Recently, we made a purchase on a study table which costs me around $1000 at Furniture Club in Park Mall. We also made a tentative order for a bookcase with this shop. As we were uncertain if these two items fit comfortably into our study room, we were hesitant to purchase immediately.

However, the sales person assured us that the order can be cancelled if our room is unable to accomodate the bookcase. Hence, we paid a deposit with the shop.

We called the shop on the same night we made this purchase and was told that the salesperson left as they were closed for the day. We waited patiently for the sales person to return our call and was upset that we were not allowed to cancel this order. The sales person was persistent in persuading us to retain our order on the bookcase by offering to customise according to our measurement.

However, we did not take up this offer as the offered price was not ideal. As we insisted on this cancellation, we were told off by the sales person that they will not be able to proceed despite bringing it to CASE. She also highlighted the non refundable condition stated in the invoice. We feel that this is an unfair trading and would like to know what protects consumers against purchases made under pushy sales tactic.

A highlight to all forum readers, please be careful if you happened to visit this shop!

The Sales person is wrong in saying CASE cannot do anything.

As a consumer you can try to settle it amicably through CASE or cause them problems by going straight to small claims.

The reason why sales people try to tell you that its no hope is that they are commission based people, it affects their pay packet. However if it was done unethically aka "pressure selling" then I think you have a cooling period.

Alternatively as a consumer, you can go with the flow of the sales and cry sour lemons later because most likely they will not be doing a good job. I doubt they will "customize" for you...

The best way is not to buy anything until you are sure you want something.

It is always good that you are posting online to let other consumers know which retailer is unscrupulous.

Why bother to pay deposit? It's not like the item will not be available after checking the dimensions in your room.

Protection from pushy sales people - simply rely on saying "No"