'I feel like crying': Woman says painters left her home 'in total mess', company claims she abused staff

She called it her "Hari Raya house painting nightmare".

The painters she hired left her home "in a total mess and the painting not done properly" and it made her feel like crying.

Facebook user named Syura OnSeven posted on Wednesday (May 17) that she had paid a company called Knoc Knoc $1,271 to paint her flat after seeing the company's ad on Instagram.

She said the job was supposed to be done on April 7 between 9am and 6pm, but the painters arrived at 1pm and finished at 3am.

"Yes, you read that right! 3am!" she wrote in the Facebook post.

"This was during the fasting month. We had to leave the house to them because we had to go for our break fast and also to the mosque for our night prayers. We waited till 11pm and the job was still not completed. It was 12 midnight and we had to head home because our three kids were very tired. My kids are aged nine, seven and one year plus.

"We reached home and the house was in a total mess! We went around the house to do a spot check and realised that they had missed SO MANY AREAS."

She added that the painters broke their prayer frame.

"The next day when we woke up, to our horror, they had missed SOOOOO MANY walls! The painting was UNEVEN. Especially the sides and skirting.

"Here's the best part. So many of our items were tainted with paint. Our sofa, TV console, carpet, curtain, router, mirror, kid's bicycle, kick scooter, my work laptop bag, washing machine, work shoes, toilet floor, flooring all over the house and much more!"

"Omg! I feel like crying! The house was in a total mess and the painting was not done properly."

She said she sent a message to the company on Instagram.

"The manager (not Singaporean) still wanted to argue with me and even accused us of damaging our own items."

Syura OnSeven said the manager went to her home and used thinner to remove the paint stains on her gold bed frame, turning it black.

"So yes, a small part of our bed is now BLACK IN COLOUR!" she wrote in the Facebook post.

On April 9, two people went to her home to "touch up", which she said was not done properly.

"Oh, did I mention that he had touched up the wall with a different colour? It was supposed to be dark grey and not light grey.

She messaged the manager again and it did not go well.

"Called me pathetic, think my money very big," recounted Syura OnSeven.

"The owner then decided to give me a call. Finally right? So I thought maybe we can settle this nicely.

"But no, he didn't want to refund or compensate us for the damage...

"He asked for receipts for our items. All the items. Yup. Receipts. Very funny though. Who still keeps receipts for carpet and curtains and everything?"

She said: "After all the argument and debate, they wanted to send their staff for cleaning service, but knowing them, they would take hours and we were TIRED of waiting.

"I mean, they 'cleaned' our bed and the colour changed from gold to black."

She added that she had made a report about the company to the police and the Consumer Association of Singapore (Case).

"Case reached out to them and their reply is the same thing. 'Job done and they won't be able to refund us.' 'We use smear tactics on them.'

"So apparently this is their 'job done'. Messy job equals job done."

In response to a Stomp query, a Knoc Knoc spokesman said: "I think this case is straightforward. Touch-up was done. Cleaning was offered, but the customer refused and used degrading words against my foreign staff.

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"We then asked for receipts for all the items she stated in the pictures for compensation. but she was unable to produce any photos (of the receipts).

"Also, our company actually compensated her on the prayer frame which she deliberately decided to leave out of her post.

"If a customer refused our touch-up service and rectification, there’s only so much we can do. 'Customer service is always what a customer is.'

"Calling our foreign staff names was a degrading move as we do not allow our staff to be abused. We always believed in mutual respect with our customers. Being a Singaporean does not give you the right to belittle or bully foreign employees. When our staff tried her best to send our cats to rectify and clean the paint off, the customer refused and asked her to go back to her own country."

The company refers to its workers as "cats".

Another Knoc Knoc spokesman added: "I think she left out the part where she demanded free painting of her door frames and skirting, something she did not pay for but as a form of compensation because we started late.

"Painting of door frames and skirting are even more time-consuming than typical walls. We agreed and her husband went off to purchase the paint and came back in the late afternoon? All these are the domino effect for the work deliverables. I think that was the reason for the 3am completion time as well."

In response to the company's claims, Syura OnSeven told Stomp: "I did not use any degrading words with the foreign workers. I did not ask the manager to go back to her country. I didn't say all these things.

"As the screenshots show, she was the one who was rude."

This is Stomp's second report involving Knoc Knoc this month. On May 7, Stomp published an article about a Stomp contributor who made a police report over an 'unsatisfactory' painting job by the company and rejected Knoc Knoc's offer to "touch up".

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