edenstrauss

Hi snake, please refer to my preceding comment regarding your request.

Hi snake, at the rate Ah Cheong is working at, it's unlikely that he could pick up further assignments at this juncture. His work schedule had already hit the peak period (September all the way to CNY next year). And Ah Cheong's services don't come cheap either. In fact, he is alot more expensive than other contractors becox of his premium workmanship & reliability. I wouldn't be surprised if his quotation exceeds what your contractor has quoted you. If you have a very tight budget, Ah Cheong isn't the right candidate for the job. The smaller the scale of reno required, it could surprisingly become more expensive becox they have a minimum amount to charge for each project to see an adequate increment to their profit margins in the business. Which explains why some contractors do not accept such assignments even during their off-peaks. Try calling other contractors & comparing their quotations. And if all else fails, I'm not sure if you'll want to bear the risk of DIY-ing the job. best wishes!

I jux googled up this link for u: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10320p.nsf/w/ContactUsGeneral?OpenDocument scroll down to a section that says: "QSM Line For feedback on HDB services, you may dial our toll-free QSM line at 1800-866-3063 (Weekdays: 8.30am - 5.00pm) or fax to 6490-1033. You may also email us at qsm@hdb.gov.sg or send us an E-Feedback Form." Hope that the QSM hotline could take ur complaint from there & assist you. best wishes!

My POTEX WC costs $210 & installation cost $100. Total inclusive of 7% GST is $310. However, the $100 installation cost doesn't include fees for alteration of water pipes running behind the WC. In our ccase, we got the piping altered on our own to accomodate to this new WC. Please take note that this current model of POTEX WC isn't as good as their old counterparts as supplied by HDB as far back as 10-18 years ago. That's if you have read thru the verdict I posted for my new POTEX WC.

Hi yulia, do u guys want to alert the HDB QSM hotline immediately? QSM = Quality Service Manager. In the government sector, this line is manned by people from the PR department & they are there to help when these avenues are shut down, not wroking out. When you complain to the MP, the procedure is such that the MP would get his/her grassroots people to write a letter for him to sign off & send it to HDB. HDB would then reply you accordingly. My friends explained to me that's about it. In order not to waste time putting up with the noise pollution, call up the HDB QSM hotline & tell them what's going on & see if this would help.

I strongly agree with arowana. There is no such thing as friends when it comes down strictly to business & work-related issues becox at the end of the day, the profit margin counts, which is what people run a business for. Not to do charity work but to earn a living so it's the $$ that counts. And engaging friends for their services is a litmus test for true colours. When things go wrong, you lost each other's friendship. In our case, we try very hard to avoid engaging friends to do the work. However, if we have no choice but to engage very very good friends to do the job, we would make them commit a quotation in black & white. Or draw up a quotation yourself & make them fill in the blanks. Otherwise, we tell them that we didn't dare to engage them becox we have to track down our budget. Do you think u could upload a copy of his quotation/ invoice or let what the rest of the contributors for your thread has requested for, i.e. to give a full breakdown of the reno billing? For the purpose of advice from renotalk members. Also, did u contact CASE? And please check if your friend's company is registered wtih RADAC? If yes, u might want to contact them to ask them if they could help mediate for such disputes.

Hi folks, R your pi-xius enshrined? i.e. "kai guang" already? If they aren't, then it's jux an ornamental object and could be disposed by dumping it. Not sure if it's a taboo to bury it like broken jade bangles. How about consulting the shops that you guys have bought it from? By the way, there are articles in the chinese newspapers claiming that pi-xius are not meant to be enshrined i.e. not supposed to get it "kai-guang"-ed. Becox they aren't dieties but celestial beasts.

