Bad Service Experience With An Award-winning Furniture Company

[MaCe 3]

ST FORUM

Bad service experience with an award-winning furniture company

AS A layman, how do we choose which retailer to buy from when we need some furniture for our new home?

All things being equal, we would choose one which is Case-accredited and have won many service awards.

However, my recent experience with an award winner, Novena Furnishing, proved me otherwise.

On June 30, after many days of furniture hunting, I finally decided to purchase a three-seater sofa and dining set from Novena Furnishing.

My first encounter of service breakdown began right from the time my purchase order was being drafted in the showroom at Genting Lane.

The sales executive informed me apologetically that the light brown sofa which I saw on display was out of stock.

I was advised to choose another brown colour instead. I had actually chosen the sofa because its colour matched my living room walls.

My question was: Why display a colour which was not available in the first place? He again apologised and added that he would provide feedback to his management to remove it from being displayed to avoid such situations in future.

I accommodated and settled for another brown colour for the sofa. He then completed the purchase order, listing the additional dining table and chairs which I had selected. After setting the delivery date on Saturday, July 14, and making full payment, I left the showroom.

On Thursday, July 12, I called the sales executive to check the actual delivery time. To my surprise, he informed me that the dining chairs which I have selected had run out of stock and he requested me to go down to the showroom in the evening to select another chair model.

He said that due to some internal communication breakdown, the chairs which I had ordered were sold to another party. Again, I accommodated and went down to the showroom to re-select the dining chairs.

On Saturday, July 14, the delivery team came with the dining table and chairs. When they opened the package to assemble the table, they found that the screws for the table legs were missing.

As they could not assemble the table, they left the packages behind and told me that they would return on Monday morning around 11am with the screws to assemble it.

On Monday, July 16, I waited in the new house from 11am. By noon, no one came so I called the delivery hotline number listed on the invoice.

No one answered even after many attempts.

I then called the sales executive to help me check. He reverted that the delivery was actually fixed in the afternoon (3pm to 5pm) and not in the morning.

I was furious that I had wasted my whole morning waiting in the house and asked why no one had contacted me.

Again, he apologised for the service breakdown. I went for lunch and returned to the house by 3pm.

I waited till 8pm that night but no delivery came even though the sales executive kept assuring me that they were on the way.

I told the sales executive that I could not continue waiting like that and he promised me that he would re-arrange the delivery for Tuesday morning at 11am to 1pm.

On Tuesday, July 17, my husband called the outlet to register his complaint but no one answered.

He then called the corporate office to request the customer service manager to get back to him. No one returned his call.

Meanwhile, I waited in the new house and the delivery came only at 1.30pm. Due to some screw alignment problem, they took almost an hour to assemble the dining table. Later, I found out from the men that they skipped the previous night's appointment because the screws were missing again (second time) from the package.

During this period, not a single management staff from Novena Furnishing called to enquire about our complaint. The only person who corresponded with us was the sales executive even though we requested his supervisors/managers to contact us.

I hope this public sharing of my terrible service experience will send a strong message to the management of Novena Furnishing that it cannot just ignore the poor service rendered and do nothing about it.

Remember your customers are your walking advertisements.

Catherine Chang Swee Tin (Ms)

[Mousehunt 0]

In 1988, my father bought a TV console from Novena. When the men delivered, the condition os the console is so bad that no way we can accept it. We reject the goods but the delivery man leave it at our place. The next day, the boss (Novena is still not so big then) came to take a look. He is also shock on the condition.

The console was eventually replaced.

Lesson learn. Big co. so what. It all boils down to personal experience.

[squashy 1]

Hi,

Last yr, my parent also bought a set of sofa from Novena. When they delivered the sofa to our house, we find the color is different from the one we ordered at the show room when we called the salesman and like MaCe's situation, the salesman explained that there is a internal communication breakdown and the sofa that I ordered have been sold to somebody. As I had a function on the coming weekend I had no choice but to accept the order.

Edited July 23, 2007 by squashy

[MaCe 3]

Hi,

Last yr, my parent also bought a set of sofa from Novena. When they delivered the sofa to our house, we find the color is different from the one we ordered at the show room when we called the salesman and like MaCe's situation, the salesman explained that there is a internal communication breakdown and the sofa that I ordered have been sold to somebody. As I had a function on the coming weekend I had no choice but to accept the order.

ah...nono not me...I am just posting the article in today's ST forum.

[applefreak 1]

hmm seems like i'm one of the rare few who received goods in good condition and exactly what i wanted, workers very professional and explained to us the steps while they are fixing the wardrobe

maybe because mine was a wardrobe?

only thing can complain is the price, not very cheap

[B2B 0]

Well, I guess that's the trade-off... if you pay for a budget hotel, you can't expect 5 star services. If the sales person doesn't impress me in the first place, I wouldn't even consider buying anything.

[bluberi 0]

my mum was a victim of Novena too and dat was in dec'05.. first lousy workmanship, den the furniture turned super mouldy within mths. shoot them two complaint letters n said they can't even compare to neighbourhood furniture shops! can't imagine they are award winning somemore... our whole family condemned Novena since den...

