Autumn and winter, family decoration will usher in a small wave of climax. But the decoration is too greasy, from the purchase of materials, construction to acceptance, every link will be recruited if you do not pay attention to it. According to the incomplete statistics of the CPPCC, in the first three quarters of 2017, the relevant administrative departments of the whole country filed and investigated 2762 illegal cases involving household decoration.

According to these cases, the reporter sorted out the three most easily ignored 'traps' in decoration to help consumers avoid these pits.

'Guerrillas' pretend to be 'regular troops'

In recent years, in order to attract customers, many home decoration companies have introduced low-price strategies such as package meals and group purchase prices to attract consumers.

This decoration mode is mainly through the integration of the main and auxiliary materials, furniture, accessories and other products, according to different sets of meals to provide the corresponding decoration plan, but also according to the individual needs of consumers to make adjustments, so that many consumers are heartened.

But decoration companies often fail to tell consumers that 'set meals are only for reference'. After consumers pay their intention money, advance payment or deposit, decoration designers will issue a 'real' decoration budget based on door-to-door measurement results. This fee is usually much higher than the set meal chosen by the consumer, but if the consumer does not approve it, the operator has various reasons not to return the advance payment made by the consumer.

Mr. Dai, a consumer in Guangzhou, Guangdong, almost suffered this loss. 'In May 2016, I saw the advertisement of'99800 yuan, 80 square meters, two rooms, two halls, one kitchen, one bathroom, whole house decoration'made by a decoration design company in Guangzhou. I came to the shop on the opening day to know the specific situation.' Mr. Dai recalled, 'The salesman told me that if I paid 10,000 yuan on the opening day, I could enjoy a package meal of 99,800 yuan.'

So, Mr. Dai signed the 'Reservation Contract' at the store and paid 10,000 yuan. Later things can only be described as 'bad hearts'.

'After paying the money, the company lost its voice. I urged many times. Until July, the company did not arrange for the staff to come to the door for measurement. After that, there was no progress. The promised package was refused to be fulfilled with all kinds of'no package'. What makes Mr. Dai angry most is that when he proposed to cancel the contract, he was told that the 10,000 yuan belonged to the deposit, and if the consumer asked to cancel the contract, the deposit would not be returned.

On March 15 this year, Mr. Dai complained to the Guangzhou Consumer Committee about the cancellation of the contract and the refund of the deposit. After mediation, the company agreed to refund 8000 yuan.

It is suggested that when signing a contract with a home decoration company, the content should be clear, detailed and operable. For example, in the decoration package contract, the brand and model of the materials involved in home decoration should be marked, and the words 'domestic famous brand' and 'international famous brand' should not be substituted in a general way. If the decoration company is entrusted with the selection of building materials, the samples of the pre-selected materials provided by the decoration company should be properly preserved for future inspection and comparison. The contract should specify the construction period, quality requirements, detailed list of decoration materials, etc. At the same time, it should also stipulate the proportion of compensation for breach of contract damages, and make clear the breach of contract damages for delayed decoration of the project.

Invisible engineering loopholes

It's hard to live in a new home, but when you see bulging tiles, uneven walls, leaky toilets, the owner's mood will certainly not be good. According to the statistics of China Consumption Association, 24.9% of the decoration cases are related to the quality of home decoration. One is the unqualified installation; the other is the unqualified laying of concealed projects such as pipelines; the third is the uneven walls and floors, hollow tiles, wall cracks and so on. There are also complaints about product quality, including 'adulteration, adulteration in products, fake, sub-perfect, or substandard products as qualified products', 'production and sales do not meet the national standards for human health and personal and property safety'.

Ms. Lin, a Fujian consumer, has encountered quality problems in decoration. On July 19, 2017, Ms. Lin complained to Fujian Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Committee that on September 21, 2013, a Fuzhou Electrical Appliance Co., Ltd. installed floor heating for Ms. Lin's home, and was responsible for installation, commissioning and after-sales maintenance of geothermal heating domestic hot water.

After the installation of the heating equipment, the water pressure continuously decreased during the trial operation, and the reasons were not found after many debugging and maintenance, which resulted in Ms. Lin not being able to use the geothermal heating normally. 'After repeated testing, it was found that there was a joint leakage in the geothermal pipeline. After digging out the floor stone and floor tile and re-welding the leaking point, it is still not usable. What is more unacceptable to Ms. Lin is that the electrical company's after-sales supervisor re-checked and found that all the joints of the geothermal supervisor were leaking, and the water penetrated into the floor of the whole house and the ceiling of the downstairs neighbors.

Ms. Lin demanded 50,000 yuan compensation from the electrical company. The two sides reached a compromise intention. The electrical company always refused to pay for various reasons. Ms. Lin complained to Fujian Consumer Committee. After mediation, the electrical company compensated Ms. Lin for various losses totaling RMB 50,000 yuan.

'After renovation, a house will not move much for at least five to ten years. But many problems in decoration can not be seen when checking in, and will be exposed slowly after a period of time. Zhang Dezhi especially reminds consumers that in order to ensure that the quality problems of decoration can be solved smoothly in the future, they must sign a project warranty agreement with the decoration company to clarify the related issues such as the warranty project and the duration of the warranty.

'According to Article 32 of Chapter 6 of the Regulations on the Administration of Residential Interior Decoration and Decoration: Under normal conditions, the minimum warranty period for residential interior decoration and decoration works is two years, and the leakage prevention of kitchens, bathrooms and exterior walls with waterproof requirements is five years.' 

'According to Article 32 of Chapter 6 of the Regulations on the Administration of Residential Interior Decoration and Decoration: Under normal conditions, the minimum warranty period for residential interior decoration and decoration works is two years, and the leakage prevention of kitchens, bathrooms and exterior walls with waterproof requirements is five years.' Zhang Dezhi suggested that when consumers sign the project warranty agreement with the home decoration company, they should incorporate the provisions of 'Measures for the Management of Residential Interior Decoration and Fitment' to ensure the quality of home decoration service. It would be better if we could negotiate with the operator and extend the corresponding warranty period.