Experience With Almare La Casa (customised Wardrobe)

[rinairfan 0]

I was kinda disappointed with Almare la casa. We signed up with them at Lifestyle 21 exhibition Spore expo in Apr 2010. I just wished they were more honest rather than trying to pull a fast one on me when they came to finalize the wardrobe design.

1) At the expo: Promised Unlimited no. of fittings, drawers and shelves.

When came to discuss: She was not too happy when I asked for many pull out drawers and even tell me that I have too many drawers. I had to remind her that she did mentioned to us it is unlimited. If it is too expensive to have many drawers than she should have give a limited no. of drawers. Example I insisted a pullout drawer for the 2nd highest shelve cos that is where I will put in all my towels and because of the depth of the cupboard it will be impossible for me to take out my towels while standing on a stool (I am not tall, only 1.6m). So I asked for a pull out so that I can pull out and take things out of there. She gave all sorts of reasons and give ridiculous advise that it will not look nice with the tracking seen from below. Errmmm... there are opaque sliding door and wardrobe is personal... I don't think it is open for public to see!!!!

2) At the expo: We asked them if there is 1ft drawers. And they mentioned they have many range of sizes and it is possible to make 1ft drawers. I understand that this is not fully customised and they are ready made sizes from Australia.

When came to discuss: She said that 1ft drawers are too small and it took her a long long time to finally advise me to get a 1.5ft drawers instead. It was as if she was trying her very best for me to drop the idea of having the 1.5ft side of 5drawers and suggested many times for just using shelving. I did not give in to her and finally she did as what we had said.

3) At the expo: We asked abt our problem abt removing and un-assemble our current cupboard from Vhive. She mentioned at first that she only give free removal for built in and we could simply asked town council to remove our cupboard. Our sliding door for our current cupboard was abt 4ftx2 and are very heavy for my hubby to un-assemble himself. So she claimed she will get someone to un-assemble for us free of charge.

When came to discuss: She insisted that Town council are able to un-assemble for us and it is very simple to un-assemble. When we asked her if Town council is not able to than will she do it for us. She then asked my hubby to un-assemble himself and gave a long explanation. My hubby said it is too heavy for him to un-assemble the heavy sliding door and he have no knowledge on un-assemble the rest of the pieces. Than she said she can get someone to un-assemble the sliding door and the rest the town council can just unscrew to 2 (4ft x 2) and bring the cupboard out. I had to tell her it is in 8ft length in one piece and not in 4ft + 4ft length as she had claimed and there is no way for anyone to drag the cupboard out of the small corridor. They have to un-assemble all pieces before taking out. She did not believe us and when we showed her she finally understands but she asked us to get the "special" allen key from Vhive in order for her to dismantle. I called up Vhive and they said "If she is a cupboard maker, she should know that this is normal allen key. Nothing special." I managed to sold my Vhive cupboard and get Vhive plp to disassemble and assemble back to the new owner.

When the cupboard is finally FIXED, June 2010!

4) The plp who fixed the cupboard did not follow to the same drawing measurement that we had discussed with this lady Karen. He claimed that Karen is only the retail, sales plp and the one that fixed it is them. If that is so why aren't they the one do the measurement and advise us during the finalization? Whatever Karen has discussed was not done. 2 inches of my cupboard are wasted because of design fault. 2 inches for a 6FT wardrobe is A LOT! I could squeeze in 20pcs of clothes on the hanging poles. And apart from that there many other design faults. Smaller drawer when this lady Karen has actually assured me the measurement of the drawer. Extra shelf which they have sillicone and thus... making the pull out drawer meaningless to be installed. And what u see at the exhibition... the quality is NOT AS GOOD. The drawers are not smooth when pulled out. The silicone looks smeared everywhere. It was just **** messy. Quality wise really really sucks to the max. I think even Ikea ones looks more solid than this one. I just cannot believe this is from Austraila.

5) I wished I had opt for normal carpenters who can really customized your wardrobe according to your needs. And not Almare La Casa who has so many limitations with end product like mine! I waited one mth plus for the cupboard due to their waiting time for the frame.... and with a disappointing end results!!!!!

Now I am hoping that the poles and the structure can withstand the weight of my clothes. I hope it will not break, crack! I can't wait for another 3-4yrs before I could tear, hack this cupboard apart. I just thank god this was installed in an extra room instead of my bedroom! Although I paid only S$1560 for it... I don't think I have issue of paying another S$500 extra for a decent ones!