Disillusioned

Thanks for this information zirhk3355. Since my last post about not recommending Le Sense, this ben_ma actually PMed me. I was already very suspicious of him and thus I did not reply him. If you want my honest opinion, I hope all potential houseowners will give this company a miss.... I'm quite sure there are many better ones out there. Good luck to all.

All I can say is this is not a company I would recommend.

So sorry to hear about what happened to you. Its so sad to be the innocent victim of dishonest IDs who are just out there trying to cheat our money. It must have been really costly to try and put everything back after the flood. I agree with you that CASE is of no help in our case. Frankly I think CASE is of no help at all... coz they require you to have sufficient evidence in black and white and even then sometimes they also cannot help you. Sigh.... Sometimes I really wonder what they are good for. And they make themself look so good and helpful on the media. I'm not sure if SCT would be helpful to you too... coz it is true that they will ask to mediate first and normally such IDs would have loads of untruths to say during mediation such that no conclusion can be drawn by the registrar since they have to be "fair" and listen to both sides. I do hope all ends here for you tho... that no more problems will surface. Such incidences really making living in the new house a nightmare.... not knowing what will break down next. Haiz.....

Mine was a resale flat. They did re-wiring for the whole house.... so I dunno what they did. Sigh.... Hi hi... Ya... finally moved in. The case didn't proceed because of the need to go to magistrate court where we'll have to hire a lawyer. It'll cost a bomb then... so we left it at that. Sigh. I'll try to take some pictures and PM to you... coz I dun want to post on the forum and then the ID use that against me or something.... Thanks for your concern!

Hi hi... I assume you're asking me? Albert is quite recommended in this forum, and this thread also. His number is 90888890. I had one truck load of stuff.... from a 3rd storey terrace (had to climb stairs) to a hdb with lift. If both houses has lifts he quoted me $180 but knowing that they had to carry my things all the way down from 3rd floor via stairs, he later quoted me $220. Ended up I added a few things here and there not in the list I previously informed him and I felt bad about it, so I volunteered to pay him $250 in the end. I must say when a service is promptly and well done.... the money is worth it...

After all the hassle... I've finally moved in. But not without having to get another contractor to clear up the mess the despicable one left behind. THEN I found out something else. I applied for my phone line with Singtel but when I tried calling, the phone didn't ring. So we asked Singtel to come and check the lines. Turned out that the phone line was not even connected to the main phone line outside the house! Either this despicable one sabotaged my phoneline or his electrician didn't even connect the phone lines! Now I might have to hack the cornice in the house just to correct this! Really must look for a good ID.... a bad one will leave you nightmares for life.....

Just like to thank pple here for recommendations on movers. I finally chose Movers 101 (Albert). Very satisfactory service. And not too expensive for me. I would recommend them to pple looking for movers.....

OMG..... I sympathise with you Summerrain. I can totally understand your frustration. Have you taken photographs of all damages done to your property? How much was the initial contract price? For my case, the registrar told us SCT cannot handle the case because it involved dispute of the contract and the contract was over 10K.... I hope they will not throw the same reason to you. Because when that happens, you'll have no other choice... either you just have to just accept that its bad luck or you'll have to pursue in magistrate court where you'll have to engage a lawyer.... definitely high cost. I cross my fingers for you. There's really a need to bring these despicable contractors to justice. The current laws do not protect consumers like us. And CASE does not help either..... What angered me was also a news report some time back reporting that CASE's statistics 'showed' that complain cases of contractors are reducing or something like that. Then what about people like us who have fallen victim to these despicable contractors and yet CASE tells us there's nothing they can do to help us? Now u know why I'm called disillusioned.

Hi.... Can't help noticing this thread. With my personal experience, CASE can't do much for people like us. Because CASE can only look at the contract and comment. Looking at your case, the contract is 16K. 30% of that would be $4.8k. The first step they might approach to get back the money is probably thru Small Claims Tribunal and not the Magistrate Courts. This is because just to get a lawyer letter would cost them a few hundreds, not to mention hiring one to fight a case for them in court. Furthermore you have already paid them 1k, which leaves 3.8K for them to fight for. However, if they approach Small Claims they only need to pay about $20 or so.... But I must warn you that it is also not easy for us as consumers to fight with them in Small Claims Tribunal because they are probably far more experienced in that and knows where are the loop holes. Small Claims Tribunal will first try to mediate and only go to an actual hearing if no choice. If they really intend to fight with you in court, you must really make sure that you have very handy evidences with you. Any agreement that you or they have signed must be looked at in detail and see if it is to your advantage or theirs because they will definitely use anything they have against you. Just a note about the voice recordings mentioned by someone earlier in the thread... You are allowed to use such 'evidences' in court. But this is at the discretion of the registrar, whether he/she wants to believe that the recording is real. So... thats a bit tough. I wish you all the best in this case.... Hope it is resolved soon. Cheers.

