Loco Crazy

So the clients for that particular commercial project that I was blogging about a few days ago has submitted a pretty scathing review of their renovation experience and instead of targeting my colleague who had the unfortunate pleasure of being in-charge of the project,their review actually targeted the entire company, which was essentially carpet bombing EVERY designer in my company.



Needless to say, my boss isn't taking this review very well and has plans to send a cease and desist letter to them because their review is pretty much libel at this point. They wrote the review in point form, listing out all the issues they faced during the renovation and as I was looking through them, I can't help but feel like my colleague was painted in this horrible light and being completely maligned by them.




A lot of the points that were brought up by the clients were issues they brought upon themselves because they did not pay up in time, they did not follow my colleague's schedule, they failed to inform my colleague about changes they decided to make midway through the renovation, they focus so much on the bad things but conveniently left out all the goodwill discount my colleague gave them, the many times she closed one eye when they said they didn't have enough money to pay the installment but begged for the renovation works to proceed anyway, there were SO MANY things that were done as a favor for them during the renovation and this is how they choose repay my colleague.




Near the end of the renovation, my colleague was already starting to get really suspicious of the clients, they were clearly trying to squirm their way out of having the pay the final amount by trying to look for issues, and when they failed to find any that would actually stick, they resorted to the negative review detailing their extremely one sided experience. I was actually already expecting them to leave a bad review, so that did not really come as a huge shock to me, but I was not expecting this issue to potentially lead to a court case.




My company has responded to the review with a generic...

"We would like to apologize for your bad experience with us and will investigate into this matter."

... to which the clients actually wrote back with...

"Thanks for responding to our review, we hope you will investigate this matter and update us with your findings ASAP."

....this is probably what they are feeling like right now, all gleeful that their review was received loud and clear from our end, thinking that my company will try and "make things right" by offering them some form of compensation. But we are not and I am really looking forward to their reaction when they realize that my company isn't one to be trifled with.




I actually came across one blogger who also did something similar to the Interior Design company she hired, except hers was worst because she was documenting the entire process on her blog, it was like a series of reviews targeting the company and did not bother to censor the company name because in her head, I guess she thinks she is doing a favor for everyone by trying to warn others to avoid that particular company.




At first, most of her issues were valid, but as the renovation went on, she started to nitpick on every single thing, she would post pictures of her toilet tiles and complaint about them being scratched, but then there wouldn't be a single noticeable scratch found in the pictures, she also posted a picture of her newly installed window and called out the worker for not doing a good job because they did not peel off the protection sheet on the window panels. She could have literally done that herself in less than 10 seconds, but she chose not to and demanded the company to send their workers down to peel it for her.



The last post she shared about her renovation was about how angry she was that the company decided to respond to her myriad of negative post about them by sending her a lawyer letter, I mean what were you expecting? You wrote multiple blog post slandering the company's name and you think they won't bite back? A company's online reputation is extremely important in this day and age, unless they are in the wrong, no way they will just let this matter slide. I am not sure if the lawsuit happened or if she settled everything with the design firm behind the scenes, but she has since censored out the company's name in all her post and instead left a....

"PM me for the company's name."

...PLEASE! The company should be PM-ing everyone in the industry your name instead! If the Interior Designer is at fault, then any reputable company will fire that designer and try and settle the issue with the client privately, the fact that the company, which is a pretty reputable company from my own research, decided to side with their designer and send the client a lawyer's letter just goes to show who is actually the one giving the problem.

Tiler Problems

One of my sub-contractor is giving me so much issue for my project right now, it's really stressing me the fuck out.

This isn't about a job badly done but about how desperate he is trying to push for things to be done, despite me telling him multiple times that we can't proceed until a much later date.

This is like a couple getting ready to birth a new baby without knowing the gender, but then going all out and getting a bunch of girly accessories and clothes, and when friends and families tell them not to rush because they have no idea what the gender of the baby is, the couple's excuse is...

"But if we don't buy it now, then we will be spending the next 8 months being unproductive with the shopping of baby stuff. We know we are having a baby, so why not just buy all these items first?"

... STUPID!

This is what is happening with my site right, I have told the subcontractor multiple times not to proceed with the tiling works for the bedrooms and the living rooms first because I need the electrician in to run the wiring before they can lay their tiles. Every time after that very conversation, he will tell me...

"Okay, no problem, got it."

