Business ProfileforBalloons By Britt

This complaint is related to a transaction with Brittanii ******* who allegedly runs a balloons and party planning business. I contacted her to help me plan a baby shower party on October 1, 2023. I found an advertisement for her services for Balloons by Britt (Cell: ###-###-####) on ******** Marketplace and asked for a proposal. She asked to schedule a Facetime call and discuss options for planning. Then she sent me an invoice via email (*************************) as a form of estimating the cost of services. She required a 50% deposit to commit to the work. I paid $177.50 around September 19, 2023, via ***** and she confirmed receipt. Between September 19th and October 1st, the vendor was minimally engaged via text messaging and irresponsive to any phone calls I made to coordinate the event. I kept good faith until the day of the event when she had promised to show up at my house at 11 AM to prepare for a party with 50+ people at 3 PM. At that point I received a text message from another number claiming to be her assistant and apologizing that she cannot be there due to an emergency. She promised to refund my deposit. I requested the refund via ***** and followed up multiple times via text to remind the vendor that I am waiting for my money, yet no refund was issued. I flagged the posting ** ***** to ******** Marketplace and left a review online for future users. Around November 1st, another person I do not know (***** ******) contacted me through ******** messenger sharing that she tried to engage with the same vendor to plan a gender reveal event and the organizer called last minute claiming that she cannot make it because she had a flat tire. It seems like this vendor is using deposits for small events through ******** Marketplace to collect money and not refunding customers. Finally, I raised this refund request with my debit card bank (******) to investigate and look into refunding me. I have not been refunded from any person/bank/entity yet.