Homeowner says $4,725 smart lighting system left incomplete despite full payment, company refutes claims

The main issue was money, it seems.

The company who supplied the smart home lighting system has responded to the Stomp report about a homeowner who paid $4,725 for the smart lighting in his new BTO but ended up going to the toilet in darkness most of the time.

Stomp contributor Andrew said that because the job was not finished, he did not have functioning lights in the master bedroom and both the toilets in his Marsiling home.

He shared a video showing the missing corner pieces in the flat.

In response to a Stomp query, a spokesman for the company, Neolumina, said many of the claims the Stomp contributor made were false.

Andrew, in turn, disputed the company's allegations.

Neolumina said: "There were issues with Andrew's budget during the quoting process. A goodwill gesture was made to provide a heavily discounted price and an in-house instalment payment option, which he had requested.

"The first and second payments were successful, but issues arose with the third payment of $1,800. The agreement was that work would only begin after full payment, but lights were delivered without basic integration.

"Andrew suggested paying half of the $1,800 for a half integration, which was complied with and delivered.

"The final payment was delayed by one month, and Andrew claimed not to have funds to pay subsequently. The full payment of $900 was never received, and additional discounts were given, along with a $200 refund for the missing corner pieces."

The Stomp contributor responded that he asked for a deferment of the payment but was rejected and was told until full payment was made, nothing would be done.

"I paid up the final amount after some negotiation to start the work. Then, after the final payment, the delays and excuses start coming in," said Andrew.

"I was cooperating to the best of my ability, even with all those excuses and delays."

Neolumina said: "Corner pieces and voice assistant set-up were not originally on the invoice but provided as a goodwill gesture until issues arose."

The Stomp contributor countered: "It is under integration in the invoice for which I was charged $1,000."

Neolumina said: "The missing light was initially delivered and installed but taken down as he wanted a different one. It was originally $98 but was then again further discounted to just $40 for him.

Andrew disputed this: "I paid a further $300 and it has not been installed, nope! The things were still in China, waiting to come to Singapore."

Neolumina said: "Installation services were not included in the quote as Andrew mentioned finding cheaper electricians elsewhere."

The Stomp contributor explained that he had already engaged an electrician at the time and the electrician was communicating with Neolumina.

The company said: "Andrew modified the order one day before the expected delivery date, causing further delays.

"On the day of integration, Andrew chased away the engineer sent by our company to complete remaining works."

The Stomp contributor said: "When the engineer came, he asked me why haven't the corner pieces been installed. I asked him in return, how can integration be done when everything is hanging out?"

The Neolumina spokesman told Stomp: "When my engineer went down to do his full Integration to ensure reliability, he did not let my engineer work and went into a verbal argument with us over the phone, deeming it impossible for us to do any more work for him with all the threats and vulgarities he was screaming at us."

The company continued: "We assert that we cannot be held liable for installation works that were not contracted and not performed by us, none of the lightings were installed by us and the result of bad work is due to poor workmanship from his 'cheap' electrician."

Andrew said the electrician and Neolumina had worked together to install the lights.

The company said: "All of these issues could have been discussed properly with Andrew to prevent further escalation, but he was unreceptive and constantly hurling vulgarities at us. Andrew kept threatening that his cousin was a lawyer and he could sue us for free."

The spokesman added: "Our lawyer sent a letter to Andrew's lawyer a month ago, but Andrew continued to harass and threaten...

"Integration cannot be done without full payment as discussed. Yet we never truly received the full payment and have been constantly giving in to Andrew."

On the other hand, Andrew said he had proof that full payment was made.

The Neolumina spokesman told Stomp: "We hold our rights to proceed with further legal actions against Andrew and we do have evidence to back up our claims during our legal proceedings which we do not want to disclose everything to the media."

This article was first published in Stomp. Permission required for reproduction.