Forced to sue them through NCAT
Forced to sue them through the Tribunal. I encourage anyone with valid issues to do the same.
After nearly 2 years we have just finalised our NCAT process with Impala and one of the directors who repeatedly represented them (then blamed other staff and management for anything that went wrong). They appealed the original decision (outside of the timeframe allowable) after we applied for court judgement orders and received a garnishee order to claim the damages they were ordered to pay.
Without going in to details about what happened over the course of those years representatives of their organisation and their Directors in my personal experience just lie. And I don't mean fibs, I mean the kind of dishonesty that could support an entire dictionary section titled "Gaslighting".
They(Impala Pty Ltd) unabashedly made false claims to the NCAT Tribunal Member (judge), in the first case and the appeal. The claims they make are so easily disprovable, we were utterly flabbergasted by the improbability that they thought to be believable (or even understood! it was so chaotic IMO) - and I can read the same style in some of the responses they make to reviews all over the web - always blaming the seemingly unreasonable demands of the customer - from first hand experience I look at what is written in other responses they make to reviews and can safely in my mind know that literally every word may well be a basic lie.
I implore everyone to read the details of the low reviews around the web - they are my absolute experience of this organisation - and I have experienced reaching out with people that have had the same experience. I found other cases that lasted nearly two years and where Impala also lost (were dismissed) on Appeals they made for Judgements against them. The same director (owner) was involved in the case I found online as far as I could tell.
We had others in the legal field tell us this group will make mediated concessions, dishonour them, then take it all the way in the tribunal to avoid responsibility - possibly as a way to wear people out?! If you have trouble with this company, I implore you to contact your solicitor immediately - or even me.
Such was our experience and such was our angst over the process, I would happily support someone not to experience what we did.
We paid for a professional expert report that clearly outlined the defects - many of which are similar in nature to those highlighted in other neg reviews - just lousy workmanship (at best IMO). Worse was the treatment, delays, excuses and implausible evasions of responsibility - all similar to those listed by others.
After the courts ruled against them and company directors ignored court Judgement orders, multiple times, we were threatened where a director of this organisation demanded access to our home to retrieve *his* property (the kitchen) and further stated he "did not care what judges, courts or anyone said" (sic) "this was not the end of it"(sic) he said prior to hanging up.
We have renovated an entire house - multiple in our lifetimes and this was the single worst commercial experience I have had. I could literally do my own write up of what these people will say in response - I won't. They have said it to multiple third parties - from Fair Trading to the Tribunal to the Courts. Please just be assured every single otherwise educated person hearing their statements did not agree with the basis of their arguments - hence the multiple rulings against this organisation - by my family and others.
I genuinely thought there was something wrong with the person we were contending with in the tribunal process from Impala - I mean that sincerely. I turned to my husband and said 'he just doesn't seem to understand even basic things that are being said. He seems bitter, resentful and malicious - but also something just seems really off about his capability to understand it all". And while we sympathise, our experience was extremely expensive and painful and companies should not do what they did to us or the others I now know about now, especially not in their own home IMO.