27th March 2007
Hb and I went down to C**w Interior Design’s showroom for the first time at about 8.45pm. It was the first interior design company that we had approached regarding the renovation of our flat and upon arrival, we were served by Alan Poo (name has been changed).
We briefly described what we hoped to include in the renovation of our flat to Alan, and he gave us a quotation on the spot. Alan then proceeded to repeatedly coax us to sign the agreement with him, and disregarded the fact that it was already close to midnight at that point. All the other staff members had left the showroom by then, and we were the only customers left.
In order to induce us to sign the agreement, Alan claimed that we would only be able to enjoy the price that he had quoted if we signed the agreement and paid a deposit immediately. According to Alan, the deposit amounted to 10% of the total cost of services provided and he also claimed that it was compulsory to pay such an amount in accordance with company policy.
At that time, we had no intention of committing ourselves to the services of any particular interior design firm, but eventually, we still succumbed to Alan’s relentless persuasion. Do keep in mind that it was close to midnight, and we were understandably anxious to end the discussion.
Although we paid the deposit of $1500, we did not sign any agreement or contract on that night. We gave this deposit because we trusted Alan’s claims about his company’s services, and also because we were pressurised into believing that if we did not pay the deposit, we would not be able to enjoy the prices quoted.
Being new to renovation services in general, we placed our faith in what Alan had claimed and genuinely believed that he had given us a fair deal. At this point, we had not signed any form of legal agreement to safeguard our interests and simply trusted Alan enough to pay the deposit. Alan told us that should we wish to terminate the contract, there was a chance that the deposit would be forfeited.
30th March 2007
We went down to C**w’s showroom for the second time as we wanted to discuss some details about the renovation. Alan produced a typed invoice dated 28th March 2007 in which some of the items were later amended by myself on the spot as he admitted to not being very proficient with the use of the computer. I pointed out to Alan that the date of the invoice should be changed to 30th March 2007 but he insisted that there was no need for such a change.
Again, we trusted Alan’s statements and thus signed the invoice dated 28th March 2007 even though the accurate date should be 30th March 2007. Thus, neither did the date on the invoice correspond to the actual date of the signing of the agreement, nor the date shown on the receipt for payment of the deposit (27th March 2007).
We were very reluctant to sign the agreement as there were details that we still wanted to deliberate, but Alan kept reiterating that his management had repeatedly pressured him for the balance of the deposit. He also claimed that he would get into trouble with his management if we did not sign the agreement. Therefore, although the renovation details were not 100% finalized, we still signed the agreement in order to prevent unnecessary trouble for Albert.
11th April 2007
We had arranged to meet Alan at the McDonald’s restaurant at Jurong Entertainment Centre at 10pm to discuss some details of our renovation. Unfortunately, Alan was late for the meeting and kept us waiting for more than half an hour. The drawings were ready and the meeting was to discuss more details about the renovation. During the meeting, he kept pressing us to make the balance of the deposit by saying that his management had repeatedly pressured him for the remainder of our deposit.
We requested to meet up with the designer to tell him exactly what we want but to our surprise, Alan said that it was not possible because “the designer very busy” and “boss doesn’t allow”. Alan’s behaviour caused doubts to form in our minds as we were sure that most interior designers would want to meet their clients in order to have a first-hand understanding of the client’s needs. In fact, based on the experiences of friends who have completed their renovations, we understood that it was a common and fundamental practice throughout the industry for the designer and client to meet and discuss about the details of the renovation. Therefore, Albert’s response was a disturbing aberration from what we considered to be a basic aspect of the profession and industry.
15th April 2007
We went to C**w’s showroom to meet Alan as previously arranged with him, but unfortunately he was late again. Given our busy schedules, punctuality is very important to us and is a basic requirement that we ask of anyone whom we work with. We requested again to meet the designer but Alan kept repeating the same reasons as stated on 11 April 2007 and refused to comply.
We then told him that we were not satisfied with the design and showed him some pictures as a guide to what we wanted to achieve. To our dismay, instead of offering solutions and constructive suggestions, Alan insisted on putting down our ideas by continually interrupting us in mid-conversation. This happened so many times throughout the conversation that both of us literally had no opportunity to respond. In our opinion, this is an example of extremely poor customer service, and it is unfortunate that Alan was oblivious to his behaviour and in fact, persisted in it.
As a further illustration of his behaviour that evening, Alan said that “if you don’t want what the designer draw and also don’t want what you show me then what you want?” Do note that this remark was made in a tone that strongly suggested contempt for our ideas and opinions. As a professional with many years of experience in the service industry, I had expected Alan to at least display some form of civility towards us even though he may not agree with our ideas. Unfortunately, all that we could discern from his behaviour were an unwillingness to listen to the customer, and a dismissive attitude towards all ideas that were not his.
Throughout the numerous meetings and telephone conversations that we had with Alan, he has never failed to leave us feeling extremely frustrated. Firstly, he would insist on dominating discussions by interrupting us continually, such that conversations always end up being a one-way flow of repetitive information from him. Secondly, he always seemed eager to charge additional costs for minor changes to items that other interior design firms are willing to perform for free. To date, he has added more than $3000 to the amount which he quoted on the evening of 27 March 2007.
In view of our highly unsatisfactory service experience with Alan, and his failure to incorporate our needs into the design concept, we have made the decision to terminate the company’s services. As actual renovation work has not commenced and the company has not incurred any costs, we requested for a full cash refund of the deposit paid previously. However, Alan retorted that the deposit would be forfeited and that we would have to pay the company a 20% cancellation charge. You may wish to note that Alan failed to mention these cancellation charges when persuading us to sign the agreement on the evening of 27 March 2007.
The Battle
After a verbal fight over the phone between Hb and Alan, the latter promised to check with his manager whether it was possible that we need not pay the 20% cancellation charge and get back to us within the day. I called CASE to check and sad to say, found that C**w has every right to pursue the 20% charges as we had signed the contract.
We felt that it would be better to speak to Alan’s manager directly and thus, Hb called the man, who was known as Dave (name has been changed). Just as we have expected, Alan did not mention our case to Dave. Dave promised to get back to us upon checking with Alan about the matter. As both of us did not trust Dave, we decided to contact the company’s Managing Director. Without the knowledge of Dave and Alan, we couriered a letter to the MD the very next day as we knew he would be in the office. Do note that Alan had lied to us previously that the MD was out of town and would only be back in June. When Hb called Dave again, Dave was very rude and said “I got no time to entertain you”. We decided to call the MD and related the incident to him, who also promised to get back to us within 2 days.
Two days passed and Hb paid C**w a surprise visit at the MD’s office. We had prepared our own agreement form the previous night and were determined not to let C**w bill us the 20% cancellation charge. Thankfully, they had also prepared their own set of agreement and both parties now have nothing to do with each other anymore. We did not manage to get our deposit back but I guess it’s a lesson well learnt. There is no point in continuing the contract just for that $1500 as the trust is no longer there. We are just relieved to get out C**w Interior Design finally!
For all who are hunting for ID firms, do take note to read all the terms and conditions carefully. Do not be pressurized into signing anything. For your information, the above ID firm is located at Jurong East.
BEWARE.
- Phebe
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