I want to warn you in advance of purchasing from Michelle at DesignWell Studios, that she will not accept a return on products purchased from her. She did not inform me of this at the time of purchase. My first purchase from Michelle was an air sampling lab test that measures Total Volatile Organic Compounds, TVOC, & formaldehyde levels in one's home. The test came back that the 8-month-old manufactured home that I was currently renting & considering purchasing had a high TVOC level at the 95th percentile compared to the average home & an elevated formaldehyde level.
I had a consult with Michelle to interpret the test. In our discussion based on her understanding of the chemicals picked up by the test, Michelle identified the vinyl wallpaper that had come pre-attached to a thin layer of sheetrock that made up all the walls in the house as the likely main source of the high TVOCs. Michelle led our conversation in the direction that there was no easy fix for these problems, so I would be better served by building a new healthy house with her acting as my healthy house design consultant. In talking with her about healthy house design I soon realized that she knew less about house foundations than I did, that was the first red flag in our conversation. I agreed to purchase from her an additional air purifier machine & an ongoing air quality monitor each costing about $500.
When I received the air quality monitor, I found out that it required a smart phone to set it up. It cannot run without taking this step. I cannot use smart phones because I am EMF sensitive. I don't have one. I had just received the air monitor, it was unused, so I immediately contacted Michelle indicating I wanted to return it because I don't have a smart phone & had not been told I would need one. She kept trying to get me to make other choices. I kept indicating I wanted to return it, brand new, unused, just received. She would not accept this & ended up telling me that she is in her words, "stubborn." I now agree, she is the most stubborn business person I have ever interacted with as a consumer.
She pushed me to send the air monitor at my expense to the manufacturer to have them activate it for me. This is not what I wanted or asked for, but it was the only choice she offered, so I gave in & did that. When I got it back it was 4-5 weeks since the original high TVOC test. This air monitor gives an ongoing TVOC level, it always told me that my house had exceptionally low, very low TVOC levels, in direct contradiction to the original test result. Because of the dramatic contradiction I could not trust the readings it was giving me. If I actually have exceptionally low TVOC readings, why would I need an air monitor? I only bought it because I had lab results showing very high TVOC readings.
I kept telling Micheel that I wanted to return it, she then informed me that the manufacturer does not accept returns once it has been activated unless the unit is proven by the manufacturer to not be working correctly. She had not told me this earlier when she would not accept a return of the unused just received monitor, but insisted I have the manufacturer activate it for me which made it nonreturnable to them.
Perhaps the monitor does not measure as broad a range of TVOCs as the original test, maybe it works, but doesn't measure the specific chemicals that are a problem in my house or maybe it doesn't work. It was Michelle's job to pick the right monitor for the chemicals picked up in the original test. Michelle believes all of these devises are accurately measuring TVOCs, but it is not realistic to think my house could have improve that much in a matter of a few weeks & Michelle had led me to believe my house's problem was so significant & so difficult to fix that rather than buying it, I should start over and build a new non-toxic house. All these views contradict each other. So, my work with Michelle has led me to confusion rather than clarity.
I purchased the air monitor from Michelle. She is the responsible party. When I sold products as a business owner, I would have never told a customer who bought a product from me, that they could not return it to me, but had to deal with the manufacturer rather than the seller. In my mind & experience this is not right. I sent the air monitor back to Michelle at Design Well Studios requesting refund of the purchase price. Michelle did not accept the shipment & UPS returned it to me at my expense. What good is it to me to have a monitor that always tells me my air quality is exceptionally good when a higher quality lab test said it was exceptionally high in toxic TVOCs. Why, when she is the one I paid for the product, will she not accept multiple reasonable requests to return this expensive product for a refund? I have never previously left a negative review for a business. I felt compelled to do so. I believe I have been mistreated as a consumer by Michelle Ifversen. read more