Entrepreneur Karine Breard, who would have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from her clients before abandoning them in the middle of renovations, has started a new business she’s already used to scam an owner.
• Also read: Unfinished renovations: Police are interested in the owner of TP Maison
Marie-Eve Gervais and her Blainville spouse are currently unable to recover the more than $5,700 advance paid to K Espace Design, Karine Breard’s brand new business.
This entrepreneur has caused a lot of headaches for homeowners looking to renovate or build their home over the past year when she has been in charge of TP Maison.
Abandoned construction sites, unpaid suppliers, formal communications, reports to the Office de la Protection du Consommateur and complaints to the Régie du Bâtiment du Québec: more than twenty customers, subcontractors and former business partners who felt cheated had also contacted our Bureau of Investigation entrusted , last March.
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new business
Marie-Eve Gervais and her husband now join this group of dissatisfied customers. The couple, who were planning to renovate much of their ground floor, found out about Karine Breard’s new business on Facebook in early May.
The Facebook page of K Espace Design, owner Karine Breard. Screenshot from K Espace Design’s Facebook page
K Espace Design – which is not listed in the Registraire des entreprises Québec – then offered a free consultation with a designer as a promotion.
So, on May 4, Karine Breard appeared at the couple’s home and allegedly assured that she had a valid license from the RBQ and could take charge of the entire project from design to completion.
“We were thrilled,” says Ms. Gervais.
The designer returns two weeks later, valuing the work at around $70,000 and asking for an initial deposit of $5,000 plus taxes to get started. Marie-Eve Gervais will pay this amount in two installments, on May 19th and 20th.
“Misrepresentation”
The client then begins researching her new interior designer. On the internet she finds out that the RBQ license number in the contract does not refer to K Espace Design but to TP Maison (see other text below). By typing this company name into Google, she comes across our Bureau of Investigation’s article reporting on the customers scammed by this company.
She immediately demands a refund and termination of the contract.
“There was a misrepresentation, the RBQ number is not correct,” says Ms Gervais, whose claim for reimbursement has remained dead letter.
Just like she would have done with her dissatisfied customers at TP Maison, Karine Breard would have stopped responding to messages from Marie-Eve Gervais.
In an interview with our Bureau of Investigation, Karine Breard said she was willing to refund “at least half” of the amounts paid by Marie-Eve Gervais. She would use the rest to pay her salary as she had “worked on her plans for two weeks” in addition to an additional “16 hours”.
The designer will also ensure that an attorney is working to settle the situation of K Espace Design not appearing in the Registraire des Entreprises.
No valid license, says RBQ
K Espace Design, which bills itself as a “kitchen and bathroom contractor,” does not hold a valid license from the Régie du Bâtiment du Québec, despite Karine Breard’s claims to clients to the contrary.
The designer used a license number from her other company, TP Maison, to contract Marie-Eve Gervais, this Blainville client who nonetheless hired K Espace Design to carry out her renovation (see text above).
Karine Breard claims in an interview that her license is valid no matter which company she runs. “I did the course,” she said.
However, the Régie du Bâtiment is not of this opinion. “The TP Maison license number is linked only to this company,” says spokesman Sylvain Lamothe.
This accreditation “cannot be used by the other company, K Espace Design, and mislead consumers into believing it has a valid license,” he adds.
Note that the TP Maison license for this company is still valid, despite the numerous complaints filed against Karine Bréard with the Régie du Bâtiment du Québec in recent months. The RBQ confirms that its investigation into the matter is continuing.
Reported to the police again
Another complaint was filed with police against Karine Breard, who allegedly didn’t work for a Montreal landlord despite the $11,382 she advanced her.
Fawza Kortbi commissioned TP Maison to renovate her kitchen in the fall of 2022. The work was planned for April and May 2023. As stipulated in the contract, the customer paid upfront half of the billed amount of $22,765.
Without news from Karine Breard, the owner would have relaunched them at the end of April. The designer would then have said that the orders were taken and that she was waiting for the materials to start the renovation work.
However, with deadlines getting longer and orders still not arriving, the customer requested a refund at the end of May. Without a satisfactory response from Ms. Breard, Fawza Kortbi filed a complaint with the Montreal Police Department on May 30.
Karine Breard admits falling behind on this project — sometimes because of a migraine, sometimes because of COVID-19 — but claims it’s Fawza Kortbi who is “denying” her cooking today. “She’s stopping me from delivering her kitchen!” She defends herself, adding – without providing evidence – that she “paid people” for the job.
flood of websites
A week after we published our report on Karine Breard’s dissatisfied customers last March, the designer posted a press release on the Issuewire.com platform in which she describes herself as a “savvy entrepreneur” in design and construction, which “causes a stir in the industry” with its “innovative approach”.
On her new website karinebreard.ca – also only in English – the entrepreneur presents herself as a “results-oriented experience designer”.
Karine Breard has recently created a variety of websites to promote her design services. Screenshot from the Architizer website
“Karine Breard has 20 years of customer service experience and provides an unparalleled customer experience,” says the designer, who recalls not completing any of the many projects she’s begun with her company TP Maison over the past year.
In early May, Karine Breard also created a series of web profiles – always in English – on various platforms (Crunchbase, WikiAlpha, Philpeople, Architizer, etc.) promoting her services as an interior designer. .
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