White, Wood, Black & Gray

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Planned layout of the house

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Structural beams in resale flats

During the first visit to the house, we had the impression that the flat was rather generously sized and quickly made a deposit for it.

However, with each subsequent visit, the flat seemed smaller and smaller. One big factor was the huge ugly useless beams in the rooms. Unfortunately we aren't able to remove them due to HDB regulations.

One lesson we learnt, as first time inexperienced buyers, is to have a trustworthy and experienced property agent. Many older, resale flats have these beams that "eat" into your usable space especially in the rooms. They may end up hindering plans of hacking and combining rooms as well.

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Price-matching practice

When we first visited the Mega Discount Store (MDS) at Kallang, the saleslady had told us that we could place a deposit for the items we wish to purchase i.e. hood and hob. If the price at point of deposit was $399, and there was a better promotion before delivery, they will match the ongoing (lower) discount price then.

We subsequently bought our EF island hood from the MDS at United Square for $980 on 4 Apr. One week thereafter, just last Sunday, i saw that the listed price (including delivery) was $850 for the exact same model. So i called up Sally, the saleslady at MDS United Square. Her response was disappointing - she flatly insisted that the price couldn't be $850. She asked me to "just email head office and see how" instead. And so I wrote to their head office yesterday; am still waiting for their response. But seems like we shouldn't be too hopeful.

Not sure if any other forum-ers have a similar experience?

[Wei Ting 3]

I previously bought stuff from gaincity (Marina Sq) and the sales person told me the same thing. I made the sales person write it under "remarks" section when i paid my deposit and he did it willingly. So i guess they really meant it. He even wrote down his full name + contact number. Hes quite good btw, even for after sales service when we found out that the delivery man "took" some of our freebies.

[Ks Toh 74]

If you are promised anything, make sure you get them to write it down. Don't every trust anyone. Even at reputed stores like Robinsons.

There was a sale but I did not need the mattresses until some months later. I was persuaded to make full payment (to get the discount) but I was worried that there might be a better sale after that. It was a lot of money. I asked the salesman to write it down on the receipt. He laughed and said hello this is Robinsons, you can even get full refund anytime before you collect the goods. True enough, there was a slightly better sale down the road. We called him and he reluctantly reduced the price. Some weeks later, there was an even better sale. We approached him. He refused! Gave all sorts of excuses!

And if you check Robinsons' policy, it is now different. Refund only within 7 days, and only if you produce receipts. And you get the refund not in cash but credit voucher.

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I previously bought stuff from gaincity (Marina Sq) and the sales person told me the same thing. I made the sales person write it under "remarks" section when i paid my deposit and he did it willingly. So i guess they really meant it. He even wrote down his full name + contact number. Hes quite good btw, even for after sales service when we found out that the delivery man "took" some of our freebies.

Guess we were inexperienced and never thought about "nailing" them down on their promises.

And now I see Gain City in a different light; I was quite apprehensive to shop with them after reading mixed reviews about their sales service in the forum. The delivery man who took your freebies is totally despicable! I hope you managed to get them back in the end.

Thanks for your advice! I will take note to get the salesperson to clarify everything in black and white in future.

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If you are promised anything, make sure you get them to write it down. Don't every trust anyone. Even at reputed stores like Robinsons.

There was a sale but I did not need the mattresses until some months later. I was persuaded to make full payment (to get the discount) but I was worried that there might be a better sale after that. It was a lot of money. I asked the salesman to write it down on the receipt. He laughed and said hello this is Robinsons, you can even get full refund anytime before you collect the goods. True enough, there was a slightly better sale down the road. We called him and he reluctantly reduced the price. Some weeks later, there was an even better sale. We approached him. He refused! Gave all sorts of excuses!

And if you check Robinsons' policy, it is now different. Refund only within 7 days, and only if you produce receipts. And you get the refund not in cash but credit voucher.

Thanks for your advice! I will take note to get the salesperson to clarify everything in black and white in future.

I have always been under the impression that established companies like Robinsons would at least honor their words - seems like many retailers do not have the customer's interests in mind after all. That's disappointing to know.

I do not like refunds in credit voucher - makes me feel that the retailer is insincere and still wants to earn that profit even if their goods are not suitable,.

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After 3 weeks, the hacking is yet to be completed.

We were late by less than half a day to pass the keys to the ID on the 1st day of hacking.The sellers gave us the whole bunch of keys without labeling and we ended up giving the ID the wrong key initially.

Today when I went down to the house, it looked exactly the same as 2 weeks ago. Except that the workers were halfway through tiling the common bathroom wall.

We tried discussing with our ID on 2 separate occasions but somehow he managed to escape this question. He claims that the impact is only 1 week delay on the overall schedule.

We aren't in a rush to get the house and the ID is aware of that. However, the progress really seems to be really slow compared to the other blogs on the forum..

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Shopping in JB - Tampoi Lighting

We went to JB for a quick weekend trip and chanced by the yellow shopfront infamous on Renotalk forums by now - Tampoi Lighting.

Location:
2, 4 & 6, Jalan Titiwangsa 3/1, Taman Tampoi Indah, Johor Bahru, 81200
Johor Bahru, Johor, 81200, Malaysia +60 7-241 8999

Business hours:
Mon – Sat: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sun: 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

Since we were in the vicinity, we decided to take a look at the options available there and ended up buying our master bathroom light and a small ceiling fan.

As the purchases were totally unplanned for, we didn't manage to plan to avoid the recently implemented GST in MY.

Each person is allowed SGD150 worth of good; any value above that would be liable for duty..

Master Bathroom Light - 35RM Nett

(Will post picture of actual light later - can't find something similar online)

Elmark NMD39 Fan - 438RM after discount

In general, the prices were more competitive than in SG. Good to place to shop at especially if you are looking for down lights or ceiling fans.

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