My husband and I contacted Havenhome on the recommendation of a work colleague as we had just moved to St. Petersburg and bought a house that we planned to remodel. We met with the owner, Michael Mastry, whom we liked very much and felt shared our vision for our house.
We subsequently signed a design contract with HavenHome, where the company was to provide CAD/architectural drawings, material selections and contractor quotes. We paid HavenHome a 50% deposit. Following our first meeting with Kyle, our assigned designer, we were very excited by the designs and materials that were presented and so we paid HavenHome the remaining 50% balance, per our contract. It was after this meeting however, that we were informed the cost of the design & materials was 3x the budget we had communicated to Michael prior to signing the contract. It was later revealed that Michael never informed his design associate Kyle, of our budget. We were extremely frustrated and disappointed but having already paid a lot of money to HavenHome we tried to salvage the relationship. We started the project again, reworking the design and materials to fit within our budget. However, we encountered nothing but problems and delays. The contractor quote was incomplete; HavenHome also severed their relationship with the kitchen cabinet company and despite using a new company could never provide an accurate kitchen design. We got to the point where all we wanted was the CAD drawings so that we could take the design to a different contractor.
We made repeated requests for the CAD drawings for our remodel and each time was rebuffed with various excuses. At first we were told that the file was corrupted and would have to be redrawn. Then we were promised it within days, but then the design associate went on vacation for two weeks. It had been seven months and we still did not have any usuable design plans. Out of exasperation and frustration, we formally ended our relationship with HavenHome. We asked for our money back. Instead, we received a threatening letter from their lawyer informing us that we potentially owed HavenHome more money.
We paid HavenHome $21,000 for their design services. We still have not received any of the professional design plans that we were promised or that HavenHome was contractually obligated to provide. We considered suing HavenHome, but because of some unexpected, and potentially life threatening health issues, we have needed to focus our energies elsewhere. I would caution anyone against using HavenHome. This has been the worst customer experience we have ever had and an absolute waste of time and money. read more
