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ahpoohbear

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Posts posted by ahpoohbear

  1. Posted

    Hi everyone,

    Would also like to share my experience with Species Home Funishings. It is a long story so please bear with me. I went to their Harper Road branch in August and was served by their Managing Director, Leslie. He is very persuasive and even though I was just browsing around for my furniture, I ended up buying a leather sofa, carpet, dining set, tv console and coffee table. Leslie said he is giving me a special package price of $6150(before GST) which of course made me very happy and concluded the sale.

    I was unable to confirm the delivery date yet as my house was still under renovation and was advised to park an estimated date of delivery 1st. If there is a need to change the date, just call their customer service to make arrangement 2 weeks in advance. I was quite satisfied with the good deal that I got as the furniture was really what I liked, until I read all the reviews about Species here. It got me abit worried about quality of the furniture and aftersales service of the company seems quite bad.

    Then when I went to another furniture place to purchase my bedframes, I saw the same tv console & coffee table selling at 2/3 of the featured price in Species. Both the console and coffee table are modular designs, which means that it is made up of 2 separate sections. Species sells each section individually so for the TV console, it cost about $1150(before GST) but the furniture place I went to sells the whole console for $750(no GST).

    I did a calculation and even with the package price, it didn't seem a worthwhile deal. I felt so cheated but I guess there is noone to blame but myself for being impulsive and not doing my homework 1st. Willing seller, willing buyer.

    What makes me upset is that more than 2 weeks before the delivery, I called their customer service to bring my delivery date forward, I was advised that it cannot be done as their delivery dates are all full. No bringing forward or postponing. She even said that the sales side can promise whatever they want but it does not mean it can be done cause sales side don't know the delivery schedule. Then I asked what time the delivery will be as I needed a time range so I can arrange for someone to receive the furniture. She said don't know yet and they will call me the day before to inform.

    My delivery is scheduled for tomorrow so I made a call to Species this morning since I did not hear from them. I was advised that the delivery will be between 12-1pm and I got their assurance that there will be no change to the timing. Who knows, this afternoon, I received another call from the "supplier" of Species and caller told me the tv console, coffee table and dining table will be delivered between 11am-12pm. I ask about the sofa and carpet but caller says she don't know as she is not from Species. Then I said Species confirmed delivery time to be 12-1pm and she repeated that she is not from Species so they have their own delivery timing. So now there are 2 deliveries to be expected.

    Pricing aside, as a consumer, all I know is that I bought my furniture from Species and hence, I expect a certain level of customer service from them, rather than having to hear customer service telling me that the sales side don't understand the difficulties of the operation side or liaising with different suppliers on delivery timing.

    I am very disappointed with the whole experience and will not buy anything from Species again. Now all I hope is that the deliveries are made during the said timing and furniture is in good condition so I can at least come back and post something positive.

    i got the same delivery issue with u! and they expect me as the customer to give them a call and asked for timing. and worst, just two items only but they got two delivery timing. worst of all - they only informed me about the coffee table, only when my mum asked the delivery guy where is the sofa, the delivery man said is not under his delivery. called them back and the staff got the cheek to tell me: oh ya your sofa will be delivered later. i got so pissed off, what do you mean by later???? in the first place they never inform me that these two items have separate delivery time..and me as the paying customer has to keep on calling them to check when is the delivery time!

    i wonder what kind of delivery service they have. and with such a high price, im paying, im expecting a better service + quality. apparently, it does not seem to be the case. I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO SPECIES ANYMORE!! and of course WILL NOT recommend friends!! they can say BYE BYE to me as their customer forever..haha..

  3. Posted

    i have a bad experience with species too. first of all, the delivery is giving me a big headache!!

    1. arranged the delivery to be on monday (stupid shop, they never do delivery on a sat!!). but by sat they still never call up and confirm the timing. i had to give them a call and asked. in the end, the lady said - sorry we can't deliver the sofa to you on monday, due to delivery van sent for service. however i can deliver the coffee table to u first. hey come on, i need to trouble my mum to stand by and wait for the furniture, does that mean she has to go down twice?? i insisted NO. then the lady said - just try to give in, in the end you happy i happy then everyone happy. well i never say im HAPPY!! after a firm NO and ding dong here and there, finally she called up and said okie, delivery by monday.

    2. monday came..and do you know stupid species delivery works?? me as the customer still hv to call them up on monday to confirm on the timing!!!!!! and the lady said: oops sorry, i check for you now. is a busy day for us, so might hv missed out...wah piangz..what is this??? called her at 10am, returned call at 10.15am and told me the delivery man will be there at 11am!!!???? what is this?????? is she expecting us to be at home whole day????? already told her i need to arrange someone to be at home!!!!! so no choice, mum rushed down but delivery was early, they are there at abt 10.45am. luckily mum is able to reach there within such a short time and open the door.

