Wardrobe Done By Amare La Casa

[suzuki448 0]

Hi nickgoh,

you may wish to refer to earlier threads for my review of their wardrobe. This was one of the worst and most cumbersome purchase I ever had. To such extent where I need to initiate legal action against the company due to the unfair practice, lackadaisical attitude (they simply ignored all the faults, said it was nothing, asked me to live with it, did not follow up, did not apologize, promised to change the drawers and scratched bar yet nothing was done at all, refused to admit fault and denied bad quality despite evidence shown) in order compel their attendance in court to take up their responsibility as a seller as the defects as shown in photos posted remained intact till date.

Above all, it was very exasperating communicating with them. Decent companies with reasonable management or staff would look into feedback and provide service recovery or product rectifications if logical and required. Yet, this special company AMARE LA CASA is off the reverse end. I was shouted at, advised to talk to them nicely since I need them to do the rectifications (full pymt made), person in charge can tell me she was unhappy and ended the conversation, told me I am giving them problems when they came for pdt and service (plus ego) recovery, told me to make sure I can reach the wardrobe if I want to adjust the hanging bar, called me late at night and made me repeat my complaint which was emailed and conveyed verbally but no formal reply given and ended the call saying that it was late and she needed to sleep, said there was no reason for them to come rectify so many times as it was only a 6ft wardrobe, told me I can dont like their wardrobe just like some people like and some people doesnt like LKY. She also said if I want my wardrobe to be straight, I need to tell them "K****, I want my wardrobe to be 100% straight. Decent and reasonable companies will definately follow up on feedback and provide service recovery/product rectification if logical and required. Yet, this special company AMARE LA CASA is off the reverse end. I was shouted at, advised to talk to them nicely since I need them to do the rectifications (full pymt made), person in charge can tell me she was unhappy and ended the conversation, told me I am giving them problems when they came for pdt and service (plus ego) recovery, told me to make sure I can reach the wardrobe if I want to adjust the hanging bar, called me late at night and made me repeat my complaint which was emailed and conveyed verbally but no formal reply given and ended the call saying that it was late and she needed to sleep, said there was no reason for them to come rectify so many times as it was only a 6ft wardrobe, (first visit after installation did not rectify all faults, instead slanted bar when refixed to be straight was added with scratched). Imagine the company can tell me 'I can don't like their wardrobe just like some people like and some people don't like LYK' (Amare La Casa, 2010). If I wanted a straight wardrobe with aligned shelvings, I need to tell them "K****, I want my shelving to be 100% straight", claimed I am fussy whereby I only highlighted the major faults and not even the minor ones initially, also tried to be funny and asked me to teach her how to cut shelves and build wardrobe since I wanted aligned shelvings with consistent dimensions (shortfall is not in terms of 1 or 2 mms but 1 or 2 inches), sales strategy of not indicating their standard resulting in different outcome (measurements and drawing plans not indicated and revealed) and will only rectify the fault if I top up money to redo wardrobe to my requested depth.

I personally and unfortunately, experienced the recalcitrant turned-off attitude, arrogance, unreasonableness and aggressive yet defensive stances. They lack professionalism, willingness, sincerity and capabilities to resolve the matter and clear their own sales/product mistakes. Although an order was given for them to refund and remove the wardrobe within 30 days, I got a feeling that I will need to go through further proceedings in order to enforce the order, in which I will.

Hi JKS,

Did you win the case against them??

It's so terrible.

[suzuki448 0]

Is that the workmanship from Amare La Casa?

It looks bad. Everything seems like a amateur carpenter's workmanship.

Actually I'm gonna do a customize wardrobe before CNY 2011. I have shortlist a few but definitely not this kind of workmanship I want.

Workmanship is important but Business ethic is more important.

