Kitchen Renovation Rant

[wendily86 0]

Good evening all! This is a ranting thread and at the same time, I hope some fellow home renovators can give their 2 cents. Having read about all the contractors from ****, I have never expected myself to meet one

(FYI: I have never wrote any bad reviews before, this must really have pushed me to my limit for me to write this).

Anyway, we received our keys from HDB last year Jan (to read the incomplete t-blog: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/topic/45921-a-new-beginning-at-treelodgepunggol/) but have not done up the kitchen yet. We've gone through a few contractors but did not commit until we saw this promotion on BLUM's facebook page:

Looks like an absolute steal right? $4688 with BLUM system, throw in a 5ft wardrobe (to be fair, they were quite flexible in the sense they allowed us to convert this to a 5ft bar counter with solid top instead) and most of all, there'll be an ID (from a seemingly reputable company with a longish history) to oversee everything for us. Immediately after seeing this on facebook, we make our way down to Blum's showroom, after making a call to confirm the promotion. A guy named W picked up our call and confirmed the promotional details. That was on 21st Apr 2013.

**I'm not showing the name of the company, but if you are dying to know, there's no stopping you from going into the Apr archives of Blum's website).

So we make our way down. W wasn't free to entertain us. A lady N came to chat with us instead. And after going through the general designs of our kitchen and bar counter, we decided to sign up the promotion with them, pay only $80 deposit on the spot. Shortly after signing up the package, N came to our place to have a look and get a feel of the place plus do some rough estimates of the carpentary work. Not long after, we met up with her at her office after she came up with the 3D drawings. This part of the deal was the smoothest. I was all praises for her (PR skills). I thought I met the dream ID. She was all talks about how her carpenter is ready to measure the coming weekend and we should hurry up and choose the laminate. And gullible me was in awe of how efficient they can be. And I still remember chastising my husband saying he shouldn't take too long to choose the laminate. Also, that was also the day we are supposed to pay up the $2k upon receiving the 3D rendering. And we did, with much ebullience.

As the measurements made by N are only rough estimate, the carpenter B has to come to our place to take the actual measurement.

Look at the date.

17th May: she said the carpenter is able to come the next day at 2pm.

18th May: As my hubby is supposed to leave for his RT around 3pm, we were abit worried when he didn't appear at 2. So being kiasu, we text N at 2:08 to ask whether the carpenter is coming. She replied at 2:09 saying he can't make it. Within a span of one min?! Are you kidding me? Either she is just beside him (in which she can't be bothered to let us know that he'll be late) or she has forgotten to inform him. We believe it is the latter. Nevermind, we give her the benefit of doubt. So my husband decided that he can forgo his RT and wait, as in his reply. and she said she'll check. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Note the next time they have a conversation is on 13th June. You judge this yourself how would you have react.

So we finally managed to meet the elusive carpenter. He was supposed to reach at 7pm. We waited. And waited. And waited. Until the waiting got too much, and my husband had to give N a call. Then he appear. At about 9pm. With no apologies. Face flushed. Breathe smells of alcohol. I decided not be be judgemental because he appeared to be considerably clearheaded and professional. We stayed calm and tried to be professional. We managed to verify some details of the laminate (when we found out that N has provided us some wrong information). He had quite a long discussion with my husband who even gave him another can of bottle before he left. Armed with the actual measurement, we were expecting to receive the 2D rendering (autoCAD) drawings from him to confirm the dimensions before they start work.

And the renderings came back..............WRONG.

This is the rendering corrected by my husband (highlighted in yellow are the parts that are wrong).

[wendily86 0]

Apparently what we suspect is the draftman (or whatever you call the person who did the drawing) simply took N's measurement. Thank goodness my hubby had requested a copy of B's recorded measurement and counter-checked with the 2D drawing. I would have take things for granted, sign and let them go ahead with the measurements. *Sigh* Anyway, we requested for the carpenter B to come and measure again before we would want to sign on the drawings.

