Suspicious Behavior - Cold Calling Contractor

[shimeng 1]

Ealier this holiday morning a man came to my home claiming to be sent by the government/HDB to check if our home had any repairs to be done.

My wife let him in and showed him the ktichen window (the sliding mechanism has worn away making it difficult to open/close) and the choked master bedroom toilet (I suspect the maid knocked the air freshner into it and it has become lodged in the elbow).

He gave us a quote for $450 and asked for a $200 deposit so he could order spare parts to which my wife made out a cheque. Strangely, he asked for the cheque to be made out to his name and not his company.

I find this all to be highly suspect as:

- Wanted a deposit for spare parts before any work was done. I would have thourhg a real contractor would have these standard parts stocked and readily available (http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee8/shimeng_pb/?action=view&current=IMG_0352.jpg)

- Again, person wanted cheque to be made out in his name, not the company's name.

- Company (Chong Cheng General Contrctor) not listed on HDBInfoWEB as either a registered rennovation, window or rennovation AND window works contractor.

- According to the HDB emergency maintenance staff, they do not send contractors to do "cold-calling". HDB seems to have a refferal service, so the only time a contractor comes knocking on your door is when you have explicitly requested for one.

- I had previously gotten 2 plumbers to look at my choked toilet (on seperate occassions) and they both said it was impossible to fix without hacking up the toilet bowl. Not sure why this fellow seems to think he can do it without taking apart anything

- Did not show any official "sanctioned by HDB to check your home out" letter/ID.

I might be wrong, but even if his company is legitimate it is false representation to claim to be sent from the government. Plus, HDB says you should only have your windows serviced by a registered contractor (http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10297p.nsf/ImageView/RESIDENT_HAND_BOOK_PDF/$file/0420+Windows.pdf), and they certainly aren't listed.

What do you guys think? I have asked my wife to put a stop on the cheque just in case.

Edited May 2, 2011 by shimeng

[therat 18]

if he claim he is sent by HDB, give Town Council a call.

If I'm not wrong, when HDB sent someone down. They will sent out letter 1st.

[dkloh 0]

Sounds scammish to me.... What was the result on this one? Hope things turned out fine...

[hAPPy889 1]

Never entertain these sort of contractors. Check with HDB BEFORE letting them into the house. What happens if it's a robber that you wife is letting into the house?

[marneed 0]

Sounds scammish to me.... What was the result on this one? Hope things turned out fine...

result is. More people got conned. And my family is one of em. Cheers to town council !

[WeeKiat 1]

Best if cash on delivery, he fix, you check and pay. That is the best

[Luthvian 0]

Hello all, sorry to ressurect an old topic.

I can confirm that this contractor is deliberately misleading the older or not as well informed members of your family that they are representing HDB to do some repair works. My father was a victim of this scam because we had some collaboration with our upstairs neighbour and HDB to fix the toilet leaks. We also had some issue with spalding on the ceilings, which HDB has already told us that they will look into once the toilet waterproofing is done.

This man by the name of Yeo from Chong Cheng General Contractor approached my father in the morning claiming to be sent by HDB and quoted him $1,400 for repairs on the ceiling of the kitchen, masterbedroom and both toilets in 1 day. He also told him that he can change his mind later, but to pay a deposit of $60 first and to sign on the "rough quotation" and that the time and date will be settled later. My father being not well educated just signed without even questioning him further. I checked online once I found out and I could not find his company in the HDB list of contractors, neither could I find his company registration number with ACRA.

This morning he spammed my dad's phone with calls, claiming that he has an appointment with him at 9.30am. I wonder how did his "rough quotation that can be rejected anytime" turn into "appointment to carry out the repair works on the following day at 9.30am". I subsequently dropped him a call at 1.30pm and he was very hostile, insisting that its our fault and we wasted his time. I told him that I will forfeit the $60 deposit since I can't undo my father's stupid move and told him to take his business somewhere else.

If you are living in older estates like mine where toilet leaks and ceilings can be a problem, please please please... warn your family members NOT to be taken in by their promises. HDB will do the liaison for you, there's no need for you to get a quote from a private contractor unless you want to do something special. It's a good thing that this is just $60 but seriously, do NOT trust these contractors that go from door to door to offer their services!

[ahBengahSeng 0]

Ealier this holiday morning a man came to my home claiming to be sent by the government/HDB to check if our home had any repairs to be done.

My wife let him in and showed him the ktichen window (the sliding mechanism has worn away making it difficult to open/close) and the choked master bedroom toilet (I suspect the maid knocked the air freshner into it and it has become lodged in the elbow).

