Meridian Curtains - To Avoid

[Nicholas C 0]

Beware - Do not hire Meridian Curtains! Overcharging and terrible customer service!

I hired Meridian, which was appointed by the developer as my condo’s official curtain contractor, to install indoor block-out roller blinds and outdoor balcony blinds for my unit, and had a very bad experience.

Overcharging on Materials:
Desmond from Meridian gave me a quotation. He kept saying it was a “good price” and “very good price”. He also said that as Meridian was the developer’s official contractor, only it could offer the “best price”. In addition, Desmond said that the developer appointed Meridian to be the official contractor due to its integrity and good service provided by the company. Based on this, I hired Meridian. But this proved to be a mistake.

I transacted in good faith and paid the deposit and balance payment promptly. However, I was shocked when I later found out that Meridian overcharged me. Desmond charged $6.00 psf for the indoor block-out roller blinds and $10.00 psf for the outdoor balcony blinds, which became $6.42 psf and $10.70 psf after adding GST.

In contrast, I discovered that other large and reputable curtain companies charged far less for similar quality products. For example, The Curtain Expert charges $5.00 psf for indoor block-out roller blinds and $10.00 psf for outdoor balcony blinds, with the GST amount already built in.

This means Meridian overcharged by 28.4% ($6.42 vs $5.00) for the indoor block-out roller blinds and 7.0% ($10.70 vs $10.00) for the outdoor balcony blinds!

Desmond refused to provide a refund of the overcharged amount.

Terrible Customer Service:
I asked Desmond for the cost breakdown between the indoor blinds and the outdoor blinds. He told me that the cost of the indoor blinds was $500 and the cost of the outdoor blinds was $800 (before GST). Based on the info he provided, the implied area for the indoor blinds was 83.33 sf ($500/$6 psf), and the implied area for the outdoor blinds was 80.00 sf ($800/$10 psf).

I was wondering why the area of the indoor blinds was larger than the outdoor blinds, as the outdoor blinds looked larger. As such, I went to measure the indoor blinds, and found that the area was significantly less than 83.33 sf. It seemed that I had been overcharged on the area of the indoor blinds.

I sent my measurements to Desmond and asked him to send a worker to verify the measurements. He immediately became hostile. He demanded that as a condition of verifying the measurement, I had to agree that if the reverse was the case – that if there was any undercharging – I had to pay him the difference.

What kind of customer service is this? I made a reasonable request for the verification of the measurement, yet Desmond became hostile and imposed an absurd condition. Since when does the customer pay extra if the business undercharges? I have never heard of such a thing before.

Desmond then suddenly said that cost of the indoor blinds was $432, instead of $500. Based on this new number, I calculated that the area was correct.

It was Desmond’s own error of providing the wrong figure that led to the impression that I was overcharged by area. Yet he became hostile and demanded an absurd condition just to do a simple verification of the measurement.

Absolutely terrible customer service!

Please do not make the same mistake I did. Source for quotations from other curtain companies.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Nicholas C

[Wai Yee 0]

Dishonest Sales person and Manager: Woon and Jim

I engaged Meridian Curtains to do renovations at my apartment. One of the things i wanted was to create an LBox and install led lights that can be turned on and off using smart phone.

Jim and his sale executive, Woon, convinced me that it was easy to do and proceeded to quote $768+gst for six numbers of Led lights. That worked out to be $137 per light! Thinking that they have to be special lights for smart phone pairing, i accepted the quote. 

When they proceeded to install the lights, i realised and checked with the sole agent of the lights (Zenterra) that they were led lights that can only be controlled with their in house remote control. The lights retailed at $50. So, Meridian Curtains over charged me by $500 (inclusive of gst).

i wrote an email to them demanding to speak to a manager to lodge a complaint.. they don’t reply to emails. They only finally deducted the over charging when i threatened to go to CASE. 

If you are using them, make sure they write down what is being supplied. In fact, i will advise you not to deal with them!! 

 

[Guest Kennethycw]

Worst service ever. 

1) measurements for beams were wrong for blinds for one of our two units

2) they proceeded to install the wrong measurement beams anyway (wtf?) the entire outdoor ceiling was f up because of that. Blinds slanted etc omg the list goes on

3) they did not even check to see if the job was done. Everything push to contractors 

4) zero comm btw Jim and admin staff. Kept calling to ask us to meet contractor (wtf?) we paid you and you got a third party that screwed up and now you want us to settle it with them. **** no. 

5) before all this fracas, admin kept calling for full payment on the day of installation. We got so bugged we just went down and made the remaining 50% payment and they proceeded to install an f up job. 

6) damaged done to wall and ceiling and now they'll have to replace beams and restore the wall.  

7) they can't find the keys to our place that was handed over to them. Admin even had the cheek to call and ask if we are going down. Act blur. 

