Another Bad Experience From Executive Living

[lingkiin 2]

Despite some posts here mentioned about bad experience from Executive Living (EL), I still decided to buy sofa from them.

I bought an 3 seats + L leather sofa from them, sales order no #21450 on 3/3/2014, served by their CEO, Alvin.
He told me they can deliver after 3 weeks. Delivery date stated 29/03/2014.

I request to add something to the sofa on 13/03/2014, sales order no #21455 (10 days later, sales order no. increase by 5?).
I did checked with them whether this addon will delay the delivery. They told me the addon is simple addon, it won't be any delay.

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Ok, on 26/03/2014 Wednesday, 3 days before delivery, I gave them a call, to double confirm the delivery.
They told me delivery definitely has no problem on that day.

28/03/2014 Friday, they called me and said the item was at custom JB, cant deliver to Singapore on Saturday.
I asked them to try to arrange and let me know on Saturday, I would wait for them.

Saturday afternoon, no call from EL.
I called EL, Alvin told me the item was delayed, due to my request of the changes.
He told me, they can deliver on Wednesday which is today 02/04/2014.

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Today (02/04/2014), I came back early, I waited till 7:30pm, no call, no delivery.
I called to EL, they told me they will check and get back to me within 15 mins.

20 mins after, no one call me. I called to EL, no body pickup.
I tried another 5 times during the next 30mins. No one answering the phone.

I took my invoice out, I found Alvin mobile number is written on it. 9783 1###.
I called him, he told me he will check and get back to me in 5 mins.

After 10 mins, I called back. And....he don't answer.
After 2~3 tries, he SMS me, said he will call me back at 9pm.

9:03pm, I called back, no body pickup.
I tried another few times in about 30 mins. He just don't answer.
This time, no SMS too. I SMS him, no reply.

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03/04/2014, Thursday

Alvin SMSed me in the morning, asked me to come down to his showroom at 3pm.

I asked him to tell me through SMS or call. He insisted me to visit his showroom, even after my work 7pm.

I asked him a few things through SMS, he never replied.

I called Alvinna, his staff.

Alvinna told me Alvin will not be in the showroom this evening.

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04/04/2014, Friday

Alvin called me, said he waited me till 8pm yesterday.

He asked me to go down to choose another replacement of sofa.

I went down in the evening, he told me he found a exactly same model of my sofa, just the leather color slightly different.

He showed me the leather sample and confirmed with me the sofa is with 3+L recliner, motorized.

He told me Saturday (next day) I will get my sofa.

Delivery time around 12pm.

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05/04/2014, Saturday.

I called him around 12:30pm.

He said can't arrange transport for delivery.

Said he will call back once he got transport to deliver.

1:30pm, I called him, still cant arrange, said contractors/transporters will come back around 2:30pm.

2:30pm~3:30pm, Called him, still cant arrange. Reason: Raining. He said he will deliver on Monday, and will deliver with free bed frames for me. (He said he have 2 queen size storage bed frames).

He said he has asked 7-8 group of peoples, all were not available. He asked me to find lorry myself so I can go to his warehouse @ woodland to take sofa myself.

4:00pm, I managed to rent a lorry with driver. Confirmed with the driver. I SMSed Alvin for address, no reply. Called him, no reply.

Around 4:00~4:30pm, Alvinna called me said can't make it today. She said she left woodland warehouse. No one open warehouse for me. Told me to deliver on Monday. And she confirmed the Sofa is still good, she had saw it and all 3 seats with motors, good condition.

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06/04/2014 Monday

I whatsapp Alvinna at 10:49am. She replied she will get back to me after lunch.

2:09pm I whatsapp her, she was online but no reply.

Called her few times, didnt answer.

5:44pm, she whatsapp me, told me they can deliver tomorrow (Tuesday) between 1-3pm if they manage to find a transporter.

I told her I will arrange transport myself. I re-confirmed with her the sofa and the free bed frames. She told me no free frames available but Sofa confirmed.

I arranged a lorry with driver to go woodland warehouse at 2pm, I pay the rental.

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07/04/2014 Tuesday

I took leave at home to settle all of these.

12pm+, Alvinna called me, said don't have my sofa at warehouse. Asked me to go EL showroom to take other thing. I told her I don't want anything. Refund as much as you can.

3pm, I reached their showroom, waited till about 5pm, Alvinna told me no money to refund to me, totally no money.

5pm+, I called Alvin, he told me he has no money return to me, if I wan go ahead to sue him, but his business is bankrupt, he cannot do anything.

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I have paid 100% in full.

Edited April 8, 2014 by lingkiin

[sgbestproperty 1]

never pay in full for your sofa purchase. a deposit is the furthest I would go. even then make sure the % of price deposited is not too overwhelming. otherwise they will be more interested to collect the deposit than to deliver the sofa to you.

never buy from those with bad reputation.

[lingkiin 2]

Now they told me, they are going to bankrupt....

Sigh.....

[sgbestproperty 1]

this way of closing down bears remarkable resemblance to sense art sofa who did so like 6-9 months ago.

talk about birds of the same feather

[lingkiin 2]

Really sad and disappointed.

Now I can't contact anyone of them...

Have SenseArt customers get their money back?

What is the ending?

[equvocat 0]

Hi lingkiin,

I bought some furniture from this company as well. Your news is very worrying, did the boss Alvin or his daughter Alvina explicitly told you that they were going bankrupt?

Do shed some more details, thanks!

[lingkiin 2]

Alvinna is his daughter??

