". <br />

They are a nice provider. I talked to them on the phone for about 30 minutes and they sent some samples. We were able to get a discount on designer purchases but not useful on designing the space. Once we told them what we wanted, they were able to help purchase from the warehouse and save about $1,500. I think they became too busy with this big deal. You buy a ticket per room and we still actually have a couple left with this provider. After redesigning one room, we kind of ran out of steam and have not designed the other rooms. Overall this is a good service and it's a good concept. Whomever I spoke with, she was really nice. I would recommend this provider. This kind of service seems to be for people with time and knows exactly what they want. They are super helpful with the designer discount from the warehouse. They don't actual design your room which is slight flaw.

It was fine. The original design didn’t meet my needs based on the information I provided them. However, they revised the plans which worked out better for me. They were able to get the first draft to me pretty quickly.

The service went well and they were very helpful. We were looking to revamp our living room. We did everything for the service online. I think it would have been easier to get their service in person, however. They gave some great ideas and were easy to reach for the service. They were also very responsive.

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We used it for our son’s nursery.  We were not completely satisfied with the service as the deal did not include as much as we expected.  The company was fine but we would not purchase this deal again.

It was very worthwhile to use this service because the decorator answered some critical questions and kept me from making costly mistakes.  It is a good place to start and the price was right for what she did.  She spent 30 minutes on the phone talking to me but before that she spent a significant amount of time looking over photos and measurements that I submitted to her by email. She put a lot of time into the consult.  This service would be great for choosing wall colors, flooring, and fabric for furniture.  I will definitely keep her contact information for future projects. <br />

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After I approved the drapes, I was sent an invoice for $700. I paid the invoice. It's been over a year and despite numerous emails (over a dozen) with Amanda Zettel of Homemade Design, I still have not received the drapes or a refund. I was very satisfied with all of Homemade Design's work up until this experience.

I sent pictures of my space, and talked with a designer on the phone.  <br /> But it was near the holidays and due to time constraints by the designer <br /> and by myself, we never got back together for suggestions.  After so much time had passed, and the deal had expired, I just never contacted them again.

I will be very honest in my assessment of Amanda. Sitting in front of me I have a beautiful design for my living room and dining room in a townhouse I owned in Houston. Amanda picked beautiful, comfortable chairs, nice wallpaper and very cool lighting.  The problem with Amanda is not her ability to design an amazing room - she certainly is very talented. The problem I experienced with Amanda was the inability to handle the details, to stay on top of the project, and to assist with actually putting the room together. This may be a problem in general, with all on-line designers, who knows.  I do know that I ordered this package from Amanda in August of 2013.  My first conference call with her was some time around October, and my designs were given to me (not the complete design) some time in December.  I learned quickly that when Amanda says she would have something for me "by the end of the week," she really meant about 2-3 weeks down the road.  In any event, I was elated when I got my first design for my dining room. I delayed placing an order because the stuff she picked was a bit pricey and I wanted to save my money over the holidays. I placed an order in early February for two rugs and a chandelier - totaling well over $3,000.00. Amanda advised that it could take about 4 weeks for the rugs and chandelier to come, which was no problem with me.  8 weeks passed and I began emailing Amanda. (Mind you that the money was charged to me immediately, with no follow up emails from any of the manufactures, no indication of shipping, nothing... so I began to feel uneasy). After a couple of unreturned emails and phone calls, Amanda apologized for the delay, mentioned that she was surprised I hadn't received anything yet, and explained to me her mother was in an accident. No biggie, but I explained to her that I would be out of the country in mid-April and unavailable to sign for anything. She assured me the rugs were en route from Georgia and would be there before I leave.  As far as the chandelier, we discovered that they had attempted to deliver it, but Amanda had provided them the incorrect phone number, so they were not able to get in touch with me. I asked her to correct this so I could receive the chandelier. Because I never heard back from the company, and no additional attempts to deliver were made, I am assuming she did not do this.  And, as could be expected, the rugs did not come before I left - they came when I was in Germany and when no one was home to sign for them. Since over 12 weeks had passed since my order, I contacted my credit card company and initiated a charge back.  They agreed with me that it was concerning that so much time had passed with very little contact, and immediately refunded my money. (Amanda and her husband eventually tried to fight my chargeback, but they were of course unsuccessful. I did not have the goods, and they never attempted to re-deliver them). Also, I will add the following to things about my experience with Amanda, which bothered me: <br /> 1) I was told in January I would have curtains and throw pillows picked out "by the end of the week." Those never came. <br /> 2) Amanda said she had a client in Florida who would ship me a sample of the wallpaper. This never came either. Amanda said it was shipped to me - I never received it and kind of doubt it ever was. <br /> So basically, $500 dollars for two rooms of design got me some dining room chairs (albeit - awesome), a table she picked out that was too expensive so I found a different one, some cool wallpaper that I will never be able to get a sample of, two expensive rugs and a chandelier that resulted in a credit card fight and a headache. At the end of the day, my advice is that if you want a talented and friendly person to design your home, don't mind waiting some time for it all to come together, and are cool with locating the stuff and putting it all together on your own, Amanda may be it for you. If you want a designer who is good at following up with details, assuring stuff gets to you in a reasonable time, and assists with pulling the room together and finalizing your project, I would highly recommend you find someone else.