    3. another shock - the delivery man said - oh im only delivering the coffee table, your sofa, im not sure, maybe someone else. i was like huh????????? what rubbish again???? fed up, called them up and checked. then the lady told me - oh sorry, coffee table will be delivered at 11am but let me check for u on the sofa. im getting super pissed now. what kind of arrangement they have????? called me back and said - delivery for the sofa will be at 12 noon. i told her u better make sure it comes at noon time.

    4. coffee table another problem - a lot of uneven surface! and when called up to complain, she said got to call up supplier directly. what is this???? im buying from you, u should help me to settle..now has become my job to settle with your supplier?????? few days later called back and said this week, there will have new stocks and we can ask for an exchange. direct from supplier should be okie. meaning what?? the one i hv right now in my house is from warehouse? or those rejected goods from other customers???????? and she stupidly can tell me - oh if you like the one show in the show room so much, i can arrange to exchange for u. come on, im not paying peanuts for the coffee table, y do i need to get a coffee table from the showroom??

    their furniture price is considered the highest but the service and quality sucks. im paying about 2.4k for both coffee table and sofa and this is the kind of stress and furniture i'm getting!! i would expect good quality and good service from the high price that im paying. a lot of my friends commented that the sofa is on the high side...if im getting good service, i don't mind paying, but with such service, I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM ANYMORE. and yes, their sales ppl are super pushy! what's done cannot be undone, lesson learnt - never ever go to SPECIES!!

  4. Posted

    has been to these three IDs..and these are my personal opinions about them.

    Chew Design

    met Mr A during their road show in HDB. a nice and friendly guy and is able to give good ideas on design. first he told us that he will be able to give us a 2D drawing after one week. however, after two weeks, there was still no news. gave him a call and he said he was waiting for us to confirm on the fengshui. i was like huh? ..but never mind, we sat down and discussed. but the price they quoted is way above our budget. so we told him we shall discuss again. that was in feb and till now, we never heard from him again. conclusion: they only bother to do "high budget" business. no follow up. although i like their design but too bad, their service sucks. and had to bargain a fair bit before he's willing to reduce few hundreds $$. still the price he quoted is way too high.

    Unimax

    was drawn to their promise, indicating that they are able to provide 3D drawing even though never sign contract with them. so happily went down, met up with J (interior designer) and told him what i wanted. he said he's busy and wont be able to provide a 3D design so soon. but he promised to provide a 2D drawing instead. within a week, he provided a 2D drawing and quotation (but using pencil to draw on a paper, scan and email). went down to discuss with him. in fact, during the first meet up, i've already informed him that i only have this budget and asked him not to go beyond this budget. well, he came back with a quotation that is 5k above my budget and was in fact more than Chew Design!! got a bit angry because i've specifically told him my budget and he said it shouldn't go beyond my budget during the first meet up. anyway, he's willing to give some discount but..on the expenses of my design. he said: featured wall, make it smaller so i can give u this xxx price. forgo this bay window and i can further discount this xxx price. or maybe you can consider having this length of bay window and that will cut down the final cost. what is this????? i mean i want my house to be designed in this way, with this budget and was hoping you can give me a good discount on the price but NOT discount on my DESIGN. ridiculous!! conclusion: yes, will give discount but at the expenses of your home design.

    *

    this is the first ID i went to. roughly told him what kind of design i want and the ID (Max) is very professional. within days, he was able to come up with 2D drawing and quotation. that was in jan and i was still looking around for ID at that point of time. every now and then he will follow up with a call and checked if any ID has been selected. in fact, he has been constantly following up since Jan till now. sometimes find him such a pain..hahaha...but at least he bothered.

    so finally met up with him again this month, because i have made some changes to the design. he gave a final quote but ... my friend has recommended me a contractor and of course the price is definitely cheaper when you compared between an ID and contractor. but he was persistent and is willing to discuss on the quote. he has given us..i would say, a reasonable quote and cheaper as compared with Chew Design and Unimax. too bad, i wanted to save more for my furnishings and final decision is to go for the contractor. at the last meet up, he's even willing to lower to the same price that my contractor has quoted me! however, i was drawn towards the contractor because of all the freebies that he's giving. although the contractor told me he is not able to give him any 3D drawing, but i don't mind, because of the savings and freebies. conclusion: highly recommended for his good customer service. you may request him to bring you to a house that was under reno or completed reno to look at their workmanship.

    Max is a very responsible ID to look for (if you are going to use NW). he's very responsible and is able to deliver what he promised within the specified days. for eg, if he said he's going to give u a quote within 2 days, you can be reassured that you will receive his call within 2 days. he is very responsive and answers his calls or sms almost immediately.

    ~ the end ~

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