Complaint Review: Orchid Escort Designs

Long story short: I paid James at Orchid Escort Designs via Western Union (I have a recept) for a new website that he never did and he refuses to refund me. I also paid him for 1 year hosting (mid July) 2 weeks prior to paying for my new site on July 29th, 2017. With no website from him, my hosting money went down the drain. Considering the fact that I needed a new website to run my business, I also had to spend money elsewhere for a site and hosting. Just like several of his other clients, this so-called professional web designer had no issue taking our money and keeping it despite not delivering the product he was paid to and never refunded anyone either.

Full detailed version:

I had been a client of his since 2012 or 2013. I never had an issues with him until this year. Mind you, after he built my custom site back then, I had minimal contact with him throughout and only contacted him if I had a technical question or needed a page picture change or something similar because of the backend set up. All was accomplished in a reasonable amount of time.

Following my recent experience with him, I thought I should add the following as a warning for anyone looking for a web design service in the future.

I paid him for a new website on July 29th and the only 2 times I heard back from him was in one email (August 9th) telling me he had other projects going on and to complain about the low price he was charging (when all I wanted to know was if he had questions regarding the info I sent him to do my custom site or needed high res pictures because he said he started working on my site on July 30th) and a second email (August 13th) telling me he would have my site ready that night or the next morning BUT he never followed up after that.


Since he went MIA and never had the decency or professionalism to answer any of my follow up emails nor presented me with a sample of what he supposedly had done for me, I thought he had taken my money and scammed me. I sent him several emails requesting a refund but didn`t hear from him until I reported him publicly on Twitter on August 23rd.

I was mad, upset and tired of chasing him around for a reply without knowing if he had actually done any work for me and if I would have a new website before Pagelime shut down at the end of August, 2017 (where the site I had was built on) or if he had gone out of business, took my money and ran with it. Honestly, I have never dealt with a so-called professional who goes MIA on his clients and personally have to go hunting for a reply or an update of some kind. But my experience with him back in April of this year should`ve taught me a lesson (more chasing around to get an answer from him after I paid him--it took 3 weeks to get a page added on my site.). Ridiculous and completely absurd!

Sadly, the only way I was able to get a reply from him (and find out he was still alive) was when I reported him publicly on Twitter @Miss_gabriellaL and other people showed him my tweet and told him to make it right with me. 24 hours or so later, he finally replied to the refund request I had made several times over and told me he would refund me the following week.

The first email I sent requesting a refund was on August 18th. Like I mentioned previously, he had gone MIA and never got back to me until 24+ hours after I reported him publicly on Twitter on August 23rd. He had 5 full days to get back to me from the time I sent my refund request and/or act before being reported. That was plenty of time to do something about the situation.

On August 24th, he sent me an email saying he would send me a refund (told the same thing to another SW who had told him to make things right with me). It`s now September 7th and I still haven`t received a dime back from him and from what I hear through the grapevine, he will not be sending me a refund because he can no longer afford it after I outed him publicly. Apparently, *I* did damage to his business and the whole thing is now my fault. Talk about taking responsability for ones (unprofessional) actions! This is so pathetic I no longer know what to say.

Since I reported him publicly, several ladies have told me, both privately and publicly on Twitter and other platforms, that they had many issues with him, from going MIA (recurring regular issue with him), to not renewing hosting and letting their site go offline, to taking their money and not doing the work, etc.

Moral of the story: if you need a reliable and dependable professional to work with, James is not the person you`re looking for. On the other hand, if you like to gamble with any aspect of your own business, go ahead and take a chance with him.

My recommendation to you:
don`t gamble with your business-- hire professionals who care about their clients and the service they offer and who take their own business seriously, like all (real) professionals do.

Taking someone's money and not delivering the product/service paid for and refusing to refund said customer is called theft, robbery and fraud.

If you have any more questions, I would be happy to answer them via email at gabriella.laurence@gmail.com . If email proof and my receipts are needed, I more than happy to provide that as well.