I'm from an Interior Design company myself and I would like to rant.. Recently, I have a client approaching me for renovation works for his dessert shop in Bukit Jalil.

Conversation started in early December and he claimed that he needed his shop opened by 2nd week of January. I told him it's a very tight timeline, as everything is from scratch.. shop location unconfirm.. No kitchen specialist plan.. No design plan.. Absolutely nothing, except he wants it to be a dessert shop, like one of the one in the market already.

Managed to convince him on a later timeline, but still very very tight timeline, and he agreed on it..

Slightly more than 1 week ago, he had his shop confirmed. I went to the site visit etc.. and he claimed that he has already confirmed us as his contractor for the ID and renovation works.

Things only went well after that, and he wants the 3D floorplan and design concept in a week's time and we sent the invoice of RM10,000 to him for the 3D floorplan service which will be discounted from his overall renovation cost. estimated to be RM200,000..

And because of his urgency, we started the construction of the 3D floorplan and detailed construction floorplan before we receive any payment, something we don't do anymore as we have many many experiences of job done, and the client took our 3D plans to competitor to quote.. Sigh...

Day 1.. he said okay will settle... Day 2... sorry bro, busy.. will settle... Day 3... tonight settle for you.. Day 4-8, totally ghosted... call no pick up.. text no reply.. while my team put on OT to complete on his job by this Wednesday..

Seriously... he wanna cari makan... we also wanna cari makan... why waste our time like this.. If don't want... say don't want la... As I'm sincerely align with his urgency, I'm currently in a limbo to proceed or not to proceed.

While I understand there are alot of bad practices in the industry, ID firms are being abused as well.. The closing rate for this industry is really really low as it is very competitive.. So we spend alot of effort for nothing..

It's like... I order cakes and drinks from you... then when bring them to my table, I already cabut and left the restaurant..

Lesson learnt again... Never give free services...

People do not value free services provided to them...

This thread is good at kopitiam .... sure many replies.

True man... It waste our already limited resources. I mean... if he can benefit from this.. Still fine.. but the thing is.. he totally ghosted without even receiving anything.. I rather be made use for his own benefits rather than this current predicament... Not like he has any grudge with us.

Haha.. Actually a few months back, there was a movement called ' Say No to free quotation ' in the ID industry. Because ID firms spend 1-2 weeks to prepare a floorplan and also the detailed quotation.. only for it to be turned down 90% of the time.. My designers and QS are so occupied with 'enquiries' that they don't have time to actually concentrate on the confirmed jobs.. Sigh.

Last time I ordered mee kari at a kopitiam in Brickfields. Ordered for extra fuchuk.

That fella yell back at me say why order slow slow.

I said sorry, and then quietly exited the kopitiam, went to the the kopitiam next few doors to eat zhap fan.

Do business what kind of customers also you will see.

1) Play at cybercafe, don't want pay first say bayar kemudian. Then later hilang
2) Call paintshop to mix a specific paint color "I sudah mau sampai, you goyang dulu". Then never show up


Just learn from the experience and do something about it next time to protect yourself

You're too desperate and got exploited. Tuition fees paid.

Maybe next time, when the client confirmed want your service, demand the 30% down payment for the mobilization cost. After the documentation completed, send another billing up to 90% before the release of the documentation.

If they don't want, just walk away.

There is one industry which is very strong & cooperative - lift & elevators. They are so strong that every one of them will demand down payment, client cannot do anything.

This post has been edited by nihility: Dec 27 2021, 05:44 PM

They get your demo and pass to their renovator as reference. This horror stories hear lot of time in malaysia. Best you could do is ask for deposit even with demo.

I also met some of these client, that time kinda naive cause still new to the industry, now straight draft 30% deposit and 90% payment on first work done with 1/4 of the actual size, if they didnt compile, then walk away.

Kinda sterotype, if that person drive mercedes 90% are these kind of client. Dont know why. Almost all i dealt with before except 1 are like these.

This post has been edited by RallyNight: Dec 27 2021, 06:01 PM

Maybe take small sum of deposit first before starting work next time. But all is not lost since you can still use what you've done as company portfolio to show other clients. Just change the shop logo and branding a bit.

Now my quote is 5 to 10% upon agreement of contract. Get this small amount first

This morning got one customer keep pestering to send her the outcome base on her request.

I just reply "Please place order. We will only process your request after you place an order."

No money no deal.

Cinaman company with no process. When you are so eager to please that's why you are taken for a ride.
It's not that hard to send the quotation and invoice to get it signed.
Now you are against your angry workers, with no money paid just because you were eager to please.

Learn your lesson and move on be smarter.
If Ur family is going to die also they won't help you, it's a dog eat dog world

With so many experience already still make rookie mistake. Most of them try to hook you to show first and if you do find other cheaper alternative to save as much as they can.

As a freelancer I don't give anything out before payment.

you should learn like how plumber works. Before i come the confirmation job to inspect is rm150. To fix or not is another price. Next trip is still rm150 plus the fixing work

Srsly there tons of such person out there. Need be extra careful.

Yea man... All is not lost.. Learn from experience. This is the real world..

Lol.. I see you are really negative.. But thanks for your advice. The world needs people like you. Kick you when you are down.. so you can learn to stand up faster.. Maybe thats what the politicians are teaching us now.. Don't help the rakyat.. so they can be more independent. Cheers

Just ask yourself why you did it?
Why did u pressure them to complete it?
And since you didn't get paid, you pressured them for no reason because it didn't bring income therefore no bonus/increase in salary/financial gain.

It's quite obvious you are a new horn eager to please.
That's why you are in this problem in the first place.
Those procedures in established companies are there for a reason which is to not have this problem. It will take longer but you don't have to face this problem of effort done, stress done, no money paid and wasted efforts.

So are you going to be the same the next time around or improve your process and push back to the clients and stand your ground.
Because if you as the boss does not stand your ground, and just keep pressuring the people below you to work based on clients unrealistic standards, then in the end you will lose talent by people constantly leaving, lose reputation news spread fast on how bad a company is especially in a niche industry, lose money and lose your own health for all the stress.

Else you will be opening a new topic to complain 2022 is rough i got scammed 3 times sad sad sad