Hi folks, I would like to refresh this thread once again. Apart from recommendations to get from renotalk member, zero, are there any others out here who bought from other dealers who had good installers? If yes, please please please share with me. I'm still trying to find out where I should be purchasing the Fujioh Hood from as I require reliable dealers with good installers. While I wish to thank the earlier contributors in this thread for their good reference checks of a certain source, I seek the kind understanding of all members on renotalk forum that whatever claims made should inevitably be substatiated with salient information. Unfortunately, I didn't receive any replies from these earlier contributors so I'm not sure if their reference checks were valid or not. Or were these recommendations made prior to encountering issues/ problems with the product? Further to the above, I must apologise if my remarks came across as being blunt but since the product isn't cheap & we're paying for it, then it's more than reasonable for us to know what we are buying.

I felt very sorry for you & your family becox I went thru such ordeals 10 yrs ago with nasty neighbours who threatened to beat us up. Since that HDB officer isn't doing his job, you have to try other avenues but did u manage to see this HDB officer's manager (branch office manager)? U need not call that useless HDB officer anymore since he's not even doing his job properly - calling him further is akin to talking to the wall as there's no response at all. I think u could also complain to the QSM hotline via email or phonecall that this HDB officer isn't working but playing punk with residents like yourself. Tell him/ her that you would be consulting the MP, and in worse scenarios, you would be calling in the press (chinese reporters) to your home & producing those photographs as evidence against those inconsiderate people staying upstairs. And tell the QSM staff how u guys were treated by the HDB officer. You might think I'm being nasty but when the situation is such that you're already driven to the edge, then, U have the right to take drastic measures but of course, legitimate methods must be used. Not those sneaky, illegal ways that would get you guys into trouble with the law.

Oh dear, I'm feeling so sorry for your predicament. But I think that it's the HDB officer's responsibility to mediate between the 2 families when there are such disputes. Would you mind sharing with me which estate are you currently staying at? Becox your officer seems to have a lousy working attitude. Sorry about my being so candid about it. Our officers in our estate are our blessing becox we have a very committed officer whose elderly & experienced. Good thing that he didn't leave residents out in the cold when we brought up problems to him. Both my hubby & myself were terribly shocked over their volume & nature of work: each tech officer is incharge of 40 over block of flats & apart from technical issues, they had to chase for arrears, talk to neighbours who were causing disturbances to others, etc. Are those foreigners owners of the unit above yours owners or tenants? And how long has this problem been on-going? I'm feeling disappointed that your HDB officer refused to do anything. Have u tried to bring up this matter to your MP?

Have u ever tried talking to these neighbours above your unit? I'm not sure if it'll work... But I had no idea why can't your neighbour conduct her line-dancing classes at the foyer, community centre or basketball court. I'm not sure it'll work out if you go upstairs to tell them nicely that you have babies at home & they wake up in fright. In fact, I think that it's illegal for them to conduct such activities in flats especially when it had caused so much disturbances to neighbours. If you report the matter to HDB, they will send down the officer whose incharged of your block to visit your neighbour & advise them not to conduct such activities in his/her home. I believe that if such situation persists, you should call in the police. But if you neighbours aren't the understanding sort, your situation might worsen if they create more noise or do strange things such as dumping food out of the kitchen window onto your laundry. When we shifted to our current place (5 room flat) 10 yrs ago, we realised why the previous owners were eager to take off even though they were quite a young couple whose childless. The unit above ours was occupied by a problematic family with a terrible attitude in life. They threw half eaten pratas, curries, food, sweet wrappers & batteries out of the kitchen windows. The family created noise non-stop from 7am in the morning until 2am. The type of noises include crashing, dragging of furnitures that screeched across our ceiling, stamping of food, slamming of things onto the floor, including bedroom doors in the middle of the night & during the day, etc. Apparently, they quarrelled with all their immediate neighbours who were staying on the same floor, above them & finally, my hubby went up to speak to them. And the outcome was extremely bad. The male owner wanted to beat up my hubby; and his mother & his "ah-lian" wife joined in the fray. When we went up a 2nd time, we witnessed the mother coddling & praising her 2 sons who were jumping up & down from the dining table to the floor - and she could tell us that her children were well-behaved. And the family scolded us hokkien vulgarities & told us to shift out of our flat if we have a "ploblam" (problem). The "ah-lian" wife even asked me if I was a "singaporelian", which I immediately corrected her & told her that I wasn't a singapore-lian like her but a singaporean. While the fray & disputes were going on, the statue of Goddess of Mercy sitting on their altar was looking through the main door! What an irony!