[sgbestproperty 1]

most of them got nothing back I believe

most of such companies tend to ask you to make 100% payment or a huge deposit. and the unluckier ones will always not get the sofa because it is quite easy for the company to run into financial difficulty.

[equvocat 0]

lingkiin, yes Alvinna is his daughter. Alvin has mentioned that to some of his customers before.

However, like what I asked earlier, who told you that they were going bankrupt? There may be other customers who have likewise paid and not received their furniture yet. If they are truly going bankrupt then all of us will not be able to get any furniture from them.

How much did you pay?

Edited April 7, 2014 by equvocat

[lingkiin 2]

lingkiin, yes Alvinna is his daughter. Alvin has mentioned that to some of his customers before.

However, like what I asked earlier, who told you that they were going bankrupt? There may be other customers who have likewise paid and not received their furniture yet. If they are truly going bankrupt then all of us will not be able to get any furniture from them.

How much did you pay?

I believe I saw you today.

I never know Alvinna is his daughter.

[NoBuy4EL 0]

Hi,

Last year (Jan/2013) , I have purchased a sofa set cost $4K+ with EL. Up-to date, the outstanding issue with EL still unclose.

The sale confirmation was closed by Alvin & John.

They don't admit the problems laid on EL's poor communication between Factory and Sales Dept. I had send many SMS to Alvin & John. No response from both. They thought by "Buying" time, customer will give up.

The problems as below.

1. Color : Order Orange, rec'd sofa "Tomato Red"

2. Recliner control switch : Order sensor type, rec'd black "Push-button" type.

3. Payment : We paid up front $3K cash to EL as down payment, they will discourage you to pay by Credit card.

My advise : You may visit their showroom for "Benchmarking" only.

Additional (9/04/2014) :

When I book my sofa during Dec 2012, EL is so desperate for "CASH" payment, they even want my to pay Full. So this is the reason why ?

Our 5 years warrant for the sofa is "Cold as water" already.

[equvocat 0]

lingkiin,

So how's the outcome of your Small Claims Tribunal? We had called CASE on the day I met you and they mentioned that the matter is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, so CASE could no longer handle the case.

Saw from the Small Claims Tribunal flowchart that it is subject to Supreme Court in decision making. Do check with the Tribunal if your case can still proceed or if Supreme Court has taken over. If taken over, you will need to get a lawyer and engage in a costly and lengthy process for any hope of recovery. Small Claims Tribunal can only enforce payment claims from company, meaning that if EL's accounts have been cleared out the paper can go no further.

Did you end up taking up any of the items in the showroom as monetary asset instead? Understand that second hand furniture, especially showcase ones, can't sell too much, but at least you recover some amount partially.

[lingkiin 2]

lingkiin,

So how's the outcome of your Small Claims Tribunal? We had called CASE on the day I met you and they mentioned that the matter is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, so CASE could no longer handle the case.

Saw from the Small Claims Tribunal flowchart that it is subject to Supreme Court in decision making. Do check with the Tribunal if your case can still proceed or if Supreme Court has taken over. If taken over, you will need to get a lawyer and engage in a costly and lengthy process for any hope of recovery. Small Claims Tribunal can only enforce payment claims from company, meaning that if EL's accounts have been cleared out the paper can go no further.

Did you end up taking up any of the items in the showroom as monetary asset instead? Understand that second hand furniture, especially showcase ones, can't sell too much, but at least you recover some amount partially.

No.... most of the items were taken or reserved by other customers.

And some of them cannot be taken (supplier items or something...)

Nothing I can do now....and another thing is...I still need to go somewhere to buy another sofa..

[equvocat 0]

NoBuy4EL,

You were fortunate to get your sofa, even when it was wrong. lingkiin and I were forced to get whatever was available.

According to ACRA reports EL had missed its AGM since Apr 2013 and have been marked as non-compliant.

As of Monday, 7th Apr, EL owed 6 months rental (estimated $25k) to the building management and repeatedly had bounced cheque issues. At 6 pm that day, the show room was not open as well.

Feeling suspicious my wife and I staked out the showroom on the 8th of Apr, and when the staff returned to box up their office documents we approached them and were told that that they were closing down and that there was no money left in the accounts to refund customers. We were told by the boss via phone call to take whatever was available in the showroom in exchange for what was originally to be promised. My wife and I have ordered a bed frame (it wasn't built), a dining table and a sofa, and in the end both of us took back a substitute dining table, sofa, plus an additional sofa to replace for the bed frame. To ensure no further complications, we indicated in a new Variance Order Invoice with the company that this was to be a 1-for-1 replacement.

While there, several other customers were making arrangements of their own as well. All in all, the company could very well be gone so we can forget about any warranties being honoured. As expected, the showroom furniture is in used condition and had some wear and tear, and my wife and I certainly did not recover our full amount paid (almost $6k), but at least we estimate our recovery to be around 60~70% of the full cost.

In summary, a bad mistake to make payment in full, and a very fortunate recovery from the mistake for my side, though lingkiin had it much rougher. Let our lesson be a learning experience to all as well.

[woodywood 0]

There will be no refund and nothing we as consumers can do if the company closed down. I kana a case from a travelling agency few years ago. Brought and paid full for an free & easy trip to Hong Kong but the company closed down, I went CASE, went to their office in Chinatown and after so much drama, time & efforts. I get back NOTHING! Went to ask my lawyer friend for advise, she also tell me not worth doing a personal sue against them cos my amount too small.