Hi there, I'm a first time home owner and home renovations will be completed in 2-3 weeks' time. [and it's my maiden post on Renotalk!! Hello!!] As it was quite a last minute shopping trip, I only went to a few places to shop for my lights - LiteFusion recommended by my ID, Chan Huat, Thomson Lighting and Strass Lighting (and another place in Balestier - opposite the SG Pools but I forgot the name).
Ended up buying from Strass as this was the place that gave me the best quote (and I like their lights too). Paid a deposit. Didn't think too much about online research until after I got home. Maybe it was because the price was way too cheap that made me feel like it was too good to be true. Ugh!! But I found out from renotalk forum that this shop (same owner/mgmt as Palace of Lights) was very jia lat!! After sales service bad, light quality not good, this fuse that break, bulbs that emit weird sizzling sounds etc. OMG... So I was very gan jiong and immediately called to cancel my order. That was a very tedious process and I encountered first hand what fellow forumers say is lousy service from the (supposed) boss - Mr. Aw. His attitude was horrible and I really didnt want to talk to him at all. The sales person who served me - MING, was a nice guy and helped me to settle the issue eventually. Of course, I didn't get my deposit back. I just took some lights that amounted to the value of the deposit.
After doing my online research, I went to buy my remaining lights at Lights Arcade. The reviews are raving good (but I'm not sure if it's overrated). When I went in, I already knew what I was looking out for - having been almost "scammed" at the previous shop and reading so much from fellow forumers, and of course, having compared prices at other shops. Just picked out the downlights, cove lights, basic hamburger toilet, kitchen, balcony lights and 1 room's lights. (The dining and MBR lights I already bought them from Strass Lighting.) Price at Lights Arcade is definitely not the cheapest, but I suppose it's the premium that I have to pay for quality? They use only Atco (Aussie brand) ballasts for the downlights and mostly Phillips / Osram / energy saving bulbs. To me, I felt that long term savings on my electricity bills are important so I didn't mind paying slightly more upfront; and I also didn't fancy the idea of having post installation problems. Reno itself is already a lot of work and there's no need to give myself another headache after that. Haha.. --- 1 boo boo though. The delivery was late. And they missed sending 1 item. I went to collect it myself since I was in a hurry. Oh, and they don't have really fancy / pretty designs compared to other shops.
Anyway, when the Strass lights arrived, I made sure I doubly triply quadraply checked them since they are reputed to have poor after sales service. Didn't want to have any trouble changing the bulbs / parts after delivery. The lights turned out to be ok!!! Pretty and nice. And I checked the bulbs. Was so worried that they would used some high energy consumption conventional Candescent bulbs (hot & uses a lot of energy) but NO! They actually use Liyoda bulbs - and I checked. They are energy saving bulbs. So the sales person didn't lie and give me sub-quality products.
In the end, I felt like I was overly anxious for nothing (the part where i canceled my order, bought from another shop instead, and worried about the lights until they arrived). CHEY!!!
Sorry for the very long post. In short, just want to say. Do your research well, and if you know exactly what you want (bulbs, ballasts, brand, design of lights) and have done your price comparisons... honestly, I think there's no harm buying from Strass even though they are badly reputed in the forums. After sales service, I really have no idea how terrible they can be. My (hanging) lights will be installed next week. Fingers crossed!!! Please light up!!!! The other lights have been installed. Hanging lights still pending because carpentry is not done, don't want the hanging lights to be "knocked" accidentally. Kiasu.. Heh.
By the way, I really find Strass lightings has some nicer designs for hanging lights. Downlights quality doesn't seem as good as Lights Arcade (they are selling at $10 cheaper than other shops!! That's too good to be true I feel!). Other basic lights - hamburger / ceiling lights with normal design, I think quite safe to buy from Strass at a cheaper price bah...??
**disclaimer: I really haven't installed my lights so it's too early for me to review their lights' quality. If you can wait, perhaps wait for me to install the lights and give another review before buying? ..**
Hope this helps.