[applefreak 1]

oh dear, seems like i'm really lucky

the wardrobe is still doing very well, but it's from the white collection so more expensive

but the branch i bought from closed down liao

[deathcoth 0]

I think this explain their degradation of service

The Straits Times / The Business Times News On Novena

Novena Hldgs get nod to sell furniture business

With its sizeable cash holdings, Novena is now on the prowl for new consumer-related businesses.

By Ven Sreenivasan

Jul 25, 2007

The Business Times

SHAREHOLDERS of Sesdaq-listed Novena Holdings last week approved the sale of the company's furniture business to listed TT International.

The sale leaves the Sesdaq company with over $20 million in cash and a core business now involving mainly its beauty and healthcare chain built around its 12 Beauty Spring stores and spas.

With its sizeable cash holdings, Novena is now on the prowl for new consumer-related businesses.

Novena executive director Mano Sabnani said the company was on the lookout for a 'scaleable and franchisable' business in the consumer sector.

He explained that based on its assets and cash holdings, his company could gear up significantly should it need more cash for an acquisition. 'With a base of $20 million, we can gear up to around $80 million, if needed,' he told BT.

Meanwhile, Novena is close to completing the sale to TT International of its core furniture businesses and several of its subsidiaries in an all-share transaction worth $13.5 million.

Under the deal, TT - which makes the Akira range of electronic appliances - will acquire Novena's seven brand names, including Castilla Premium, Natural Living and The White Collection.

The deal and additional share purchases associated with it will see Novena emerging with about 17 per cent of the share capital of TT International.

The disposal of its furniture business will generate a one-off gain of around $8million for FY2007.

Besides its $20 million in cash, Novena is also sitting on assets worth some $92 million, which translates into net assets per share of 60 cents.

The stock itself has almost doubled in price in the last five weeks to its current levels of around 68 cents.

Besides beauty and healthcare, Novena also owns 80 per cent of Chuan Seng Leong, a logistics and distribution business, which specialises in distributing fast moving consumer goods, especially in toiletries, in Singapore.

Mr Sabnani sees this business as being synergistic with Novena's beauty and healthcare chain.

Novena has already started to attract some attention this year. The savvy Oei Hong Leong became its second biggest single shareholder recently after buying 27 million new shares. Mr Oei now holds 25 per cent of the company.

The exercise saw chief executive Toh Soon Huat's stake falling to 31.02 per cent, down from 37.93 per cent.

Earlier this year, Mr Oei, through his foundation, swapped his 20 million Tung Lok Restaurants shares for 10.3 million new Novena shares.

The 14 per cent Tung Lok stake gave Novena another slice of the consumer/lifestyle segment.

Novena previously held a 12 per cent interest in Apex-Pal International. But following the failure of that company to buy into Thai Village, it recently disposed of most of its Apex-Pal shares, and currently holds only 2 per cent in the holding company of the Sakae Sushi chain.

Mr Sabnani reckons that the future of his company still lies largely in the beauty and wellness sector. 'This is a segment which is seeing huge growth both in Singapore and the region,' he said.

'And we want to position ourselves as a major player to capitalise on this growth.'

[Mousehunt 0]

Wah Piang. Novena operate Beauty and Spa. I wonder what is the company name..... going to avoid.......

[bettybooboo 0]

Wah Piang. Novena operate Beauty and Spa. I wonder what is the company name..... going to avoid.......

for me novena, nova, brighton all i avoid 2 semi d., 3 condos for my tenant all i got it from furniture warehouse located at kallang but now close already if you guys looking for the shop somewhere, look for a salesman call roland. everytime before my delivery date he sure confirm call me whether need to sent and u guys know what..... until now i did not receive anything thats not the colours or design i want. very good after sales service too.

[Mousehunt 0]

Furniture Warehouse is under Star Furniture right??

[l_club23 0]

So far no problems from Castilla. Didn't know they were so bad.

[EdensMom 8]

Ok, still bad service many years later ..... I cannot imagine how they are still in business. I beg everyone PLEASE DO NOT BUY FROM NOVENA FURNITURE.

I read the forums, and thought maybe they have improved. I wanted to hope so, as I saw the perfect couch and dinner set in the Novena Furniture store. I'd been looking in many places, and found nothing I liked, and then fell in love with things in this store. The price seemed good, the salesman very helpful, and quality looked great. I was silly and paid for the whole thing on credit card in advance, because I thought it would be easier.

Now today, it was supposed to be delivered. They gave me a window between 11am - 3pm. I confirmed with them yesterday, and they said yes that it would be delivered. So today I waited and waited and waited, and nothing came. I rang them, and couldn't get anyone who speaks English. The delivery man rang me at 3.00 to say he would come at 3.30. Seriously this is stupid! I paid $55 for delivery, and they have a four hour window for delivery, and still they cannot get it right. I complained, and no apology even. They wrecked my afternoon, and even what they delivered is different from the photo and what I saw in the showroom. I wanted to complain, but cannot as they guy just left it in my dining room, and he couldn't speak any English either, so what was the point?

Lessons: I was stupid to pay in advance. I was stupid to buy from Novena Furniture,. I should have read these forums and realised what a horrendous store it is, with bad customer service and lack of quality control.

[SamTheMan 7]

Good advice.