[jks 0]

Hi nickgoh,

you may wish to refer to earlier threads for my review of their wardrobe. This was one of the worst and most cumbersome purchase I ever had. To such extent where I need to initiate legal action against the company due to the unfair practice, lackadaisical attitude (they simply ignored all the faults, said it was nothing, asked me to live with it, did not follow up, did not apologize, promised to change the drawers and scratched bar yet nothing was done at all, refused to admit fault and denied bad quality despite evidence shown) in order compel their attendance in court to take up their responsibility as a seller as the defects as shown in photos posted remained intact till date.

Above all, it was very exasperating communicating with them. Decent companies with reasonable management or staff would look into feedback and provide service recovery or product rectifications if logical and required. Yet, this special company AMARE LA CASA is off the reverse end. I was shouted at, advised to talk to them nicely since I need them to do the rectifications (full pymt made), person in charge can tell me she was unhappy and ended the conversation, told me I am giving them problems when they came for pdt and service (plus ego) recovery, told me to make sure I can reach the wardrobe if I want to adjust the hanging bar, called me late at night and made me repeat my complaint which was emailed and conveyed verbally but no formal reply given and ended the call saying that it was late and she needed to sleep, said there was no reason for them to come rectify so many times as it was only a 6ft wardrobe, told me I can dont like their wardrobe just like some people like and some people doesnt like LKY. She also said if I want my wardrobe to be straight, I need to tell them "K****, I want my wardrobe to be 100% straight. Decent and reasonable companies will definately follow up on feedback and provide service recovery/product rectification if logical and required. Yet, this special company AMARE LA CASA is off the reverse end. I was shouted at, advised to talk to them nicely since I need them to do the rectifications (full pymt made), person in charge can tell me she was unhappy and ended the conversation, told me I am giving them problems when they came for pdt and service (plus ego) recovery, told me to make sure I can reach the wardrobe if I want to adjust the hanging bar, called me late at night and made me repeat my complaint which was emailed and conveyed verbally but no formal reply given and ended the call saying that it was late and she needed to sleep, said there was no reason for them to come rectify so many times as it was only a 6ft wardrobe, (first visit after installation did not rectify all faults, instead slanted bar when refixed to be straight was added with scratched). Imagine the company can tell me 'I can don't like their wardrobe just like some people like and some people don't like LYK' (Amare La Casa, 2010). If I wanted a straight wardrobe with aligned shelvings, I need to tell them "K****, I want my shelving to be 100% straight", claimed I am fussy whereby I only highlighted the major faults and not even the minor ones initially, also tried to be funny and asked me to teach her how to cut shelves and build wardrobe since I wanted aligned shelvings with consistent dimensions (shortfall is not in terms of 1 or 2 mms but 1 or 2 inches), sales strategy of not indicating their standard resulting in different outcome (measurements and drawing plans not indicated and revealed) and will only rectify the fault if I top up money to redo wardrobe to my requested depth.

I personally and unfortunately, experienced the recalcitrant turned-off attitude, arrogance, unreasonableness and aggressive yet defensive stances. They lack professionalism, willingness, sincerity and capabilities to resolve the matter and clear their own sales/product mistakes. Although an order was given for them to refund and remove the wardrobe within 30 days, I got a feeling that I will need to go through further proceedings in order to enforce the order, in which I will.

Hi, JKS n Rinairfan,

Care to share more? I'm quite interested in their products, but might need to reconsider.

Thanks.

[jks 0]

Hi suzuki 448,

here are the pics. Didnt manage to upload all due to the huge file size. My apologies, some pics may be repeated as they were some missing during uploading and thus reloaded in batches again.

