Holiday can really corrode one’s mind and body. My plan to keep fit (lose 1kg every week) is going down the drain. Last week was a failure and I am really getting tired to travel to the swimming pool to swim 30min.
Before getting to the topic, I am glad that we have selected Artrend because they are really flexible on our design changes; and our designer, Zhi Qi is very approachable, patient, responsible and responsive.
(Just in case you are planning to see her for your home design, do not let her innocent look trick you into thinking she is not experienced)
Purchasing.
Since we have little cash left after the initial payment to Artrend and the down payment to HDB, we put in lots of effort in getting the best furniture within our budget:
Rule #1: The first step is important
Like many other things, “The First Time” is important. Normal civilian, like us, do not know what is the normal price of a piece of furniture. And usually parents tend to mark-down the price on their purchases to “ensure” that you don’t pay that much and mostly, those prices were 10 years old.
After our initial “failures” in purchasing the first few pieces of our furniture, we concluded that the best pricing bench mark comes from those LoKok furniture shops in the old neighborhood and internet furniture sites with prices listed. Of course, this only applies if you are not going for those high end Italian furniture. For us, we go for the cheaper China made “mass-production” aka. Replica-model.
Furniture expo: Nope, their price is not cheap at all for a normal piece of furniture.
IKEA: Nope, their price is for those non-lasting compress wood furniture and they have designers to pay for
Parents: May be out-dated. And it is always best to do your homework yourself.
Balestier and Kallang: Nope, I happen to find out some of the shops with different names actually belong to the same owner. So pricing there is extremely “tricky”. I picture them as a fish net and the fisherman basically know that you, fishes, are here to get the bait.
Neighborhood shop: Yes, and since it is in a neighborhood, they aim for return customer and will not “cut your throat”
Internet Furniture Shop: Yes, since they have listed their price, they are confident that it is competitive and their price is the bait. (Just call them up and make sure the quality is there or look at the forums. Make sure you are comparing apple to apple)
Rule #2: Be Patient, Be Very Patient!
Do not rush to buy your furniture. Do not believe the sales when they said that it is the last piece or it is going fast with limited stock.
Most of the local suppliers made furniture by purchase orders so there is always “stock”. (However, if you are buying imported ones, there may be a stock limit)
And if he is offering a discount, he will still offer the same discount after the sale period. (This is because if he is willing to let go that part of margin today, the margin will still be enough for him to sacrifice on any other day)
The point is: Always give yourself a cool-down period before signing. The sales, of course, will want you to do the opposite.
Rule #3: The timing is also important
When you are sure that the piece is what you really want and you have already a good grasp of the cost, you should choose a good timing to go to the shop to make the purchase.
Pick a timing when there will be min number of customers at the shop and when the shop will most likely to have no sale for the day.
There are 2 reasons:
If there are not much people in the shop, you can negotiate for longer and has more attention span from the sale. More importantly, I find that when there is no customer around, the sales will not worry that other customers will “monkey see monkey do”
Secondly, if the day you went to the shop is one that has very less sale, the sales will be more willing to cut price for you to pump up the sale quantity of the day. It will also be better if you are the first customer of the day; Chinese believes that the first deal of the day will “start the ball rolling”. So he will be willing to throw in more discount to make you “start the ball rolling”
I tried (on Wed Morning) and got my coffee table $170 cheaper.
Rule #4: Must know the rules of CASE
CASE stands for Consumer Association of Singapore. The reason I wrote this is because I have a very unpleasant experience with X’clusive Home. I would not blame the company but rather the sales.
It is important that you read through the notes in the CASE website before you go off to complain at the shop. This is important because you need to make sure you didn’t make the mistake and confirm the fault is with the seller. That way, you know how strong a negotiation power you have.
For my case, lucky that when I bought the piece, I had point to the piece and asked, “how much is THIS?” and had taken a photograph. This is extremely important because unless the sales has specifically inform you that the price he gave you had less options, he had to sell you the one that you have specify at the price he gave you. For instance, if you have asked for the price of a merchandise with all the options, and the sales quoted you a price with no option but had failed to inform you, he has to sell you the one with all the options at the quoted price once the purchased is signed. (This means that he has to tell you before you sign the purchase order, otherwise, he has misled you to making the purchase.)
So know the rules of the game, before going down to argue.
In the end, I saved even more because now I have all the options.
OUR COFFEE TABLE
DINNING TABLE
OUR SIMMONS BACKCARE SERIES =P
OUR SOFA - TOFU
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