.... and then the very next morning, he will call me up and tell me...

"Can we just do the living and bedroom right now, since my guys are already there?"

... and when I have to explain to him AGAIN about why he can't, he goes...

"But I already sent all my guys down and they need to do something..."

... twice, I had to relay this to him twice, and he guilt trips me like it is my fucking fault he has selective hearing. I told him to concentrate on just a few areas first and he sends down enough guys to do the whole house, and somehow I am suppose to accommodate him? Fuck! My electrician on the other hand is very accommodating though and told me he will find an alternative to the running of wires, but this is completely ridiculous and I think I might actually have to resort to reprimanding the tiler. if he keeps insisting on doing things his way.

Then earlier today, he told me there wasn't enough tiles, that I had to order more, so I did and it will be delivered tomorrow. Normally when I order extra tiles, his workers are the ones who will go down and bring it up to the apartment and seeing how he has been sending an excessive amount of workers the past few days, probably not going to be an issue getting them to bring those extra tiles up, but then he sends me a voice memo going...

"Contact your other sub-contractor to bring those items up."

.... and I was confused, so I asked him why his workers couldn't do it, seeing how they have been doing it for all my past projects, and he goes...



"My guys don't have a push trolley, so it is not convenient for them to bring all the extra tiles up."



.... I was on site in the evening and I saw a fucking push trolley in the fucking house, luckily for me, I also happen to have taken a picture of the apartment before I left with the push trolley in it, so I send that picture to him, circled the fucking push trolley and just wrote under that picture...

"Isn't this a push trolley?"

... and he doesn't respond for the next 20 minutes, trying to concoct some sort of excuse, until finally, his voice message comes in and he goes....

"I won't be sending so many guys tomorrow, so I will be low on manpower and will need you to contact the other subcontractor to bring those tiles up for my guys."

... HOW VERY FUCKING CONVENIENT!




On the days I told him to not send so many guys up, he sends up a battalion of them, and on the day I need his manpower, he decides he will only send a few.



It's like he is trying to drown me in his bullshit, I am already desperately trying to tread water in that bullshit, to not drown, and he dumps even more on me.

I have used this tiler ever since I started working in this company and he is the default tiler everyone in my company automatically goes to when they have a new project, and even though his workmanship isn't the best, I can still close one eye and accept it, what drives me to use him continuously despite the declining workmanship is really his responsive, that to me is the most important factor, but lately I am really finding it really hard to close an eye and accept not only his declining workmanship, but also his constant need to find excuses to try and shirk responsibility for his poor workmanship.




When the Sly Fox issue came up, I told myself I wasn't going to give this tiler a chance anymore because his guy FUCKED UP really badly, but then another project came in and I went back to him out of habit and familiarity and I didn't really have any issues with those other projects that came after as well, so I thought of it as a one off thing, and that it was purely bad luck of Sly Fox's part, but with the way this current project is going, it's becoming extremely difficult to accept his standards anymore.




The ones who should be giving me problems and stressing me out are the homeowners, not the subcontractors, the subcontractors are suppose to be helping me alleviate the complaints the homeowners have, to lessen my stress, not add it in and make things worst.




For the next project, I really have to start reaching out to another tiler who has been receiving a lot of praises from my other colleagues who have made the switch. They have zero complaints about him despite him costing more, in fact, they are praising his workmanship and constantly asking me why I haven't switched yet, and well, it really is time to move on. My current one has gotten extremely complacent and needs to be taught a lesson.



I actually wanted to use the other tiler, but unfortunately he was already busy, but for the next project, I will make sure to book him in advance, even if I do end up earning less from the project, I really need to raise my standard for the tiler's workmanship.



UPDATE :


So the additional tiles were ordered today and I had to contact another sub-contractor, my hacker, to uplift those additional tiles.


My tiler told me yesterday he will contact the hacker on my behalf and update him on the uplifting for the additional tiles and since I was already having some trust issues with the tiler, I decided to personally contact the hacker this morning to double check. Lo and behold, he told me he wasn't inform about the uplifting nor was he contacted by my tiler.



The hacker was still very helpful though, despite the last minute request, he just told me to let him know what time the tiles will arrive and he will send his guys down to bring them up. I gave him the timing the tile supplier gave me, which was between 2pm to 3pm, fully expecting the hacker to send his workers down earliest at 4pm to help me bring everything up.



