My husband and I have a vacation home with 4Bed, 4Bath 3,502 Sq/ft in Flagstaff Arizona. We planned on doing some renovations and upgrades. Our primary residence is in Santa Monica, California. A friend suggested that I attend a interior designer's convention at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. I went there to get ideas and find an affordable designer.
That's when we met Michelle Kama of Michelle Carleen Studio LLC of Sedona Arizona. She and I hit it off. It seemed perfect she was from Sedona just south of Flagstaff and she claimed to be a freelance
designer and artist. She showed me a portfolio of artwork and some of her past projects. Her style appeared to be what I was looking for and she seemed to understand the vision I had for the home. I set up a meeting with her at the house a week later after the convention.
My husband and I meet with her and we did a walk through. She was three hours late and came with her children. I love kids but they were unruly and distracting for this type of situation. She did some measurements and a lot of scribbling in an art book. She told me she would go back to her office and work on some different designs. She told be that she would have
some sketches as well as computer generated perspectives of her designs and she would have this done in couple of weeks. At the end of this meeting she asked me to provide her with gas and mileage for her trip to our home. My husband gave her fifty dollars cash
but we thought that was rather tacky. We figured that she was a self employed mother and for her to ask she probably needed it. Two weeks went by and she hadn't called us so I emailed her for a week. She gave me the run around then finally agreed to met with us to show us the finished design. We had her come up to our home she again brought her children and some gentleman she introduced as Carlos her contractor.
Well she didn't have sketches only some computer generated floorplans. It looked rushed and unprofessional. I have my own program I purchased from Bestbuy that turned out better plans. While we are talking Carlos was walking around taking notes and wasn't paying any attention to us. We expected something more
artistic and professional especially from all of the experience she claims to have. She explained that she really didn't have enough time to express her vision. So, we sat for about four hours and we together came up with a plan. Carlos gave us an I idea of what he would charge for the construction end of it he would charge us as he completed each of the different tasks tha were required. We asked her what her fee would be to oversee this project. She did some calculating and said she would need $2200.00 up front for her design services plus the cost of materials, fixtures and furniture etc. She explain how she would get quotes for all the items we picked out and we would provide her the money as she went to make the purchases.
Well it sounded like a plan. My husband cut her a check for the $2200.00 and she, her kids, and Carlos left. She cashed that check in less than a day. Well, I tried to get in touch with her to finalize the some of our decisions. She always claimed to be on another project and that she was still negotiating prices with her supplier so that she would be getting us the best deal. Well I had to go back to California on business. My husband stayed in Flagstaff to deal with her. When he called her she immediately, asked him to met her at a coffee shop near her office in Sedona. When he met with her she started to tell him how she felt like the chemistry between them was better that with she and I. According to him she began to flirt with him. He began to feel uncomfortable and he tried to turn the conversation back the house but she keep asking him more questions about us and telling him about God and Jesus and all of her past woes with her abusive ex husband and ex boyfriends. My husband wanted to be nice because she had our money. So he finally got her to agree to met up with him to purchase the paint and laminate flooring the next day. She met him (without the kids) at this same coffee shop and she rode with him to Home Depot. He said that she didn't look as modest as she did the first few times we had met.
To make a long story short she tried to seduce my husband. Her conduct, style of dress and conversation were of a call girl and not an interior designer. She started talking street-like slang with occasional curse words to him. This was not the same person I met at the convention. She appears to be desperate for male affection. My husband said she is the type that thinks because she looks exotic that men will do anything for her including cheat on there wives. She is not even my husbands type. He made it very clear to her that he was not interested in her like that and that he would still like to do business with her and only business (again because she had our money). After that conversation we have never heard from her again. I have called, emailed, written letters to her po box and no response.
When we looked up her corporation the address of the business office is the Prism's Cafe were he met her for coffee in Sedona, AZ. And the corporation is in bad standing. We went back there to talk to the owner (who wasn't there) the cashier explain to me that Michelle is the daughter of the owner of the Prism's Cafe. She wouldn't give us any further information. We plan to take further legal action against her if we can find her. We may have to take this a a loss. We thought that she was so sweet and never thought this would happen. We never even bothered to check her references because she seemed to know what she was doing. She had talked about being a born again Christian.
This is not very Christian behavior. She is a con artist and a whore. She has other services she wants to sell and interior design is not one of them. Don't be fooled before you invest this kind of money, do a background check. All we ended up with is paint and worthless CAD drafts. After this we did some investigating of our own and found out that the groups like ASID she is not an associate member along with other professional groups that don't have her listed. We came to other dead ends on finding out if she even had a degree and some of her past employment. If you have any information on her please contact us through this site.
Carla and William
Flagstaff, Arizona
U.S.A.
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