And so here comes the times when our aeroplane were flew (no show) for several times. The first 2 times we would rush home to find ourselves waiting in vain. The worst thing is, there is not a single call to even inform us that he is not coming. The 3rd time we didnt even bother to go home and wait, we simply assumed that he is not coming. And true enough, he didnt come. Frustrated, I made my hubby call the N. He requested for the change of carpenter. And N told him that B is still keen to take up the job, it's just that he had some personal problems. (How many times does his 'personal problem' need to show up in our face? We can be understanding with your personal problem but the least you can do is to inform us if you are not coming?) Fine. So the next time, N came and brought B along. No apologies again. Anyway, they did the measurements fairly quickly and went off.

Anyway, let's skip the wall of text and proceed to the installation.

3rd July

It has been almost 2.5 months since we last decided to sign up the package. On some parts is due to the measurements debacle while on the other part I must admit we did delayed the progress by our choosing of laminates as well. So this was the day they are supposed to do up the carpentry. Then we were informed that one of their lorries were spoilt, so they can only fix the bar counter. Talk about mishaps. Okay, nevermind fine. So we had our bar counter (without solid top installed).

6th July

Finally the installation of my kitchen cabinets.

As you can see, my kitchen is tiny. We need all the space we can have. In fact, this kitchen looks perfect to me (I was aboard at the time, so I only get to see pictures) until..............

[wendily86 0]

What is the point of having a dish drying rack that no one can reach?! This is my mum in the picture, see how difficult it is for her to put even a lid? Plus the measurement is wrong anyway. I have to mentioned that our ceiling height is higher than normal (since we live on the top floor), thus the gap between the top and bottom cabinet is also much wider. Nonetheless, we have mentioned to B that the dishrack has to be dropped to a lower height and he did noted it down. Why wasn't it done, your guess is as good as mine).

And this

This may not be apparent to us mere homo sapiens’ eyes but can't escape the sharp eyes of my cat. To point it up, there is a big gap between the end of the drawers to the wall. This cannot be true. So my husband checked with the carpenter, and he confirmed that yes, the drawers are in fact all 450mm instead of the original 500mm because the 500mm were OUT OF STOCK. Out of stock?? If you pay me for a 1 carat diamond then my diamond out of stock can I give you a 0.5 carat one instead?! Can?! Can?! If you tell me can then I accept your drawers. What reasoning is this? I want to throw the drawers at him can. This really make me want to lose my cool. Argh. What's more annoying is, after the carpenter told my husband that he will change the drawers for him, N say the drawers are correct as stated in the contract. THERE IS NOT A SINGLE WORD ABOUT THE DIMENSIONS IN THE CONTRACT!

This was the flyer we received on the day 21st April, the day we sign the contract.

Look at the part I box up in red. Tandem, 50kg, full extension. Right above the picture it was written clearly as 500mm. Unfortunately my husband took a picture of this flyer for the purpose of showing his friend and not for evidence's sake, so the lousy resolution. I'm not sure how clear it is to you but even at the blurriest state, there is no way I can read this as 450mm.

My dear friends, my question to you is, if the contract did not state the dimensions of the drawers, is it wrong for us to assume that we would be given whatever that was mentioned in the flyer? I think the difference of 50mm is not big to most people here but to me, is more on the question of integrity and business ethics. You deliver what you promise. I do not expect you to over-deliver but I can't tolerate this. I do not mind paying more if I was told in advance. I might even have accepted the 50mm if they have asked us first. But to do it without consulting us, thinking that we probably wouldnt find out, is as good as fraud. I think up to this point we have been extremely tolerant of them, but this is really pressing all the wrong buttons with me. Wonder how many people have been 'cheated' in the same way,

I will be finding a day to meet up with N and not lose my cool.

Will update again. Thanks for reading my wall of text.

[Damocles 2]

Wah, Wendily, this ID, employed by you, must be a real nut.

Through and through!

[jiahaovirtuoso 0]

omg.. thats really bad. . irresponsible ID !

[bearry 0]

sorry out of topic but your cat is so cute!!

i think ur ID is very irresponsible! maybe cause you are only doing the kitchen? they don't take it too seriously

Edited August 23, 2013 by bearry

[wondermelon 0]

the colour for the base cabinets ...wow priceless