By 3pm, I got a call from the hacker asking me where all the tiles were because his guys were already there and they couldn't find any tiles, getting a bit worried at this point, I quickly called my tiler supplier contact to double check and she is pretty fucking useless, doesn't pick up the phone and didn't bother to reply the text message I send to her, so I directly called her company and they told me it will only arrive at 4pm due to traffic.



I then called my hacker and informs him about it and he told me to update him again when the tiles arrive.



I got to the jobsite at about 3.30pm and waited until about 4pm when I finally got a call from the tiles delivery guy, he told me he was there already, so as I was making my way over to the lobby where he told me he had placed all the tiles, I called my hacker up and told him the tiles were here, that he could send someone over now.




Here is the deal. My current project is a Private Condo, that means any tiles or building materials need to be left at the main gate outside the estate, I had requested for the tile supplier to leave the tiles INSIDE the estate because if I could get them brought up to the apartment on the same day, there won't be any issues and the Condo Management will close one eye.




My hacker was unfortunately not able to rush down in time because the management won't let any construction workers in after 5pm and it was already about 4.15pm when I finally contacted him again. I then told him I had specially requested for the tiles to be brought in because I was expecting him to be able to get everything up by today, he really couldn't make it, so he kept telling me he will come tomorrow instead and to leave the tiles outside the estate instead of inside.




I understand his predicament and also my request being a little too last minute for him, but when I contacted him, it was to inform him that the tiles were already delivered, not that it was in the process of getting delivered, what are you expecting me to do? Carry the tiles outside by myself?




I couldn't be bothered to reply to him and quickly made my way over to the lobby area and THANK GOD the tile supplier was still there, I could do two things at this point, either ask him to put the tiles outside the estate for me and have the hacker drop by tomorrow to uplift them, or I could simply uplift those items myself, there is the push trolley in the apartment and if there tiles aren't too many, I am sure it would be fine. I asked the tile delivery guy how many boxes there were, he told me about 10 and it sounded manageable, so I told him I will be bringing it up myself, he was nice enough to lend me his push trolley, puts all the tiles up and I was fully expecting him to deliver it with me to the apartment, but he leaves me at the lift and tells me that is as far as he will go, that once I was done, to bring the push trolley down.



The lift door opens, he pushes it in for me and I thought, great, this wasn't so difficult, press the level I was headed to and then got really worried because now, there isn't anyone to open the lift door for me when I am at the top, then the lift door opens and that was when the struggle began.




As I tried to push the trolley out, the lift doors kept closing and opening because I was outside the lift and the trolley was too low for the door sensors to work, and what made things worst was the fact that one of the wheels of the trolley got stuck between the gap of the lift opening, so that means not only was the lift door constantly opening and closing ,  I was also struggling to push the trolley out and also make sure I wasn't going to damage the lift doors. I literally wanted to scream out loud...

"HELP ME!"

... to get the tiler's worker's attention because they were in the apartment still doing their thing, but then decided not to because I didn't want to neighbors coming out, so as I was pushing the trolley out, I was starting to get really really pissed off at the whole situation that I just didn't give a fuck anymore and just really shaking the fucking trolley out with all my might until it finally got loose.




In my head, I was having a mini celebration, that I was able to do this myself, and also cursing at my tiler for being so fucking unhelpful and putting me in this situation because he was too lazy to ask his workers to help me.




I pushed the trolley towards the apartment, open the door and asked the worker who was doing the tiling work to help me get the tiles in, he immediately stopped what he was doing and started bringing them in, and as I was helping him move the tiles from the push trolley into the apartment, I noticed that something was not right, the lift door wasn't closing for some reason.



So I stopped what I was doing and had the worker just carry everything in himself, went into the lift and started pressing the "Close" button and it wouldn't close fully, it just closes 20% and then gets stuck.




FUCK!



Then I remembered one of my own colleague getting into a similar situation before with the lift door suddenly not working, which lead me to exclaim "Shit" out loud because my colleagues' condo management ending up requesting a few thousand dollars for compensation because for his case, the sensors were damaged and had to be completely replaced, luckily for him, he wasn't the one who damaged it, it was one of the sub-contractors who ended up forking out the money, but I am the one who damaged the lift doors, that means if there is any compensation, it will be coming from my commission, which would be horrible because it's fucking expensive and I don't think I am earning much from this project after all the cost absorption I have given to my clients.




