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Be warned: never buy air con from G@1n C1ty


Jkcs
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Fellow forummers:

 

If u are think of buying anything from this shop esp aircon and also especially now when they have their expo sale. my advice is "forget abt it, buy elsewhere to save the unnecessary headache".

 

My sad story (I am not a good writer and I make it short and sweet and also I am not trying to make people sympathize me) started the day when their installer came to my new flat to install the unit. See pic on their "superb" work done. My request on the work can be done as it is not limited by the building design.

 

Upon seeing this, I questioned the installer, he told me it was done according to my reno contractor's idea. I am not sure what was the instruction given to him so I won't go indepth on this esp when both parties will claim they are correct.

 

the installer being an specialist in the aircon industry, should know how ugly the end result would be yet he proceeded. Doesn't he know that we human want is beauty? so I asked him to rework, he replied not possible as the job is completed.

 

I angry and lost so I called the Salesperson. this is what he told me, not the actual transcript but the content is real.

 

me: the way the installer run the trunking is horrible, I want a rework

sales: there is a charge incurred for all rework.

me: har? but this is something unacceptable (mms-ed him the photo of the work)

sales: once job is completed, it is completed. any rework, it is chargeable. our installer will not go wrong, he did what he was told. as an owner, u must be there to supervise the work, if not your contractor must be present..

me and sales keep on arguing... blah...blah...

 

sounds stupid that I need to be present all the time when the work is done by "specialist". Supervising the "specialist" is an insult to them. had I known, I rather "insult" them than to make myself miserable

 

I bought from them is because they sell themselves as an aircon specialist and I trust that nothing will go wrong but I was wrong [knife]

 

Not the end yet.. [mad]

 

post-23547-1295113119_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

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eh. i genna this also. gain city as well. i got extra PVC trunking running the extra mile for the electric cables. like go across the door on the outside only to go in the opposite direction on the inside on top of the door. i found out only when i was rewiring my house and opening up the trunks. thankfully not the aircon pipes.

 

imo gain city service wise and workmanship very solid. downside is they dont think about how the lines run.

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Neutral Newbie

Dude I did my air con at Gain city too, all 4 units of them. They did exactly as I asked them to. They will ask you how u wanna run the trunking before doing it. SO if you leave it to your contractor or simply bochap. They will do it as per your contractor instruction. Then they will likely to push responsibility to each other. If its your house u need to be physically there for the renovation. You why know there are construction foremen ? Why designers argue with their contractors alot ? Contractors sometimes "change" design as a short cut to make their work easier.

 

If you want things to be done right then supervise yourself, cos that's what I did.

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I've never bought from GC, or any other big chain of electronics store as I deemed them not passionate about their work. Anyway, most of the aircon workers are usually from Malaysia or those sinkies who work a while then "start their aircon engineering small companies". How passionate do u think they'll be when they just want to earn quick buck?

 

To cut the story short, for aircon installations, the designers and contractors will not really bother much abt the ur trunkings ugly or cutting across the rooms..they just want to quickly do finished, and move on to the next job, its their bosses instructions and the workers laziness..however there are some designers who are passionate abt concealing to the maximum [lipsrsealed]

 

What u can do as a home owner is to be there during the work(not just aircon, but anything that is running electrical wiring, water pipings and aircon trunkings) and specify how u want to run..there are details like gradient of drainage pipes etc..what u can do now is check with ur contractor and do the damage control or just live with it.

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Did u discuss wh installer how ty going to run yr pipes b4 ty start?

 

I did n we came to a compromise as e way e pipes r done wil also affect e performance of yr ac.

 

The shorter e pipes, e more efficient e ac wil b.

 

 

If u want longer pipes, e installer incur additional cost cos ty r copper pipes n not cheap. Also e amt of hacking of walls also affect price. Plus if ty can get same tiles to match what ty hack away.

 

E seller wil give a fixed amt $ to install n if too much additional costs, e installer has to get e$ fm u.

 

Better to hv a rough diagram drawn n both parties sign on it as a contract how e work wil b done in case got dispute later.

