Blackjack Royal Studio Pte Ltd

[Agnes B 0]

Hired Blackjack Royal Studio Pte Ltd (7 Gambas Crescent) to renovate my kitchen after checking their online reviews. Went to their showroom which looked impressive with professional and modern look and people started off sound nice, positive, and promising. However, these are just their public façade.

After first down payment and actual measurement taken by Blackjack Royal, I went down to the site expecting to see and hear more detailed and vivid plan but ended up having to visualize heir simple skeletal drawing (ie pencil outline) and listening to some of their vague ideas.  Claiming that his Apple Computer cannot do 3-D design and he would need to send it to professional ID for detailed drawing which he would send us after design is completed. However, there was no news from them for weeks. Thus, reminders to Blackjack Royal was initiated and guessed what Blackjack sent to me via whatsapp! Someone else’s design layout (photoshop). When I pointed out that the kitchen wasn’t mine. Blackjack Royal responded was it is similar anyway and no different from my current design so the second image was the original design done by my first contractor.

Note: If you are getting home renovation soon, my advice for you was to read their terms and conditions carefully (especially the retention payment) and look out for hidden charges written vaguely in the quotation. Ideally, get an experienced person to help you to go through the itemized cost.

Subsequent nightmares and encounters:

a)       I was charged for few hundred dollars for 2 sessions of cleaning with chemical wash. After the kitchen furniture was dismantled, it was left filthy with marks, stains and plaster dangling on the wall etc. After weeks, there was no sight of cleaning arrangement and with 2 carpenters standing right at my doorstep to install cabinets, I was left with no choice but to take on the cleaning job using my own household chemical (upon clarification, Blackjack Royal responded that they only do it once at the end of the job and started making excuse). Realized that, there would be delayed because of cleaning in progress by homeowner, one of the carpenters just left citing that he had a lot of work in hand and could not afford to waste his time waiting. The situation was aggravated further with a sudden appearance of more people from the carpentry company came on the second day, not to fix cabinets but to clear their stuff hurriedly away and at the same time discarding my NEW sink plumbing fixtures (sink parts) and leaving one cabinet door misalignment.  I was left stunned and shocked standing in the kitchen looking at the emptiness and the sawdust all over the place. I know I have to clear up the mess left behind by the carpentry company (Did I have the choice?) and so I picked up my broom and dustpan and started sweeping and cleaning up which took me an hour.

b)      The next job arranged by Blackjack Royal sent me another panic attack when the plumber who came to fix the sink pipes wanted to charge me for second trip as they won’t want to wait long for me to go down to the original shop which I bought the whole set of sink (btw, this was supposed to be part of the renovation package and the missing plumbing fixtures discarded by the carpentry company was discovered only the plumber came for his job).  Given no choice and Blackjack was unresponsive, I had to rush out to a nearby hardware shop to buy. Sadly, Blackjack disregarded the issue.

c)       Throughout the whole process, there was no actual cleaning taken place and the kitchen was cleaned up by me using my very own cleaning equipment - broom, vacuum cleaner, mop and microfiber cloth etc.

d)      With measurement taken by Blackjack Royal Studio and again by the carpentry company and another supplier who did marble counter before the commencement of work, there was no mentioned that there would be additional charges but towards the end I was billed extra for the ‘Extra Length’ (Oh my god!! My HDB 4-Room kitchen in a new estate is so small and where the extra length came from?)  and cited that the quotation was a standard package.

e)      There was also some damage done to the ceiling after dismantling of the cabinet and nothing was done.

Despite that our prompt effort to oversee the progress of the work and keeping up with my payment, Blackjack Royal barely coordinates and have no schedule. End up homeowner being the standing in as project manager, coordinating, correcting their errors, paying more for their mistakes and tolerating their sluggish attitude.  

I regret not going back to my first contractor (Older Man) who is more reliable and experience. Though he is Chinese educated and his quotation was all written in Chinese, he made an effort to go through the quotation with me several times to ensure that I understood the cost and payment stages. He also appeared regularly to supervise the progress of the work.

Warning: Do not to go to Blackjack Royal Studio as their charges and quality of work have been compromised. They barely coordinate and have no schedule. The only time that Blackjack turned up at the void deck of my HDB was to collect payment.