A documented consumer complaint

They quoted ₹8.2 lakh, all-inclusive.
What followed was a month of moving goalposts.

This is my first-hand account of dealing with Brick & Ply for a home interiors project — the bait quotation, the advance paid into a personal account, the sudden extras, the one-sided agreement, and a cancellation that ended with no refund, no GST bill, and no design.

Read what happened → See the evidence

₹10L

Initial verbal quotation — half the items left "in quotation"

₹8.2L

"All requirements closed" — the price I paid an advance on

₹16L

Quotation once design "started" — for the same closed scope

₹0

Refund, GST bill & design received after I cancelled

The Story

How ₹8.2L "all-inclusive" quietly became ₹16L

The pitch was warm and generous. Then, once money changed hands, every promise had a footnote — and the person who made them stopped picking up.

The closing line

"All your requirements will be closed at ₹8.2 lakh."

I was told there'd be a GST discount, a free false ceiling, and a free ₹25,000 coupon toward a chimney. On that basis, I was asked to transfer an advance — to the owner's personal account. I did. Ravi, the person who made every one of these commitments, then became unreachable.

The Playbook

Eight moves, in the order I experienced them

Laid out plainly so the next person can recognise the pattern before they pay.

🪝

MOVE 01

The bait quotation

A friendly ~₹10L number, with half the line items vaguely "in quotation" — enough to feel concrete, loose enough to change later.

🎁

MOVE 02

The generosity closer

GST discount, free false ceiling, a free ₹25k chimney coupon — "everything closed at ₹8.2L." A deal too good to walk away from.

🏦

MOVE 03

The personal-account advance

Advance requested into the owner's personal account, not a company account. Once paid, the tone changed.

👻

MOVE 04

Ravi disappears

The man who made every promise stops answering. The office "can only refer to the quotation." The owner is "not available."

📈

MOVE 05

Everything is now "extra"

The moment design starts, a fresh ₹16L quotation appears — for the scope that was supposedly already closed at ₹8.2L.

🔒

MOVE 06

"Non-refundable"

Back-and-forth for weeks. The advance, I'm told, cannot be refunded. Negotiation with the owner is off the table.

🎭

MOVE 07

The price theatre

₹16L → ₹14L → ₹12L. The instant I showed a competitor's quote, it dropped to ₹8.7L — proof the number was never fixed.

📄

MOVE 08

The one-sided agreement

A "pre-drafted, non-editable" contract. I request changes; I get the same copy back with "everything updated as requested." Nothing was.

Timeline

A month of back-and-forth

Roughly how it unfolded, from the first quote to walking away.

Day 0 — The pitch

The ₹10L quote & the ₹8.2L promise

Warm meeting, generous freebies, and a firm assurance that all requirements are "closed" at ₹8.2L.

Advance

Money into a personal account

Advance transferred to the owner's personal account against the ₹8.2L promise. Bill and bank transfer recorded.

Design begins

The ₹16L reappears

Design work "starts" and a ₹16L quotation lands for the scope already closed at ₹8.2L. Ravi is now unreachable.

Weeks of runaround

Nobody is available

Office defers to the quotation; owner unavailable; advance declared non-refundable. Price drifts 16 → 14 → 12 → 8.7L.

Agreement stage

The unchangeable contract

A one-sided, "pre-drafted" agreement. Requested edits never appear — same copy returned as "updated."

Cancellation

Walked away with nothing back

Out of frustration I cancelled without signing. The owner blamed Ravi for "collecting from many people and running away" — even though the money went to the owner's account.

Promised vs Reality

What I was told, and what I got

Side by side, from my own experience.

What was promised	What actually happened
"All requirements closed at ₹8.2L"	A ₹16L quotation once design started
GST discount	No GST bill issued at any point
Free false ceiling + free ₹25k chimney coupon	Reframed as chargeable extras
Ravi handling everything	Ravi unreachable; office "only refers to the quotation"
Owner available to negotiate	Owner "not available"; advance "non-refundable"
Agreement reflecting my requests	Same pre-drafted copy returned, unchanged
A designed home	No refund, no GST bill, no design after cancelling

Evidence

What I kept

Documents from the process. Replace these placeholders with your own scans/screenshots — drop the image files next to this page and link them.

🧾

Advance payment bill

Receipt issued against the advance paid on the ₹8.2L promise.

🏦

Bank transfer copy

Proof the advance went to the owner's personal account.

📐

Design files

The design work referenced during negotiation.

📄

The agreement

The one-sided, "non-editable" pre-drafted contract.

🚪

Wardrobe designs

Scope discussed under the "closed at ₹8.2L" understanding.

💬

Chat & call records

The promises, the runaround, and the shifting prices.

The Outcome

I cancelled without signing — and got nothing back.

No refund of the advance. No GST bill. No design handed over. When I raised it, the owner's answer was that Ravi had "collected money from many people and run away" — despite the fact that my advance was transferred to the owner's own account. I've seen similar complaints surface online, only to disappear a day later.

If It Happened To You

What I'd tell the next customer

Not legal advice — just what I wish I'd done differently.

Never pay into a personal account

Insist every rupee goes to a registered company account against a proper GST invoice. A request to pay an individual is the moment to stop.

Get the full scope in writing before any advance

"Closed at ₹X" means nothing verbally. Every item, quantity, material and finish should be itemised and signed before money moves.

Read the agreement — and refuse "non-editable" contracts

A contract you can't edit is a contract written entirely for the other side. If they won't negotiate a single clause, that tells you how the project will go.

Save everything

Bills, bank transfers, chats, call logs, quotations, designs. If a dispute comes, your records are the only version of events that survives.

Where to escalate in India

Consider the National Consumer Helpline (1915 / consumerhelpline.gov.in), the e-Daakhil consumer forum portal, and — if funds were obtained by deception — a police complaint / cybercrime report (cybercrime.gov.in). Talk to a lawyer about your specific facts.