What about their sofas? Anyone using sofa from Ikea? I'm interested in one of their fabric sofas but I have been getting comments that their furniture are not so lasting. Is this really true? Thanks.

That day went to the house... realised that the tracking for my master bedroom wardrobe is rusty. Can u imagine.... lesser than 1 year already turn rusty. And I haven't even moved in! How "reliable" this contractor is.

I sympathise with you.... Have u tried going to CASE for help? They were not much help in my case but yours might be different. If you have friends who are lawyers, ask for their advice on this. See if there's any way for you to get back your money. Hope things will end well for u.... All the best.

Hello to all, I just came back from an overseas trip so was missing all the on-goings here. My contractor is definitely not the one in the news.... because they are neither case-trust nor RADAC accredited. Sad to say... I dunno why I chose them in the first place. Maybe their initial friendliness misled me. In any case, apologies to those I have yet to PM. I will try to reply all. If I happen to miss you out please let me know, apologies. Even if contractors are casetrust and RADAC certified, afterall these are more or less obtained thru paperwork. Some can still be bad and get the accreditation. Most importantly is to open your eyes big big when choosing an ID. Cheers.

I think IDs often use the excuse that "acceptability is subjective" to push away responsibilities. Same went for my ID. They kept telling me that 80% of the population would have considered it acceptable. But who's going to prove it? As long as I'm concerned, I'm paying for the work to be done the way I want it and if the work is not done, then its the ID/worker's fault. And if you go to SCT, the registrar is also going to tell you that acceptability is subjective so even if you go to SCT to try and settle something like this, its difficult. So what exactly is the definition of a "picky, fussy owner"?? If you're talking about the extreme, very obvious kind, I think we all understand. But what about those that are not so obvious? The ID will still come and tell you that you are fussy and picky and refuse to rectify the work. No offence. I feel that its best to read through properly the contract and terms and conditions and ask the ID to explain explicitly what each term and condition refer to. Its best to be able to have that in black and white as well. If anything you do not understand, please double check. DO NOT allow the ID to tell you that items can always be added into the Variable Orders later. Because please remember that the payment terms only apply to the main contract, NOT the variation orders. Often you need to pay off the variation orders all at once. Therefore, the lesser in the variation order the better. Its never possible to cover yourself 100% against potential dishonest IDs.... but being careful helps to reduce the possibility. Make it clear right from the start what is your expected standard of workmanship and if they cannot achieve it, then please look for another ID. And of course sometimes good workmanship will come with a higher price but I'm quite sure a peace of mind is well worth the price. Hope your reno goes well.

Dear people.... Many thanks to all who have expressed concern about my case. Sadly the shrewd always get their way and we have not been able to pursue it any further. (Perhaps if there's chance in future I will still pursue it) Just for your information. The ID has relocated due to the facelift of the building they were housed in. I'm not too sure where they have moved to tho. Hope they have not changed the company name or anything like that. For those who I have yet to tell you who they are, I apologise coz sometimes I kinda lose count of who I have already PMed. If you are still interested to know, to prevent your friends from suffering like I did, please do drop me a PM. Thanks.

Thanks. Unfortunately we haven't taken it any further till now. I guess the world is not always fair. And liers like them will always get away with it coz they're just simply so good at it. Sometimes you wonder what kind of upbringing they must have gone through to make them feel that lying thru their teeth and cheating people of their time and money is "ok" in order to earn a living. Makes me fume thinking about them...

Hey... Sorry to hear about your story. I totally agree with both hands and feet that everything needs to be written down in black and white. Those who have read my thread on the Despicable Contractor would have probably seen enough of that from me. Well.. I think maybe my house kinda 'broke' your record tho... haha. We sign with the ID in March last year and we have yet to move it. Its one year already. I was also very reluctant to get a friend to do my reno works due to the risk of ruining the friendship coz of $$$. Therefore I got myself someone whom I totally didn't know... and obviously that also wasn't the best idea. I think its better to get someone whom is not directly related to you but someone whom your friends or relatives have engaged before and with good feedback. That would probably be safer?? Sometimes I feel also that its not just about the renovation period itself... the after-effects are always there. No doubt the reno can be over months ago, but the memories (or rather trauma) of the reno will always be on the mind. A new house is, for many newly weds, supposed to be a love nest where you have sweet memories... but these unethical, irresponsible contractors/IDs have caused so much blemish in this supposedly sweet love nest.... Its unfair. Lets just hope that maybe one day justice will prevail....