Business ProfileforDiana Gardner

In Feb. 2020 I met ***** ******* at the Quilt Shak where she is an affiliate ( or employee) for the purpose of her examining an old quilt and giving an estimate for the cost of repair. My sister ***** ****** accompanied me and heard the conversation I had with *****. She looked it over saw where it needed repair. As she is a quilt expert with apparently lots of experience I believed she could give me an in- formed opinion about what was needed and the cost. Her first thought was a repair cost of $300-$400. Then said it could be $500. I indicated $500 was more than I wanted to pay. Then she made a suggestion that the cost could be kept down if she removed several inches of the damaged quilt from both ends, I.e. there would be less to repair hence less cost involved. I was impressed by her knowledge of quilt repair and trusted that she gave an informed estimate of the cost. For nearly two years she kept the quilt, not working on it for an extended time while she was engaged in overseeing the production of medical masks. I contacted her several times about the status of the repair but she would not commit to a date of completion. I felt put off and was getting concerned about why she hadn't finished the quilt. I called her again several days ago to learn it was finished. She emailed the invoice. I was stunned to see a bill for $1000 for her work. The invoice detailed a charge of $6,000 for hours worked, a credit for a deposit I gave her for $100 and a very inexplicable "cash discount" of $4900 with the remaining balance due of $1,000. See attachment My thought was that if it looked like she had invested 240 hours of her time valuing $6,000 and generously bestowing a 4,900 credit that I would happily pay her the balance due of $1,000. I based my decision to hire her on her experise and ability to give an accurate estimate. I never imagined a balloon payment at the end. She never informed me during 2 years the price had gone up above the original estimate.