Hi Isn, I was jux wondering if u got to meet up with ah cheong? If he didn't turn up, please do not doubt his sincerity & honesty becox he had already hit his peak period - many customers are rushing to get their flat fully renovated before christmas or CNY next year. The ID firms he has been working with mux already be breathing down his neck. I'm not sure if u've read the complete version of my "story" with ah cheong in that same thread on demolishing & fabricating of wall... He didn't turn up for our appointment & was late during the pre-reno stage. We almost didn't engage him as I was already fuming & ready to chew him up. But once he accepted the assignment, the reno was carried out without any delays or glitches & our reno work was completed on time. Everything was "swee swee". Due to the work nature of contractors' jobs, there are many unforseen problems that would result in their being impunctual or not turning up for appointments & not realising it. For many of them, it's good news when they lack of rest & sleep becox that's indicative of money making opportunities coming their way. I had witnessed the amount of work & commitment so it's really hardearned $$ for these contractors. Hope to hear from u

Hi HCB, I would suggest that you don't sms Ah Cheong. The poor chap doesn't have enough rest & sleep which is good news for contractors in the renovating industry. So if anything, try to call him instead. Hey I'm surprised that he doesn't return calls???? But he always make an effort to return calls. Then he mux be lost in his mountain of renovation works. Since we moving into October, which meant that Christmas & CNY is around the corner, then I could safely infer that the renovators have already hit the peak period of their work cycles! I recalled that we called Ah Cheong in for a site visit sometime in September 2010 last year & I did mention this briefly in my "story" here on this thread. he didn't have the time to take up our assignment until after CNY the following year.

Hi lsn, if u have any questions or concerns, please clarify with him on the spot. he is very well-versed with HDB practices - he told me that red bricks couldn't be used for our flat, which is correct whereas I had been having highly-recommended renovators on renotalk suggesting red bricks. Our flat is pre-fabricated so the interior were built with hollow blocks & cannot withstand the weight of red bricks. he is an extremely busy man with few hours of sleep & rest, so asked him whatever u need to. best wishes!

Hi lsn, Please check your renotalk mailbox. jux PM-ed u ah cheong's contact number. best wishes!

Hi schiz0id, thanks for wishing my new WC well Yes, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it would lasts us for a long long time...

Hi HCB, I've PM-ed you ah cheong's contacts already. best wishes.

Hi folks, I've decided to close off this thread becox I've finally had a new WC installed. Please visit my new thread on our new POTEX toilet bowl by Lucky Khoon at the following link: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43923&st=0&gopid=669078entry669077 Thank you for your support!

Hi folks, I've decided to close off this thread becox I've finally had a new WC installed. Please visit my new thread on our new POTEX toilet bowl by Lucky Khoon at the following link: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43923&st=0&gopid=669078entry669077 Thank you for your support!

