Icon Interior Design Pte Ltd

All home owners out there,

Just a warning NEVER to engage ICON INTERIOR DESIGN as your ID firm. I wished someone had told me about it before.
They said it will take 6-8 WEEKS to renovate my HDB flat, but instead, they took 6-8 MONTHS and the renovation is YET to be completed!!!
Have you heard of any ID FIRM (take note, not contractor some more, but ID FIRM) which takes 8 MONTHS to renovate a HDB flat??? It’s a JOKE in the industry!! I have spoken to other players in the industry, and you can BUILD A NEW HOUSE in 8 MONTHS! I can renovate my flat 4 TIMES in 8 MONTHS!! Now I finally understand why the blogger Xiaxue’s home (Icon was the ID) took 2 years to renovate!

Project management skills is NON-EXISTENT. I had to manage the timeline and remind them of every milestone. And they will delay wherever they can – only when you chase, then they will come out with loads of excuses saying why it cannot be done, or that it is not agreed before!!?? Even coming up with a quotation takes chasing and chasing to happen. Everyone has been fed up with them – my bankers, their contractors. Everytime you ask them for ANYTHING, it’s always “later today”, but the “today” may take weeks or months to happen.

I am losing rental for the 6 MONTHS delay, and I have to pay interest to the banks on both flats, but they are refusing to compensate me even rental loss for the delay. The original project manager was called Glenn Ng (the so-called Chief Designer). The boss Wayne Chan finally took over, but all he was concerned about is to take more money from you, claiming that this and that has not been agreed upon; even things that he just agreed personally, he will go back on his word without batting an eyelid.

It’s a horrendous experience having Icon Interior Design as my ID, and I would not have wished it upon any home owner out there.

My husband’s colleague introduced us to this company. We chose this company out of 3 that we shortlisted. Max and Skyii tended to us. As Max seems to know what we want, we trust that he will be able to deliver. I like the overall design, done in a classical modern English theme, I believe not all designers can accomplish that. He knows his subject matter well. Customer service is good, they are always contactable, if there are problems they send people down to take a look quickly. They’re very patient people to work with, contributing a fair bit of ideas and advice to facilitate our decision-making. A year after moving in, the hinges on the cabinet got rusty, and it was fixed within a reasonable waiting period.

We made this choice from 4 designers. Max is someone with impressive product knowledge, that brings me confidence in handing over the project to him, it feels different from other designers. I like the whole combination about my house, how they mix and match. He shared knowledge on how to fully utilize the space in areas such as the kitchen. I really like how they make an HDB look clean by hiding the trunking. As for after-sales service, we needed help with touchup on the paintwork, and the drawers were a little tight. They fixed it within a week.

I found this company online, and picked them out of 3. Winnie was able to suit our needs, and change the design according to our input. She would take our idea make something out of it. The other designers would simply give an idea and stop at that. I particularly like the TV console that features a rotating panel. It allows us to watch TV from the open kitchen to the living room. Customer service from Winnie is good, we had 3 rounds of checks before handover was completed. We needed some touch-up when some paintwork started cracking a month and a half after moving in. They came down to plaster and repaint the area within a reasonable timeframe.

Icon Interior Design was engaged to do renovation works to an executive masionette at (my address). The renovation was completed in September 2012. In less than a year, water seepage was found on the false ceiling of the dining area on the ground floor. Water was leaking from the common toilet just above the affected area.

Icon was first contacted in August 2013 to look into the leakage, i.e. determining the cause and carry out the necessary rectification. However, over the course of more than 3 months, the following were noted:

1. Icon has failed to take responsibility for the defect. It has been a push-the-blame process. An example would be claiming
that the defect was due to the aircon piping.

2. There were frequent changes of appointments and often at the last minute. Excuses given include the contractor’s van
has broken down.

3. Icon was not able to provide satisfactory follow-up, i.e. to determine the cause of the leakage and carry out rectification
work. (Till the day of hearing, the findings were still inconclusive)

4. Did not respond to the 2-week deadline given after a letter was issued by Consumer Association of Singapore (C.A.S.E) was
delivered.

Icon has been informed of the possible actions that I will be taking, which includes engaging a 3rd party to do the rectification work and all charges will be claimed against Icon. I have asked for quotations from (name of a 3rd party contractor).

On 10 December 2013, I have requested for Icon to reimburse a sum of $17387.45, so that rectification work can commence. Icon has initially intended to reimburse by claiming against its sub-contractor. Failing to do so, Icon has refused to reimburse me the amount and thus missing the 2-week deadline set by C.A.S.E.

On 13 January 2014, a letter of demand was issued to Icon by (name of a law firm), giving Icon one week to respond, Again Icon did not respond, neither to the letter issued by C.A.S.E or the letter of demand.