Complaint against an architect

[Bellamom22]

Hi, I'm in the middle of dispute with an architect and wonder if anyone else has had the same experience.

I employed an architect who didn't follow my instructions and did something similar to the design of a house on his website. I refused to pay his bill because the drawings weren't what I wanted. I complained and then he started to bill me for his time in dealing with my complaint. In the end the bills he sent to me for his time in dealing with the complaint was more than the original bill. He was not entitled to do this under the architect's terms and conditions but this is obviously a tactic he has used before to stop people complaining. Has any one else had this problem?

Not had that problem, (DH is an architect) and sounds totally odd. Did he offer to re-do the drawings?

You can complain to his institution (he is probably with RIBA).

He offered to re-do the drawings but as we had already wasted enough time, we decided to instruct someone else.

We have complained to the ARB and RIBA but I'm interested to know if anyone else has had the experience of being billed by an architect for dealing with a complaint as I have never come across this before.

It is certainly unusual to do that. DH says he doesn't know of any colleague who would do that.

Perhaps legal advice might be helpful as if you have a good case, then you could just wait and see if he takes it further?

Thank you for this. We will wait to see what the ARB and RIBA thinks about this. If anything, it should stop him doing it to anyone else.