Links to Photos showing quality of wardrobe from AMARE LA CASA (2010):

http://img810.imageshack.us/g/p205401100810.jpg/

http://img183.imageshack.us/g/p2145150810.jpg/

http://img576.imageshack.us/g/p2037130810.jpg/

http://img576.imageshack.us/g/p2144150810.jpg/

http://img255.imageshack.us/g/p215001150810.jpg/

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/593/p205401100810.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6984/p2151150810.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/9215/p2054100810.jpg

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1498/p2039130810.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/7159/p0031110810.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/541/p0032110810.jpg

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/1764/p203701130810.jpg

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3586/p2038130810.jpg

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7031/p0035110810.jpg

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9886/p2145150810.jpg

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/3876/p2144150810.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/983/p214902150810.jpg

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/6985/p2037130810.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/127/p203601130810.jpg

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4254/p2053100810.jpg

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4183/p2057100810.jpg

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3876/p2144150810.jpg

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3196/p2143150810.jpg

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/3083/p214301150810.jpg

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/5217/p2146150810.jpg

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/2743/p215001150810.jpg

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/5466/p2150150810.jpg

Hey JKS and Rinairfan,

I think your pictures are very small. Maybe you should enlarge it so we can see better.

Cheers!

[nickgoh 0]

Hi rinairfan,

I share same frustrations and dissonance. The company insisted that no one had complained about their products. That doesn't mean all customers are satisfied and perhaps, I thought, I was merely the unlucky one among others. Having read your review, I find that Amare La Casa clearly lacks the technical capabilities and professionalism to conduct business and after sales service in a reasonably fair manner.

Hi, JKS n Rinairfan,

Care to share more? I'm quite interested in their products, but might need to reconsider.

Thanks.

[jks 0]

Hi rinairfan,

I share same frustrations and dissonance. The company insisted that no one had complained about their products. That doesn't mean all customers are satisfied and perhaps, I thought, I was merely the unlucky one among others. Having read your review, I find that Amare La Casa clearly lacks the technical capabilities and professionalism to conduct business and after sales service in a reasonably fair manner.

I am 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!

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 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 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!!!!!

Edited October 28, 2010 by jks

[suzuki448 0]

Hey JKS and Rinairfan,

I think your pictures are very small. Maybe you should enlarge it so we can see better.

Cheers!

[jks 0]

These are few of their workmanship. I am unable to take pic of many others cos already put in clothes. One of it included chipped drawer edge.

[rinairfan 0]

These are few of their workmanship. I am unable to take pic of many others cos already put in clothes. One of it included chipped drawer edge.

[rinairfan 0]

I am 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!

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 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 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!!!!!

[jks 0]

Hi everyone,

My friend told me that Amare La Casa have their new website. Maybe you-all can see their product & photos.

Website: www.amarelacasa.com

God Bless.

Hi louistanlk,

I refer to your posting on Oct 26 2010, 04:11 PM. I've viewed the new website as recommended by you through your friend. As described and illustrated with photos on the website, Amara La Casa products do appear impressive.

Just to feedback, I was a customer of Amare La Casa and had bought a wardrobe at the Singapore Expo earlier this year. I liked the design and wall concept that freed up space for vital maximum storage. In particular, the elegantly aesthetic showcase displayed at the exhibition highlighted excellent workmanship and finishes.

While I believe Amare La Casa has served many satisfied customers, my purchase was unfortunately in extreme contrast, one of the most horrifying and exasperating encounter. Product dimensions were misrepresented. The standard shelves only measures 44.5cm and this was not highlighted during sales presentation and measurement taking. Not even during request to increase shelves' depths (shelves mentioned and not side wall) prior to installation. After installation, the new wardrobe was in an astonishing condition with many defects and poor finishes.

Defects on Amare La Casa 6 ft Customised (with silently omitted 'uncustomizable' standard):

1) Misalignment of shelves – Shelves on a same row across columns were not fixed on a straight line. Company claimed this is their standard and shelves cannot be fixed straight (in total contrast with one of the shelves shown on their website)

2) Uneven coloured edges of shelves – Off-white vs white

3) Uneven depths of shelves – only one shelf is 45cm (their standard). The rest jutted in and out between 43.5cm – 45cm.

4) Clothes hanging bar was slanted.

5) Interior right edge of first drawer was chipped off.

6) Two stained rough patches at second drawer internal base.

7) Dent at internal sliding door frame.