 

Once pipes r laid, its very hard to change layout so better get everything clear b4 ty start.

 

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1) Did you discuss with the air-con installer how to run the pipes?

2) Ugly or not is subjective. To installer, this could be acceptable and more importantly easier to do the job.

3) You chose the easiest way out by not supervising the installer yourself or delegating a person to ensure work was properly and nicely done.

 

This is your own house. From the above, you judge yourself who need to bear the full responsibility?

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when doing renovation, discussed with you ID where you want to run the air-con piping. Then inform the air-con installer if it's feasible. If not re-discussed. You should inform him where to install and not wait for him to install and asked him to re-do. Anyway there's a lot of good feedbacks for Gain City. My current unit is from them also.

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Since it is already done, if u can ask them to redo without cost, that's the best. If not, what is the cost of redo? If it is not much, just give them lor. Its better than seeing this for years to come. The worst case is u gotta leave with it, then see if u can make it less obvious by putting some furnitures and decorations around it without affecting your overall design.

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As a contract myself before,

 

The right way should be the contractor will liaise directly with the air con installer so that the laying of the trunking will go well with the design or decor.

 

If we are the one who is liaising with the air con installer, they should discuss with you how to run the trunking and not say that you say how to run and they will run it. No matter what, there is still some things that is not possible and we as end users might not know.

 

Thanks.

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I bought the aircon system from Gain C too. The workmanship is all right and the installers were good. Only the price wasn't really good as the salesman charged me additional for extra warranty and soon after my purchase, they slashed the price of air con system.

My personal experience is best is either you yourself or someone who knows very clear how you want it to be installed must be physically there and present throughout (usually about 2 to 3 hrs work). Prepare some light food and drink for them. It is actually hard work, dirty, heavy and always rushing for time. If you were around, some will even give you very good advice.

And since you are still renovating, better to get it rework or else you will gonna be seeing it for another 5 to 10 yrs probably. Best is try to talk to your salesman to get the company to lower the rework fee. Congratulation on your new home. cheers.

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I bought the aircon system from Gain C too. The workmanship is all right and the installers were good. Only the price wasn't really good as the salesman charged me additional for extra warranty and soon after my purchase, they slashed the price of air con system.

My personal experience is best is either you yourself or someone who knows very clear how you want it to be installed must be physically there and present throughout (usually about 2 to 3 hrs work). Prepare some light food and drink for them. It is actually hard work, dirty, heavy and always rushing for time. If you were around, some will even give you very good advice.

And since you are still renovating, better to get it rework or else you will gonna be seeing it for another 5 to 10 yrs probably. Best is try to talk to your salesman to get the company to lower the rework fee. Congratulation on your new home. cheers.

 

 

last time my house renovate, everyday i go inspect the work progress....in case they drill/hack wrong wall....and buy drinks/offer ciggs for the workers.. :D

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Neutral Newbie

i bought my air con from gain city.

 

i encounter the same problem but i let my contractor work with the air con installer on how to run the piping. I guess the air con installer is just doing their job and they are not concerned about aesthetics issues. anyway, my contractor helps to cover the ugly trunking and other issues and I am quite satisfied.

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I bought my Toshiba System 4 from GC 2.5 yrs back.

When they came for installation, I checked and verified all hardwares, good discussion for almost 45mis on the trucking layout, running of pippings etc before they proceeded. During the course of installation there were some hicups, but were resolved thru good discussion and unerstanding. So you see, communication is the key.

 

One more point to take note of. Some aircon unit has a drainage on only one side. So your turcking die die has to be on that side that might be not what you want. Look into this point (ck manual) if true why your trucking has to make a long route.

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I bought aircon servicing voucher from GC. Then, call them in for servicing. The service person came and evaluate my aircon and conclude it is not in good working condition. They will not service as if they do and later I might claim they spoil my unit. On the next day, their sales team called recommend me to trade in my aircon. I said no thanks.

My aircon was only 2yo then. Now coming to 8 years still working every night.

I still have the $500-$600 worth of service voucher. What a con.

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