Now the ratings for the newly installed POTEX toilet bowl... VERDICT - for WC less than perfect even though the seat is very spacious & comfortable to sit at. However, I presume that the ergonomics of the WC has it's own inherent fault which cannot be rectified. To allow me to try to explain, water collected somewhere after flushing & this leftover water would take its time to trickle down the toilet hole. This gave us the impression that it was leaking but as we monitored the water level in the tank (by shutting off the main valve so that water supply into the tank has been cut off), it remained stagnant without any decrease in water level & water trickling down into the toilet bowl would stop on its own. As such, we could safely infer that there is no water wastages & cannot be classified as a leakage. And if there are too much waste contents, including toilet tissues in the toilet hole, there would be "graffiti" swirling in the newly collected water after even a full flush. I figured out that it's still preferrable to get a WC with 1 tick as this new POTEX WC has only 2 ticks. Meaning that it has better water saving feature but lesser water to flush down contents. POTEX WC : 4 out of 5 stars. VERDICT - for Lucky Khoon's plumbing service Their repair man wouldn't have been called in if their installer has tightened the black rubber ring below the water tank properly. However, the installer & his junior assistant who did the removal & hacking of the old WC were very polite. The repair guy from Lucky Khoon is a very honest & experienced young man probabbly in his early 20s or perhaps, jux 19-20 years old judging from his appearance. He was very accomodating & patient; and we were glad that he took time to drop by twice on the same day to rectify the leaking issues. Although this transaction wasn't a breeze, the boss had given us a fairly good impression in that he humbly apologised to us & was a man of his words when he fulfilled his promise in sending his repair staff down to rectify the problem. According to my hubby whose pretty well-versed in DIY-ing, he told me that nobody could guarantee whether there would be leaking or not after installation of WCs. Perhaps he had done alot of DIY for our flat to realise that it's not an easy job. So, I would like to provide Lucky Khoon with a rating of 4 out of 5 stars for their plumbing works. (5 out of 5 is for a perfect score, i.e. no rectification or follow up repairs are required)

Service recovery as promised by the boss... This young but experienced plumber wanted to replace our flushing mechanism with another brand known as "Showy". However, we rejected his offer and told him that we wanted to replacement of the same model of the spare part. He called up his office immediately and told us that he could do the replacement on another day. However, he conceded and promised to drop by at about 6.30pm to replace the mechanism with the same model of "flusher" for our POTEX WC. He even gave us his mobile number. However, after that less than satisfactory experience we've had with those sales rep in the showroom, we didn't have faith in this young plumber. We haven't a choice but had to wait at home to see if he turned up at 6.30pm. Lucky Khoon got a brand new set of the POTEX "anatomy" delivered to our place at about 4pm. Neatly packed & sealed up in a brown box. And this young plumber didn't let us down becox he ended up at our door step bathed in perspiration & panting away at about 6.35pm. He looked extremely exhausted but wasted no time in replacing the flushing mechanism with the new piece in the brown box. However, the leaking was alot worse than our existing piece of "flusher". So we told him that we were very sorry that we would prefer to stick by the original set that came with our new Potex WC. And we apologised to him for this wasted trip. Like his boss, he seemed to be very patient and understanding but we're not sure if he was chissed off deep down. He told us to observe if the water leaking continued becox he suspected that the water trickling down bit by bit was a leftover that was collected at the base of the water outlet. After that water clear out of that location, the dripping should stop. My hubby turned off the valve that very night & after we were done with the final flush for the night, we woke up the following morning to check if there were water spots or droplets running down into the toilet hole. Thank goodness, there wasn't any. The porcelain above the toilet hole, was dry & clear from any traces of water. Not sure if there'll be any relapse or not. But we're keeping our fingers crossed for now.

