BENGALURU: Multiple homeowners have allegedly been duped by an interior designer firm based in HSR Layout which promised interiors and collected the full amount in advance. With not much work done, owners have filed complaints against Wudzo Home Interiors at police stations across the city over the last two years. A few are also approaching the Consumer Court, while a legal notice was served on the firm recently.
Bhavneet Singh Ahuja, a software engineer and KR Puram resident, lost Rs 10 lakh to Wudzo. He said, “We have a group comprising over 40 people who have been duped by Wudzo. One has lost Rs 80 lakh, while some have lost lesser. The average amount is Rs 25 lakh. Some have just given up the fight. I filed a complaint at the Jagjivan Ram Nagar police station on August 24. Someone in the firm was arrested and later released on bail. I also slapped a legal notice on August 11.”
Jaideep Singh, who paid Rs 28 lakh, says the maximum worth of the interiors done by the firm may not be more than Rs 3 lakh. “I filed a complaint at the Hulimavu police station on May 20, 2023,” he says.
Raj Sadasivam, a software consultant, paid Rs 40 lakh for interiors for his 4BHK villa in Choodasandra purchased in April 2021. “Going by the advertisements on social media, I entrusted the interiors to them in July. For a few months, their staff came and did the false ceiling and some minor work. They kept telling me to pay up fully to collect material. Pictures of the material ready in a factory were shown to me. I believed it and paid in full. But only around 10% of the work was done and was stopped later,” he said.
He later hired another designer and did some modest interiors so that his family could move in. He filed a complaint with the HSR Layout police.
Wudzo Project Manager Aswin Sukumaran was arrested and released a week ago. He said, “The two owners of the firm are based in Dubai. I am just an employee in Bengaluru and so is Manu Krishnan, the sales manager. Cases are being filed against us.” He claimed that the promised work will be completed for all the clients. “We are not cheats. There has been some delay. We had a shortage of funds. Someone wrote negatively about us on social media last year and this impacted our business. We will take materials on credit. We plan to complete all pending work by December 2024,” he added.