8) f up our ceiling so bad, wrong installation and pushing of responsibility. 

Ill be down soon with a CASE a valid one and bring **** Upon such dishonesty and lack of responsibility if nothing is done. 

Nonsense. 

NOT RECOMMENDED. 

Edited December 7, 2016 by Kennethycw

[SethJr 0]

i've done my curtains with CK from meridian curtains. he was very friendly and we had a few hiccups when installing our curtains and blinds but still overall satisfy as the service is good provided by CK. 

[Benchong05 2]

Wow, I was approach by one of their sales staff yesterday when I went for the Home Inspiration Fair at Expo and they keep asking us to put deposit to secure the pricing but we refuse as it is very pushy and we do not like it.

[pulpy 0]

I can tell you they anyhow quote kind. They're just opposite my place and I made curtains with them before and when I went back to try to make 1 more 2 years later, the price was rubbish. They can just dropped and it was still high. I just walked away.

The guy that came and fixed my curtains back then was also very rude. Avoid them at all cost!

[Butterpaws 0]

omg I signed up Meridian at the Expo... Luckily I only put 100 deposit... this is scary

[Guest Charlene Ong]

!

Edited October 1, 2015 by Gary Potter

[mushroom83 0]

Thanks moneymorethangod for the advise and very precise post on this particular Jim chee guy.... but i have many questions, and doubts on whatever you have written...

I have not engaged any of the companies that you have mentioned and i guess i will not in the future but in the first place how do you know his full name?

i have checked your profile, and your last online is nov? i guess you signed up just to post this particular post about Jim?

How do you know his was sacked? hmmm.... u sounded like a competitor who is upset?

anyway, just trying to be diplomatic about this... if you are really a competitor, then you must be from either Meridian or Teng Yong... haha!

[alexpoker14 0]

I have been recommended to this place and thanks to this forum page, I am not even going to have a look at it.

It is just so scary to read all the reviews.

[moremoneythangod 0]

The name Jim Chee Kum Fai, I'm not surprised for all the catastrophes he created in this local curtain industry. Not only he made a massive mess & being fired by meridian curtains, but also his previous employer; teng yong curtains. And probably with his current employment, De Curtains & Furnishings with a new alias; Marcus Chee. Seems that over these years, there's no improvement in him especially meeting the standards demanded by customers. So don't expect him to anticipate any problems that arise after the installations are up. Avoiding calls was his trademark. And once being cornered, shifting blame to others within the company was his signature move. Poor leadership skills with a huge dream of becoming a boss indeed. Kudos to all the sweet talk he managed to outwit the weaklings, but then there's this saying; You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time...

[ayahiro 0]

AVOID MERIDIAN CURTAIN AT ALL COST!

Sign up for their package at previous roadshow, this is what happen to me!

1. contact them in advance for the measurement 2 weeks ago

2. give them a reminder message 5 days and 1 day before actual date.

3. Call them on actual day and end up the person in charge on urgent leave (I am already at my new place waiting for them)

4. The replacement who pick up the call did not know that I have an appointment, and ended up scolding me as if is my fault! (Can't they just bother to contact me in advance for a change of date then?? Must the replacement act like an ah beng to me?!)

5. I fed up and went down to their company to get a refund of my deposit!

If you are really looking for quality in terms of service and products, PLS DO NOT ENGAGE THEM!! THERE IS LOTS OF OTHER BETTER PROVIDERS!!

[urbuhcs 2]

I can emphatise with them. A small company with too many orders. They probably getting thousands of orders at expo over a few days hence have difficulty meeting the dateline. I called the boss over no-shows and repeated last min change of appointment timing . Initially my wife and i were furious but they were very apologetic and explained to us that the demand is really too high and putting a strain on their work force. The boss gave me a good discount and I was very satisfied with the workmanship. They are really friendly but overworked. I hope yk17 you can give them another chance and discuss amicably with them a solution to your problem.You will be happy with their end product la.

[yk17 0]

Hi,

writing this so that everyone will not have to go through the same experience we had with Meridian Curtains. We signed up for Meridian Curtains services with a deposit at an Expo fair and spoke to Jim Chee and Elaine Dee. Everything was ok and they were saying they provide good services etc. When I contacted Elaine for an appointment at my place for a quotation and measurements, she was late for 45minutes. Subsequently, when I tried to contact her on a Saturday to inform her that we only wanted certain areas to be done up by then, she promised to revert but she did not. We waited till Monday for her to revert but still no response. We contacted the office and Desmond picked up. At first he offered to refund, then after that he took back his words and asked me to contact Elaine. Contacted Elaine and she tell me to contact Jim. When Jim finally called, he tells me their service is like that, 'even if go to Case also no use' and they do not wish to refund but insisted that we take up their (lousy) service instead.

Clearly they have really bad service and I hope no one will fall into their trap again. We did not take up their services in the end.