Anyone engaged Carpentry Design work before?

[Eastener 2]

Cheats. Liars. Heartless cons. If only you all know the pain they have caused me and my family. Do work halfway and then disappear (especially in the last month). We called again and again and did not respond. I happened to meet 2 poor victims- young parents with small kids in the same position and the response is the same. Now all of us- at least 5- have NO MORE MONEY TO CONTINUE because most have been given to them. To all victims- DONT KEEP QUIET. Make police report like many people in FB (also victims) has suggested to us. They cant be on the run forever. Don't keep quiet. 

To Sharline and Andre, I know you are reading this. Remember that you have so many children. Whatever people curse you will come back to you or your children at some point- arent you afraid? Return what you can to your victims. The whole world knows what you were capable of and how you cheated people years ago- don't act like you are innocent. Puteri Sherie... I challenge you to response to me here since you are so good at fighting back as if you are innocent. You have NO IDEA what people are talking about you both. 

[lazyshadow 0]

Hi to all whom is seeing this. Police are collating all victim's report to bring justice to this 2 scammer. I urge all victims to stand together and report now. Please lodge police report immediately if you have not done so. 

They are still daring enough to go around preying for new victims. We need to put a stop to this now.

For those who come across and intend to sign up with them, please don't. They might be changing to new company name but please refer to the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/Carpentry-Interior-Works-Pte-Ltd-Feedback-392966157751571/

http://rilek1corner.com/2017/04/19/beware-renovation-company-cheating-customers-again-after-several-years-passed/

[Sharlyna81 0]

On 30/03/2017 at 9:00 PM, sabil said:

@putrisherie why you sound so angry. Wow the story of @Maldini03 is sooo different from @rovers1234 I wonder what is actually happening to this company Carpentry Design Works Private Limited. Looking at the previous thread which was locked, i think better be safe lah, find a company without loads of negative feedbacks. 

Sabil..putrisherie sounds so angry cos highly possibly that she may have relations to CDW...haha. i wonder also y get so personal when ppl giving reviews.

[Sharlyna81 0]

Hi..just to share with all my personal experience with Carpentry Design Works.i am one of their victims whom they have promised the world..take huge amount of deposit and left us in lurge of our unfinished house. We were attended by these husband n wife couple, known via their respective pet names sharlyne and andre who apparently make lots of major decisions such as costing, signing of contract, etc.

It has been four months but though paying more than 30% of their asked deposit..nothing much has been done.that became even worse when their coordinator abruptly left. Till now, things are hanging and they went missing! Sharlyne is totally uncontactable and Andre...right now he is blaming all his workers and say that they are the one who run away with our money.

Smart thing about them is they registered their young worker (22years) and their logistics guy as the directors registered under acra..for them to push the blames to.

At this point, more than 100 homeowners are coming forward for various authority to act on them.

All this has been a painful experience for my family as well as the rest but i hope could serve as a reminder to all.

PLS avoid these people.they are still out there..god knows whats their next plan as long as they have not been dealt with by the law and authorities. 

Article is out on ST today.look out for it and make it viral for others from becoming their next victim.

[Sharlyna81 0]

On 21/04/2017 at 8:50 AM, Eastener said:

Cheats. Liars. Heartless cons. If only you all know the pain they have caused me and my family. Do work halfway and then disappear (especially in the last month). We called again and again and did not respond. I happened to meet 2 poor victims- young parents with small kids in the same position and the response is the same. Now all of us- at least 5- have NO MORE MONEY TO CONTINUE because most have been given to them. To all victims- DONT KEEP QUIET. Make police report like many people in FB (also victims) has suggested to us. They cant be on the run forever. Don't keep quiet. 

To Sharline and Andre, I know you are reading this. Remember that you have so many children. Whatever people curse you will come back to you or your children at some point- arent you afraid? Return what you can to your victims. The whole world knows what you were capable of and how you cheated people years ago- don't act like you are innocent. Puteri Sherie... I challenge you to response to me here since you are so good at fighting back as if you are innocent. You have NO IDEA what people are talking about you both. 

They have 7 children..what comes around comes around.living off people money to stay in condo..drive a BMW while homeowners and family suffers to pay back loan and forking our cash to move on. Now all of us are hoping that the truth will surface and they get what they deserve.

[Sharlyna81 0]

Just now, Sharlyna81 said:

They have 7 children..what comes around comes around.living off people money to stay in condo..drive a BMW while homeowners and family suffers to pay back loan and forking our cash to move on. Now all of us are hoping that the truth will surface and they get what they deserve.

Putri sherie probably can be her..cos the reply seems so familiar..and puteri is their daughters' name. Unless she wants to come out and challenge that bit.

[nurfandy 1]

On 4/6/2017 at 8:58 AM, Bubee7788 said:

I happened to come across this thread.  It is sad that this company got so many negative comments.  On the other hand, the positive comments here only show 3D drawings of works with no actual pictures of completed works.  My personal opinion is why the company do not put up more direct replies or post actual completed renovation pictures or pictures with satisfied clients here.  Maybe that will help.  From this company's facebook, you are a SME500 award winner, then your company should be long established and certainly not a small company compared with numerous other IDs and contractors.  

