For the lighting of my house, I was given a verbal quote which I thought was reasonable and on their request, I gave them an advance cheque of $250 in good faith. Subsequently, their written quote was much higher after their site visit, so I had to respectfully decline it and asked for a refund.They refused to refund my $250 and when I informed them after 3 weeks that I would be informing the Ministry of Consumer Services, they sent me an invoice stating that they had charged me $250 as "lighting consultation and site visit charge" and this was non-refundable. This was something which I had not been told upfront and I had never agreed to such a charge.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $250.00
- Company Response
Dr. Victor – Inv # 20130809
It is disappointing to see that this customer is still pursuing this matter when he has failed at proving the merit of his complaint both at the Better Business Bureau and the Ministry of Consumer Services. Since we released the photographs showing us performing the service that he paid for, we are happy to see him finally acknowledge that we did a site visit, which was totally omitted before from his other complaints.
His quote for lighting increased because at the site visit he added 11 other areas with more expensive fixtures compared to the 1 area with small lights he initially asked us to quote when he attended our showroom. Naturally this increased his products, labour and electrical costs. Many companies like Home Depot charge a customer to do an onsite consultation and will offer them a credit towards a purchase. Keeping with his continuous omissions as before, this customer makes no mention of the credit that we offered him toward the purchase of his kitchen lighting, a gesture that he was very happy with until he was asked for a secure method of payment at which point he demanded a refund. Unless a customer has credit terms, no company will release products without payment. This customer repeatedly insisted on paying with a cancellable cheque which was unsettling. We tried our very best to work with him but he refused to use a secure method of payment like credit, debit, cash or certified cheque/draft.
SGi Lighting has been in business many years supplying in the Architectural, Commercial, Landscape and Residential fields around the world not just Canada. Our products are in large department stores, hospitals and parks. Our residential projects range from small town homes and condos to very large custom homes on the Bridle Path. Our business is founded on honesty, fairness, hard work and unique products with great pricing and service. We don’t inflate pricing, and nor do we charge money without providing the associated goods and/or services. We believe both businesses and customers are entitled to fair and secure business transactions, which make for good commerce all around.
In keeping with our business policy to treat all customers with the highest regard and strict business ethics, we don’t feel good fulfilling someone’s demands for a refund just because they have the inclination and time to make a lot of negative noise on the basis of misrepresentations. It is not fair to our other customers who work ethically with us.
We regret that this customer represents his change of mind as his un-acceptance of the terms of service now that he has already received it.
Sapna Santdasani
Director, Marketing & Design
Cell 416.731.8289
Sapna@SGiLighting.com