LivSpace Experience - Pune

LivSpace Experience - Pune ( 3 BHK Flat )

We got a new place in Pune and were looking for Interior design work for our new 3 BHK home, looked at a few options and then landed with LivSpace. We were in Bangalore and not present in Pune for design and interior work, so LivSpace looked like a good option as they are one place where you can hire Designer, Carpenters, Plumbers, Painters.. basically one place shop for entire house work.

LivSpace project work is divided into many steps but broadly 

1. Project Briefing 
2. Proposal
3. Design - 3D ( SignOff )
4. Site Work ( Custom and Modular )
5. Move In
6. Project Closure

Project Briefing

We started with Project Briefing in April 2021, where we gave just an estimate on how much we want to spend of the project and what all needs to be done, a very high level scope and estimate.

LivSpace gave us a call and basically said YES to all our questions, they just wanted us to lock in the project by paying some percentage of the project.

There were no updates till September 2021, where we moved to Proposal. There was nothing much in this Phase, we only had discussion with Sales Manager and she introduced us to the Designer.

Proposal

The designer went to the under construction flat and came up with some designs, to our surprise she showed us design on PHASE 1 of the apartment ( our flat was in PHASE 2 ), they had one flat which LivSpace completed design for and the designer simply showed us the same designs. She did not realise that builder had made lots of changes in Phase 2 and we could easily identify that the designs were from Phase 1.

This was our first warning that we should have LEFT LivSpace and not given the work to them, but we corrected the designer and she said she would come up with new designs

To our surprise, the designer did not care at all, she will NOT come to meetings, she will not include our suggestions in design, it was a total WASTE of time. We escalated it to the sales manager that was present in Project Briefing and she added designers manager for help.

We very clearly told the design manager that we don't want the designer and she is not good and does not do the work, again, the design manager did not agree and said the was overlook the project and make sure updates are done.

We struggled to get anything out of the designer, the designs were very ordinary, nothing great. After months we finally agreed to a design and the Proposal was made.

SignOff 

SignOff was the first time we saw the costing for items ( at first the designer did not share the individual costing of items, when asked for, she shared it ). The costing of items was super EXPENSIVE. I was shocked with some of the prices that they had quoted. A few did not make any sense to me, example, kids room desk was quoted as modular work for 1.5 lacks. We de-scoped a few things which did not make sense to us to spend so much, most of the work was still kept as-is.

We also added a few things that we wanted, the designer said they will be added and we could see COSTING added for them, but never got them in the 3-D designs. 

NOTE - This SignOff Document is the most IMPORTANT Document, so read it very very carefully and then sing on it. The 3-D designs are just for REFERENCE. We learned this hard way during the execution phase of the project.

Site Work

We were finally excited about beginning of work at the site and this is the first time we got to meet Project Manager, this person is responsible for executing the project on site. The project manager assigned was so lazy that there was no work done on site for first 2 weeks, he will NOT pick the calls, won't visit the site, won't call you back, won't response to WhatsApp messages. We got so frustrated, that we again escalated and asked the designer to replace the project manager with a new one, but it was not done. 

Our project was very time sensitive as we were moving from Bangalore and kids school were starting in Pune, we explained this to Designer as well as Project Manager that we have a fixed date of moving and cannot change it. As work was not going on as expected, we escalated this to the Operations team manager, and again, they said that the TAT for projects depends on project value and for us it would be 4 months !!.. this was so surprising, as on the website they say 45 days ( We found out that 45 days os for modular work, which also come s with lots of terms and conditions and they will never meet it ! )

Handover

We had so many issues with LivSpace, and the work kept on going and going, finally after delay of more than 2 months, and we reducing the scope, the house interiors was completed and we could live without everyday Livspace people coming for work, it was a relief. 

We had a refund and that was so difficult to get back, that took another 1.5 months and with lots of follow-up to get that refund, again such a bad experience.

Final Thoughts

After all the pain that we have gone through, we will NOT recommend LivSpace to anyone, so many issues from designing to execution and refunds. It is very expensive and does not justify the interior work at end of the day. They get most of the work done from the cheapest local vendor and it's really not worth.