I think for owners to sign their interior designers or contractors, they should do their homework.  My own 10 suggestions for appointing an ID or contractor as follows:

1) Do an Acra company search to check - directors, owners, date of incorporation, capital, etc.  it costs only $5 I think which is a small sum to what you are paying them.

2) Check their HDB Renovation contractor license - avoid those without licence if possible, unless you know them personally.  Do note that a lot of ID borrow licence from professional licence issurers for a fee for every project if I am not mistaken.  Check whether the name of the licence holder which is on HDB website is the same as the companies' directors.  It is even better if your renovator is the same HDB licence holder.  It is so easy for any one to open and shut a renovation company, and then start another one.  Nowadays, even automotive car companies are having similar scams.  Having a nice showroom and office, does not meant they will not shut down and leave you hanging.

3) Pay them in stages.  If possible, do progressive payments.  I read somewhere here that some other contractors do this.  I know it can be done because my contractor have quite similar payment method - he only collect after he started work or materials delivered at site or completion of that stage of works.  If your contractor or ID simply refuse any other progessive options except theirs of paying over 90 percent for works that are not even near what is completed, I suggest you keep looking for one or be careful because hopefully you are not being setup to be a scam victim.  

4) Never pay cash to sale designers as I have heard some of them run away with the payment.  Even if you pay to the company, pay only to the owner or director of the company as listed in Acra search.

5) Take a picture of the director and sales designer's face and his NRIC.  They should come handy in your police report in case of problems or identification of who you are dealing with and are they the same persons as shown in the Acra company report or the quotation you received from them.  I think if they are honest, I don't see a problem if they can take a photo of my NRIC and I cannot take theirs.

6) Project completion deadlines to be included, perhaps with some flexibility but not 6 or 7 or more months when it should take not more than 3 months.

7) Have the clause option in the contract to stop the project at any stage and pay up to that stage if the renovation progress are completely out schedule.

8) Know your renovator.  If they are a referral from someone you know, it is even better.  Talk to them about things other than your renovation.  Look at the character of your sales designers and more importantly, the boss of the company.  Of course, before signing and payment, everything is nice.  I am sorry to say, some really look and talk like gangsters or loan sharks.  

9) Follow them on facebook or instagram for sometime before appointing them.  Who is not on facebook nowadays.  See progressive photos from start till finish.  Be very careful of companies who only post 3D drawings and not progressive to the final completed renovation pictures.

10) Go with experienced contractor who knows their stuff if possible.  Hopefully your house is not a testing project for a young newbies, unless they have a mentor behind all the way throughout your renovation and not during the pre-sales signing period only.

I am not sure how many IDs or contractors can agree to the above, but it offers more protection to owners who got scammed often in renovation as reported in the media and in this forum.  Anyway, these are my personal opinions.  Good luck!

 

Understand that awards can be bought but the organisation handing out these awards should at least have some audit/background checks? 

Perhaps we could question the organisation who gave the award/s to this sub-standard contractor because it creates doubt to the credibility of all the award they have handed out thus far. How many other sub-standard companies has these awards been given to and why would any company want to buy their award when their award has been linked to a company that has caused so much grievances to consumers. Shouldn't there be some kind of accountability for the awards the organisation gives out?

Edited April 27, 2017 by nurfandy

[Bubee7788 3]

Agreed!  For all we know since they are probably setting this scam up from the beginning, they may have bought a trophy and engraved their name on it, and subsequently post it on facebook to deceive some homeowners thinking if they are award winners, they must be reliable and reputable.  Lesson here is some dubious awards can be misleading and big companies can closed.  The bigger the company or overheads, they have to cover the higher expenditure or they will be in trouble sooner or later.  With the low costs of online marketing, a lot of smaller players entered the industry and gave the big boys a big fight with better pricing and lower overheads.  A friend who as an experienced sale designer in a large ID came out and start this own firm. He don't have to share 50% of his profits with his ex-boss and can quote lower since his setup is a small shop.  Not to mentioned some that worked from home, the ultimate low overheads.  Working from home is fine as long as they do a good honest business.  The papers said CDW has 2 offices.

The other thing I heard is that CDW gave away a lot of freebies like system 4 aircon, quartz countertops, windows, electrical installation and on top of that a big discount on the total amount.  i am wondering if there is so much profits to give away all these freebies.  Looks like a setup to budget conscious owners who are taken in by the false savings.  I am always very sceptical about IDs giving away lots of freebies such one advert I saw with $5000 freebies for a $10,000 package.  Owners beware! Nothing is free!

From today's news, no HDB permits were applied for the renovation works like hacking of walls.  Therefore, if the owners were to just check whether they have HDB licence in the first place, a lot of troubles can be avoided since we know that only HDB licence holders can apply for renovation permits.  Even if the works do not require permits like carpentry, any person claiming to be very experience and reputable, especially with an award, who is the director and have not yet acquired a HDB renovation license.  If they do not have the license, either they have some issues or they are a new startup in the market.  Being new is understandable since any experienced and creative designers got to start somewhere.  Like I say, do your homework. Track and visit their work and projects over time and not 3D drawings.