The Local INN.terior

I have a rather unsatisfactory experience with The Local Inn.terior. Instead of rambling on about my frustrations with them, I will list out some points why I would NOT recommend anyone to use them. I work with Jade Cham, an inexperienced young ID who seems to be very trustworthy in the beginning until things didn’t work well.

The outcome of their work is ok, BUT…

Whenever problem arises, ID’s first reaction is to push blame. “Is it HDB”, “it’s the workers”, “others lied to me so I didn’t know”, etc. Then it becomes my job to prove to her whose fault it is. To me, you are the ID and project manager I hired, settle it.

Doesn’t listen to you when you asked them to do “preventive” works – e.g. put on vanguard boards to protect the doors, lay out vanguard to protect the floors although no works is to be done for the room yet. In the end, one of my doors got scratched, then come and tell you they will polish my doors for free out of goodwill. What goodwill is that?

Then when ID is incapable of reasoning, I am pushed to their “management”, which turns out to be more frustrating than the ID. Basically, communication is “I speak, you don’t speak” mode. He always wants to have the last say and controls the conversation. When speaking of my frustrations, he basically said renovation work is never perfect, it depends on many factors such as efficiency of workers and correspondences with HDB (which to him is inefficient), etc. So in the end, you are very much manipulated by him, with him pushing responsibilities to everything else except himself/his ID. Worse still, he was backed by a ridiculously one-sided contract. I have to admit it’s my fault I didn’t take the contract very seriously in the first place – coz ID seems trustworthy! Thus, I never thought things could turn bad. Do note, you would only be given the T&C upon final negotiations. I would advise anyone to NOT sign and take the T&C back to read and sit on it for a few days. Better still, ask for T&C when asking for quotation.

They only tell you there’s a warranty card AFTER all your payments. The date is fixed by them. I wouldn’t even know there is a warranty card until I asked. Imagine I didn’t ask and the hassle I may need to go through if there’s a problem in the future!

Attached is the highlighted areas, which I believe in the event you are dissatisfied with their service, there is no way you can get your money back. And they would sue you without qualms coz you are suppose to bear their legal costs!

At the end of the day, I can still live with the ID, there are good times we have together too, but I can never trust that she will get things right the first time, and I need to go in to “help” her in any rectification works. So, I could never quite get a peace of mind when working with her. But the worst nightmare is the management and the contract terms. For those who had good experience with their IDs, good for you, coz there is no reason for you to experience the bad side of things. But I do think home owners should engage a company that can ensure things will be settled fairly upon any problems.

Workmanship

There are many rectification works they do and do again. E.g. ID didn’t monitor workers to check the pipes before installation of mortar base, which covered all the pipes, and thus the sink got choked when it was installed. I have to prove to them it is their fault and the problem lies within the mortar base before they are willing to rectify it. Another is painting, which I have to take pictures of areas to redo. ID showed painter the pictures ONLY, without further checking herself, and expect him to remember 20+ pictures. ID did not show up at the end of the day to check painter’s work. I got to check again and ask for touchup AGAIN. Windows installation was late, even after much chasing from us, AND workers got the wrong measurement, which means they need to come back again… just to quote a few. Home owners, you have to understand that your presence is often required during these rectifications coz you really don’t trust them to do a good job anymore since it just seems impossible for them to get it right. There goes your time and energy wasted on someone who does not uphold detailed workmanship and close supervision.

Poor supervision work – lost an item after workers cleaned up my place, never did a co-check of defects with me, never bothered to look at details of defects and just reacted when there is complain from my side.

Service

Poor project management – there is no schedule given to me, I don’t even know which work comes after what, and when I need to make decisions on paint color, lightings, etc. When asked, she said her company does not have the protocol to give work schedules. But as a client, I am asking for one! (Now you see the way they handle professional responsibilities). Do note that when there isn’t a black and white schedule, each delay becomes no-one fault. I got a dateline from my carpenter, a dateline which was spelt out to her 1 month ago. In the end, everyone is rushing her – both me and my carpenter are rushing her 2 weeks before, and again 1 week before, but she does not listen! She believes there is still time for all the works to be done before carpentry until her electrician and painter told her they cannot fit her time schedule! In the end, I didn’t get painting behind my carpentry works.