Charlene Sigler
1/5
I had an unfortunate and disappointing experience with Brandy Cooper and Aamanda Carrier. Over a year ago, I was taken on as their first client for Taurus Design Agency when they transitioned from their previous business, Mint Design Agency. Initially, I was excited to work with them on a website for a new business that I was developing; by the end of our time together, I decided to end our business relationship due to the fact that they did not give a working website as promised. The site was live for not even a year, and I did not use it at all. When I attempted to work with them to make changes (as they had told me I could do so, and such activity was normal with their clientele), they showed poor communication not only with me but amongst themselves, and were disorganized with how they ran their business. Brandy openly admitted to me in an email that she was an extremely disorganized person. I then began to realize the reality of what I'd gotten into: I paid them over $3000 for their services, and what that entailed was them working from an existing template wherein they swapped colors, fonts, pictures, and text--all of which I provided. I had done all the ground work myself. Part of the contract was that they would provide website copy, and I ended up writing it. When I brought this up, they claimed that their staff had written the website copy. Not only is that easily disputed from bringing up the email in which I sent the completed form (which they didn't bother to search for), but it showed that they did not know me intimately as their client. My site also never had a working contact form, and they did not add important links as I requested in meetings, such as presenting my social media in a way that was noticeable, or even adding any payment links. As time kept going by and changes weren't being made in a timely matter as promised, I decided to end our business relationship.
When I wrote a demand letter asking for 40% of my payment back for the items they did not provide, their response was simply that they did not offer refunds. I then worked with an attorney to create a new letter and to gain clarification on the situation. After reading all of the exchanges between myself and Taurus Design, not only did my lawyer inform me that they were in breach of contract, I should be given back all of my money as opposed to the less than half that I initially asked for. When he contacted them, Brandy and Aamanda's response was that they were going to countersue if I decided to go further. What could they countersue for? There were no damages incurred for them; I was the one who was left in the cold. When he asked to be given the contact information for the attorney they claimed they had, they ignored my lawyer and did not respond again. I found the experience disrespectful to myself and the others involved.
The reason I decided not to pursue anything further at the time was that I was about to have a baby, and did not need the added stress. Now, I want to finally express how frustrated I was working with Brandy and Aamanda, and how damaging this was for me not only financially, but mentally. When I brought up the issues that I had, they went from friendly to dismissive. One moment, they apologized for being disorganized and unresponsive; the next, they said that they had gone above and beyond in the work they had done for me. It became clear to me that they cared more about their ego than trying to correct their mistakes. And herein lies the rub: I have emails that show their poor service and communication. This isn't a he-said-she-said situation, because I have the receipts to show what they've done. I cannot recommend working with this company. Buyer beware, and make sure that you read and understand your contracts thoroughly before signing.