I immediately called up my condo management office to report the lift door not closing and my biggest concern, aside from the potential compensation fee eating up my entire commission and then some, was how pissed off all the neighbors would get once they realize that the moron who has been disrupted their tranquility for the past 2 weeks has also damaged the fucking lift, the lady on the phone told me she will send a technician up and since the lift was not working, I ended up carrying the fucking push trolley down 6 flight of stairs to return to the delivery guy, who after realizing what had happened, could only laugh at my bad luck.



A little worried about the lift situation, I then headed to the management office in person and told them about the lift door, the lady then assured me that a technician has already been send down, so I went back to see if the technician was already there or not. I don't really know what happen afterwards because when I went up to my floor using the working lift, the damaged lift door actually got unstuck and closed on it's own, but it wouldn't move, so I ended up taking the flight of stairs down again and then realized that the lift had gone one level up. Not super sure what happened, I am hoping the technician was able to fix it and I don't have to pay any compensation for it, something I won't know until tomorrow I guess.




I blame my tiler for putting me in this situation. Not going to use him for my future projects anymore, he has put me under so much stress and also hugely inconvenience me today. I also found out that one of the worker he had send to do up my current project was the same guy who fucked up Sly Fox's place because of his horrible workmanship. I would very much like to ask my tiler to get someone else in, but then he probably won't listen because he gives zero shit at all, all he cares about is getting things done asap, which is why despite me telling him not to do the tiles for my living area, he has ignored my request and instructed his worker to do the exact opposite of what I told him not to do. I might have to bring this issue up to my boss very soon and have him do something about the tiler because this is honestly just unacceptable.

Soil Ha Ha

A few months ago, a couple walked into my company's showroom requesting for renovation works to be done to their space , at that time, because I was seated in the front of the showroom, I automatically up went to attend to them.



When I was informed that they wanted to renovate a commercial space, I immediately backed out and got my colleague to serve them instead, which she did and after an hour of consultation, my colleague walked them out and then came up to me and ask me if I was interested to come up with a design proposal for that commercial space since design wasn't really her strongest suite and also because she didn't have a lot of time to prepare the proposal. The idea of just coming up with the design and nothing else is pretty much my dream job, I hate the project coordination portion of Interior Design, so I agreed to her request under the condition that I will purely be in charge of the design aspect of it and that is it, she will handle all the nitty gritty renovation stuff.




I came up with a proposal within an hour and then passed it to her, the following week, she meets up with the clients, goes through the design proposal and they were very impress with the design, but they decided not to go forward with my company because they felt that the price was too high for them, so they told my colleague that they will be engaging another designer instead and that was that, the price my colleague prepared for them was pretty much non-negotiable because if you do not want a cookie cutter design, then be prepared to pay the price to achieve that look.




About a week after the rejection, surprise surprise, the clients actually messaged back and decided they wanted to engage my colleague after all, it was really out of the blue because the last time they messaged my colleague, they told her they will be engaging another Interior Designer, and then all of a sudden they are back again? We didn't think too much about it and were just happy that the project was clinched.




They were still a little tight on cash, so my original design was altered to fit their budget by my colleague and I really didn't like the final result because a lot of what made the space looked good in my opinion was removed, like a concrete wall that was meant to give texture to an otherwise flat looking space, and instead of painting all the walls with stripes like I had originally envisioned, only one wall was painted and the others were left stark white, which ended up making the place look half done and really cheap, but the clients didn't really have too much of an issue with it because for them, budget was more important than the overall aesthetics I guess, which also makes me wonder how bland were the designs proposed the other interior designers they visited.




The project finally starts and in my company, we have a very strict payment policy, the renovation itself can only commence once the client has paid 50% of the total renovation fees, this is a policy that is pretty much practiced by any legit Interior Design firms in Singapore, and after the owner has paid up 95% of the entire renovation fee, then we can do proceed to actually complete the entire renovation and really finish up the space. These clients told my colleague that they were tight on cash, so they can't make the 50% payment yet, but requested for the renovation works to start first because they had to make sure the place was done in time for them to operate 2 months later. My colleague took pity on them,so she proceeded to arrange all the renovation works with the contractors without informing our finance side.




