Rosemary Hospitality private limited (Palm Floors Gurgaon): A fraud builder

Builders in India, due to lax regulations and audits, can get away with anything and usually fleece their customers to the maximum. I had my share of bad experiences with Rosemary Hospitality Pvt Ltd, builder who makes builder floors by the name of Palm Floors in Gurgaon, Harayana.

I bought a second floor from them for my parents, the sample which they showed looked all nice and well structured. My parents liked it too and we were ready for the downpayment needed for the booking. But I did the mistake of my life when I handed over the downpayment check to them. Initially their sales guy, Nitin, used to call me daily coaxing me to book it asap. They were diligently regular asking me to pay the pending amount and making sure that I paid huge interest even if the pending amount gets delayed by just a week. But once we made all the payments, it was literally hard to catch them and discuss our concerns, which were a LOT in number. To start with:

1. The construction quality is extremely poor. This we realized when started fitting curtain rods and air conditioners and had to make holes in the walls. It was almost as if the whole wall was coming off! The whole structure used to vibrate even if someone climbed up the stairs. 

2. Plenty of leakage issues. The internal plumbing and piping material was of very low standard. Even little bit of winter rains caused leakages in all rooms. no waterproofing was done.

3. Poor painting material. Paint started coming off the walls within weeks. Also the fittings and fixtures were sub-standard. All geysers started leaking the moment we started pressure pump. Infact pressure pump brought out a lot of issues with the weak and poor quality of pipes and pumbing work done by this builder.

4. Extremely bad customer support system: we made complaints, and we got assurances (from certain Mr Choubey who was the head contractor) that the paint job will be done again in 10-15 days. Days passed into months and then later we were told they cannot do it. We are asking too much from them! We were literally shocked to see their rude behaviour.

5. For any minor customizations, like getting a water pump fixed, they charged exhorbitant amounts. They said do not get outside plumbers as they don’t know the internal pipe fittings, we will do the job for you. But the cost was almost 10 times than what we were quoted by outside plumbers. And they literally forced us to get the job done through them as they would offer no support to the outside plumbers/electricians making work difficult for them.

6. Their director, Mr Ranjeet, is extremely rude and a cheat. He promised us a lot of things, but then later backed out saying he never made any promises. It was our fault that we couldn’t record his statements.

7. Our first floor neighbours were also tormented by the same builder. They told us that Ranjeet charged them Rs 25,000 for each Split AC point (which you can normally get done for only Rs 4000). They paid Rs 75,000 for 3 such points and after a month those points stopped functioning altogether. They called Ranjeet to get it fixed, and he simply refused!

In a nutshell, I would strongly advise potential buyers to not even try Rosemary Hospitality builders. They are one of the bad, if not worst, builders in Gurgaon and if you want to save yourself from headaches it is better to stay away from them. 

************** UPDATE: 1st October 2012 **********
Anyone reading this blog. please read the comments from another buyer “Seemant” below. Here are some pics from my house, just to show you the extent of poor construction by Rosemary Hospitality:

Comments made on old blog post (I took screenshot because I was not able to move the comments to my new website):

All About Olive Oil

Olive oil is the oil extracted from the fruit of the olive trees. Olive oil is an important part of the staple diet of the people in the Mediterranean region, where olive trees are abundant. When the green olives ripen, they turn violet-red/black and are ready for oil extraction. The olives are mixed with water and crushed into a paste. From this paste the oil is extracted using mechanical pressure. There are three major types of olive oil:

1. Extra virgin olive oil: This is the purest form of olive oil extracted from the freshly plucked olives and cold pressed within 24 hours. No synthetic chemicals are used and the oil is free from any solvents. Extra virgin olive oil is of the highest quality and has a lot of vitamins and nutrients, therefore it is the costliest grade of olive oil.

2. Virgin olive oil: After the first pressing, the paste is pressed again and the resultant oil is virgin olive oil which has a slightly higher acidity.

3. Olive-Pomace oil: When all the oil is extracted from the olive paste using mechanical means, the resultant pomace (left overs) are treated with chemicals and solvents and this oil is known as Olive-Pomace oil. It is the cheapest grade of olive oil.

Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Olive oil contains a lot of mon-staturated fats (good gats), OMEGA-3 fatty acids, lots of Vitamin E and many other nutrients good for your health. Some of the major health benefits include:

1. Olive oil keeps your heart in shape by lowering the cholestrol levels and reduces the chances of strokes.

2. Olive oil helps in reducing the blood pressure.

3. Olive oil helps to reduce cancer.

4. It is good for your skin and hair.

5. It helps reduce weight.

6. It helps fight osteoporosis and arthritis.

To enjoy these health benefits, one has to make sure he is buying the right grade of extra virgin olive oil. Beware of cheap imitations. Fresh extra virgin olive oil has a sightly pungent odour and is peppery in taste. It does not taste smooth, and you can almost feel its peppery taste on the back of your throat. Also, buy olive oil which is stored in dark glass bottles as both light and oxygen degrade the quality of the oil.

Olive oil for Indian cooking

Most of the Indian cooking involves deep-frying and high heat cooking (tadkas). Extra virgin olive oil, though highly recommened for cooking purposes, has a lower smoke point when compared to refined or chemically treated oils.

Smoke point: This is the temperature when the oil, when heated, starts to smoke. The smoke comes from the breakdown of the oil into fatty acids and glycerol. After the oil hits the smoke point, the nutrients and flavour of the oil starts to degrade. Therefore it is recommend not to heat the oil above its smoke point. For high heat Indian cooking, most people use refined oils which are chemically treated to have a higher smoke point. As a thumb rule, if you heat any oil and it starts to smoke, then you should not use that oil at all. Pour fresh oil and heat it again but keep it below the smoke point.

Even though extra virgin olive oil has a low smoke point, chefs around the world use it for high heat cooking because the benefits overweigh the breakdown of the oil and the loss of the flavours. The reason is because olive oil is more resistant to heat degradation than other oils like the sunflower oil. It is recommended that you quickly saute or fry in order to preserve all the goodness and flavour of the extra virgin oil. A lot of people suggest using Olive-Pomace oil for Indian cooking, but that is not good for health and you are much better off using sunflower or peanut oil instead. Recently EU (European Union) ordered a ban on all exports of Pomace oil because it was suspected to contain certain carcinogens. Pomace oil can badly affect your health so stay away from it.

So extra virgin olive oil is a must in your kitchen. Even though its costlier than refined oils, but olive oil comes with major health benefits which far outweigh its cost. Always store the olive oil in a cool dark place and make it a habit to replace your normal cooking oil with olive oil.