An unexpected ordeal of chasing for a plumber... As it was already late into the night, we decided to call up Lucky Khoon to feedback on the leakage on the following day (Sunday). It was quite a nightmare because we were being compelled to chase them for a plumber throughout the leaking ordeal. I called in on Sunday, quoting the invoice number of our Potex WC. The sales representative who attended to me over the phone, told me that the plumbers' schedule were fully packed on Monday and that they would send a plumber over to our place on Tuesday instead. However, the sales rep couldn't provide us with a specific timeframe as to what time we would be expecting the plumber to turn up at. All she said was she would send a plumber down on Tuesday and I told her that this was unacceptable as it's not reasonable to expect customers to sit at home and wait. Then, she told me that she would check and call me up again in the later half of the day. I waited but by afternoon, no such call came in so I called Lucky Khoon's showroom at Joo Chiat again and was attended to by another sales rep, who told me that she would call me the following day (Monday) to let me know the approximate timing her plumber would be visiting our flat. By 4pm on Monday, I didn't hear from Lucky Khoon again so I took the liberty to call the showroom again and the sales rep promised me that she would let me know in about half an hour's time. I waited but no such call came in after 45 minutes so I called and the sales representative said that the 2 colleagues whom I have requested to speak to were engaged with customers in their showroom. By the time I made this call and received such a response, I was already fuming so I told the girl that I wanted to speak to her boss, to which she promptly inform me that her boss doesn't visit the showroom as he is incharge of plumbing works on site. And a boss who cares about his customers... She gave me his mobile number & I got in touch with him immediately. I told him in a very unhappy but calm voice that our WC was as good as a useless one becox of the leaking issue; and that until today, there was no confirmation as to what time his plumber was coming in to rectify the problem. There was alot of interference in the background becox of plumbing & renovation works over at this boss' end. However, what surprised me was that he was very polite and apologised to me for the inconvenience caused. And he assured me that his plumber would drop by the next day (Tuesday) between 1pm to 2pm. He got me to send him my address & invoice number via SMS, which I did immediately, and called him up to confirm that he had received it. And true to his words, a plumber who was in his early 20s, dropped by promptly at about 1pm. We were quite worried when he looked really young for his age. However, when he filled up the water tank & detected the problem, he dismantled the water tank immediately & adjusted the black rubber gasket on the exterior of the tank's base. After he flushed out the water from the tank, this plumber, my hubby & myself were seated on the floor revolving the Potex WC and staring hard to observe if there were any traces of water leaking out from the outlet situated on the inner porcelain rim of the toilet seat. Yes there still was but instead of a steady stream of water, it was jux a small rivulet that died off into trickles of it. Our "story" didn't end there...

A "Post-Mortem" documentation of our newly installed POTEX toilet bowl... Leakage issues After we had happily gotten a new WC in our kitchen toilet finally, we had post-installation issues which were unveiled to us on the night itself. We came back from a wedding dinner and out of curiosity, I lifted up the toilet seat even though we could only start using the WC the following day. However, I was shocked when a steady stream of water being discharged (from the water tank) through the outlet on the inner rim of the porcelain toilet seat. That was definitely abnormal becox nobody had flushed the toilet. This was classified as a leakage. As water had been constantly leaking into the toilet bowl, water tank would have been continuously topping up water through the valve attached to the water pipes. In view of such a situation, my hubby had immediately turned off the valve to cut off water supply into the water tank. To our horror, the entire tank of water sitting on top of the new WC was emptied into the toilet hole within 2 hours.

To illustrate to those who might be interested in the potency of the flushing mechanism of our new POTEX WC, please take a look at these 2 short video clips which I had created to demonstrate both full & partial flushing: Full Flush Partial Flush (Sorry about the blury video & the background music wasn't my idea but it so happened that the music was caught on the video while I was playing this jazzy number) Post-script: PUB's rating of water saving for WCs are represented by the number of ticks found on pale blue stickers pasted on display sets in showrooms. The greater the number of ticks, the lesser water the WC uses. Our new POTEX WC has 2 ticks. There were those with 3 ticks & we wondered if there was sufficient water for flushing down human waste. My hubby said that I was driving him nuts with talks of the number of ticks while we were shopping for a WC.

Final snippets of our new POTEX WC... As readers of this thread would have noticed by now, this POTEX WC which we have chosen doesn't have a glamorous outlook by today's standards. However, the shape of the porcelain toilet seat promises to pay due respect to all buttocks, whether they are bony, fleshy or bouncy. Comfort is guaranteed to those who are prone to constipation and we didn't have any regrets where the design of our new WC is concerned. We also noticed that the POTEX WC which we ordered has serial numbers on both its water tank and the toilet seat; which according to Mdm Ong from Lucky Khoon, were differentiated with different code numbers as shown in the photographs below: And if you noticed from the photographs, this set of POTEX WC has got a very glossy shine to its porcelain.