At this stage, if the company found out about this, they will have the right to cease all the works and my colleague would have gotten into trouble, but fortunately for her, this wasn't brought to the company's attention until much later on when the client finally paid up, but it wasn't even 50%, they only paid about 30% and claimed that once their other shop closes, they will have the money to pay up.




This dragged on for a while and then when the carpentry was finally done and the clients were suppose to pay up to 95% of the renovation fee, same excuses again, that they still didn't have the money and couldn't pay up the full amount, so they just paid up to 80% and my colleague proceeded with the carpentry installation, once again out of pity and goodwill.




During this period, my colleague would reach out to the clients and ask them to pay up till the 95% because the company had found out about it and was already pressuring her , but the clients would come up with the same excuse, that they didn't have enough cash on hand and requested her to give them a bit more time,  and it was this constant back and forth until finally one day, the clients suddenly had a change of tune and decided to play the "workmanship is unacceptable" card and it is just fucking disgusting the way they were nitpicking on even the smallest issues.




First issue that they brought up to my colleague was about a power trip cause by bad electrical works.


1. Power Trip

According to them, when they turn on one of their mini fridges, it would short-circuit the entire shop, and they blamed it on the bad wiring done by the electricians. The problem is the shop's electrical works has already been approved by the shopping center management, there was zero issue during the inspection so there was no way it was due to bad wiring, all the power outlets were tested prior and it just didn't make any sense. The client even went and told my colleague that they got the "fridge" supplier down to inspect and the supplier told them it was due to the bad electrical works.




I told my colleague that it was pointless for her to solve the issue on her own, and it would be best to ask the clients to arrange a date for the electrician and the fridge supplier to meet, this way, the 2 experts can really determine what was actually causing the short circuit, and she did, but then a few days later, the clients suddenly said the supplier couldn't make it and they had to cancel the appointment with the electrician.


The electrician and the supplier never met, the shop is currently in operations, I am guessing that means the fridge is also working fine in order for the shop to be operational, and so far, there hasn't been any short circuit, the fridge issue has not been brought up since. My colleague and I then came to the conclusion that the "supplier" was completely made up, the clients didn't get anyone down to check their fridge, they were blatantly lying about being told that by the supplier that it was bad wiring.

Liar Liar

2. Bad Carpentry Workmanship.


After unsuccessfully finding fault with the electrical works, they decided to set their sights on finding issue with the carpentry work.



So for their place, what I had proposed in my design was to do suspended shelving that would act as tables, where customers could sit down and place their bags and drinks on, it wasn't meant to be a heavy duty table, and this was reiterated by my colleagues to them multiple times.


Nothing heavy was to be placed on the shelving tables because it is not meant to be used for heavy items. They went to put 2 safe deposit boxes on it.

2 SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES. 

And then they have the audacity to message my colleague and tell her that the shelving are bending due to poor workmanship, and then accuse my colleague that they weren't inform about not putting heavy items on it.


They then requested for the shelving to be removed, which I don't think they meant and was trying to force my colleague to settle with a monetary compensation instead, but then my colleague agreed to it and got the carpenter down to actually dismantle the shelving, so they no longer have the built in shelve cum table, which is great, except for the shameless fact that the client then requested for a refund for that shelving. 




Extremely disgusting individuals.




My colleague has since given up on this project and requested for another colleague to take over because she just couldn't handle the clients anymore and as far as I am aware, that other colleague is also currently going through the same shit as her, with new issues being brought up and the best fucking line the clients said to that other colleague was...

"I don't know what I did to deserve this from you guys, I don't think we have underpaid you for the renovation works."

FUCK YOU! You only paid 80% when you are suppose to have paid 95%! THAT IS UNDERPAYING! And then the earlier sentence about being undeserving of going through their current predicament.

This perfectly describes the current predicament they are going through.




It is just really disgusting how ungrateful these 2 clients are, after all the help my colleague offered them, the discounts she ended up giving, starting the renovation work before they have made the proper payment to ensure they can operate their business in time, this is how they show their gratitude.



2 Fucking Ingrates.

Right now, everyone who is aware of this 2 pieces of shit at work are theorizing that they are stirring up all this shitstorm to void their final 20% payment and also to get even more refund.

GROSS!

Before starting the renovation, I was still joking with my colleague that we should be getting special discounts whenever we get drinks from the shop, but looking at the current state of the working relationship, fuck no am I ever going to support their business.