8) Shorter wall mounts for hanging bar – one inch shorter than depth of shelf

9) Slight black markings several spots, at left exterior frame and right interior frame.

Workmanship and after-sales service sucks to the maximum. It was explained that the depth of 45cm is their standard. I was asked to top up payment to redo the shelves to my original request. There was element of deceit in which Amare La Casa had fraudulently misrepresented as part of their sales tactics. Otherwise, in denial, negligently omitted the influencing information (pitched condition of fully customizable depth according to requests without restrictions) inducing into the purchase. It falls under one of the top unfair practices listed under Consumer Protection (Unfair Trading) Act.

Sales staff were rude, defensive and unprofessional. Instead, the manager got angry and refused to communicate. Another rude staff, who promised to rectify some faults for the second time subsequently claimed she cannot make decision and left, was sent as a messenger who acted as though a pigeon transmitting and relaying communications between buyer and seller. Complaints on the defects were not all looked into. Only the slanted hanging bar was fixed straight but added with scratches. The shorter shelves were cut even shorter and space storage reduced even further. The company deemed that their product defects were normal and asked me to live with it. They promised to change the obviously scratched hanging bar and chipped drawers upon another review. Yet they left my complaint as it is. They did not bother to rectify. No apology received at all. No follow up when I refused to top up money to rectify their defects.

I have no personal grudges against anyone nor the company in particular. This is my objective review as a consumer. Photos are uploaded for your individual assessment of acceptable workmanship, which I personally regard as trash and PCK Kids-play Edition standard. After legal consultation, I filed a claim against the company for misrepresentation, unsatisfactory quality, bad service, refusal and incapability to rectify defects as they adamantly insisted their product is not faulty and refused to refund or rectify. The Small Claims Tribunal awarded a court order in my favour on 26 Oct 2010.

What an intriguing coinicidence, the boss of Amare La Casa is also known as Louis as posted by 'kitchen' in previous threads (post #8 dated Oct 10 2010, 11:16 PM). According to bizhub search which is available to public, the sole proprietor is Mr. TAN L.K. May I enquire dear member louistanlk if your friend (the one who told you about their new website) is the boss? Or are you a consumer who happen to have the same name and initials as the boss? With such uncanny but possible coincidence, people might easily misconstrued you as the boss manipulating the forum for self-advertising and soliciting sales to ring your cash registers. My apologies for being cynical, but I do have my personal reservations.

Amare La Casa Wardrobe - "This is standard. Live with it."

Wardrobe from Amare La Casa

Wardrobe from Amare La Casa

[louistanlk 0]

Hi everyone,

I would like to transfer my signed up package with Amare La Casa for 5ft sliding door wardrobe at a promotion price of $300 per foot as they quoted.

Its a buffet style whereby you can choose any design, material, no of shelving/ poles and drawers.

I have paid deposit of $500.

Please email me at joannelew@live.com if interested.

Thank you.

Hi everyone,

Amare La Casa Website: www.amarelacasa.com

Edited December 13, 2010 by louistanlk

[joanne 0]

Hi everyone,

I would like to transfer my signed up package with Amare La Casa for 5ft sliding door wardrobe at a promotion price of $300 per foot as they quoted.

Its a buffet style whereby you can choose any design, material, no of shelving/ poles and drawers.

I have paid deposit of $500.

Please email me at joannelew@live.com if interested.

Thank you.

[kitchen 0]

Where is the exhibition? Where is their studio?

I also go to have a look!~

The exhibition was at expo earlier this year... I think it is hard to get the price now... Their studio is at Level 3 International Furniture Centre, somewhere in Sungei Kadut. http://www.ifcsingapore.com

It's a family business with father (Louis) doing the sales talk and mother (Karen) and daughter (Yina) being the designers.

[carine01 0]

I just got to know that they have a new showroom at International Furniture Centre at Sungei Kadut. I've just gone down today for my shoe cabinet. Very nice showroom with different concepts. For those who are looking for wardrobes can go down and have a look.