Rouge Plumbers leave many high and dry
They fake plumbing problems, do a shoddy job and even resort to bullying customers.
“Before this year, the Singapore Plumbing Society (SPS) received two to three complaints a week about such fly-by-night crooks. As of last month, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) had inquiries or feedback involving 64 plumbing cases. It received 127 such cases in 2007 and 158 cases last year.” Extracted from ST
There are primarily two types of plumbing work: Sanitary and water service. The former involves work on existing water pipework and sanitary fittings such as toilets, urinals and basins, while the latter refers to work related to new water pipework and fittings for water supply.
It is not uncommon for us to have similar encounters with such rouge plumber, who pretend your bathroom has a problem, do a shoddy job or even use bullying tactics. One case example is Ms LIM :
Faced with a choked kitchen sink issue, Ms Lim called up a plumber whom had his contact number printed on a fridge-magnet. Over the phone, the quotation given was S$50. The plumber came to do the job at her home, attended to by her parents while she was busy at work in the office. The situation turned sour, when the plumber called a few days later and demanded S$200. What was his reason? He claimed he needed to use a ‘special machine’ to clear the choke. If a plumber had the right principles, he should have at least contacted Ms Lim and advise her the change in the service cost before commencing the job. Secondly, he could have had also contacted Ms Lim on the same day evening if for some reason she was not reachable. Third option, he could have sent her a SMS (like who doesn’t own a mobile now?)
“Case also cited how a consumer paid $220 to a plumbing vendor to repair a heater, the vendor then told the consumer to wait three days before switching on the heater. When he finally turned it on, he found that the heater had not been repaired.” Extracted from ST
Hyflux Consumer, as part of its service quality, offers a panel of reliable plumbers whom can assist in any required installation for its range of products retailed. This will not only provides our consumers an assurance of quality, it also enhances our customers’ experience and avoids excessive charges or bogus jobs by nasty vendors, like cases stated above.
Extracted from: The Sunday Times 22 November 2009