He gave us a quote for $450 and asked for a $200 deposit so he could order spare parts to which my wife made out a cheque. Strangely, he asked for the cheque to be made out to his name and not his company.

I find this all to be highly suspect as:

- Wanted a deposit for spare parts before any work was done. I would have thourhg a real contractor would have these standard parts stocked and readily available (http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee8/shimeng_pb/?action=view&current=IMG_0352.jpg)

- Again, person wanted cheque to be made out in his name, not the company's name.

- Company (Chong Cheng General Contrctor) not listed on HDBInfoWEB as either a registered rennovation, window or rennovation AND window works contractor.

- According to the HDB emergency maintenance staff, they do not send contractors to do "cold-calling". HDB seems to have a refferal service, so the only time a contractor comes knocking on your door is when you have explicitly requested for one.

- I had previously gotten 2 plumbers to look at my choked toilet (on seperate occassions) and they both said it was impossible to fix without hacking up the toilet bowl. Not sure why this fellow seems to think he can do it without taking apart anything

- Did not show any official "sanctioned by HDB to check your home out" letter/ID.

I might be wrong, but even if his company is legitimate it is false representation to claim to be sent from the government. Plus, HDB says you should only have your windows serviced by a registered contractor (http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10297p.nsf/ImageView/RESIDENT_HAND_BOOK_PDF/$file/0420+Windows.pdf), and they certainly aren't listed.

What do you guys think? I have asked my wife to put a stop on the cheque just in case.

Even the MP want to come in your house, you also can don't let him/her in. As simple as that. We are living in a Con world, never trust anyone. That is why RT for.

[m00n 0]

This is definitely a scam. Please do inform your town council and the police. It will help up in the neighborhood as usually the town council / RC will be informed and a notice of warning will be paste at the notice board of the block to preempt such case to the residents in the neighborhood.

[NingNing 28]

Just kana today. This guy called Vincent Yeo from Chong Cheng general contractors, asked my father In law to open the door and let him in to measure the window grills in the back of the house at the balcony.

I came out of the room coz my dog was barking like crazy. When I saw that man there I asked my father in law if he wanted to do. When he said no, I immediately told him to leave which he refused to. Not sure because I'm a girl and my fil is very old, he started getting very cocky and continued to measure. Said he was doing some other units here also.. And even if we wanted to do, also may not have chance to do. WTF.

Continued to ask him to go but he still continue to measure the house and reassure me. I said I'm not interested. That's when he started to get nasty but he still left. The minute he walked down my stairs, I slammed the door behind him and he started to keep knocking and knocking to get back his name card.

I told my fil not to open, but old ppl super stubborn. Went to open the door and Tt guy demanded back his name card which I tot was highly suspicious. So I went back to my room to google his company and found this thread.

I went out and shouted at him to give me his name card because I wanted to report him.(but of coz didn't say Tt) he was talking to my neighbor when I was shouting at him. Tts when my hubby came home. When he saw me quarreling with him, he confronted him and that's when he gave me his name card and he lost his cockiness. And apologized to my hubby.

Entire Blk are all old ppl. He this type of scammer trying to rip off old ppl by telling them time to change their grills and say can give them back $200. Lucky have this forum who have review of this, if not I also won't know.

Edited March 8, 2014 by NingNing

[piaget 0]

Best is to ignore all those salesman that knock on the door.

[CuGu 12]

Maybe should let those scammer in then call the police secretly on them..keke..

[donotassume 1]

Contractors have private ones and HDB ones. There are so many out there and one does not assume that doing door knocking is confirm to be scam. If anyone wants to scam, the person won't be contactable or have any contact details for you to search. Haha.. Call on police without proof?!.. People also just making a living, not scamming people...

[JasonOng 0]

.

Edited July 2, 2014 by JasonOng

[BillyTan 0]

Hi,

This Guy and Lady (Ms Tan 陈小姐）from Chong Cheng General Contractor were also at my parents house the other day.
My parents let them in and they starting hard selling us to engage them to fix our peeling ceiling.

I asked them to give me a proper quote so that I can compare.
The guy originally said $800 but for that day, he will do it for $680.
I insisted on getting a proper quote to compare but he keep insisting that he is the cheapest at $680. (cheapest is for the customer to decide, not you as a vendor!)

He also said (same script he used on NingNIng) that he was doing and did a lot of units nearby, that he could fix it in one day and we have to decide there and then because we may not get a slot even if we want to. (Yah right, if you are so busy with your other units, why do you have time to do cold calling?!)

They were very pushy and hard selling, insisting on closing us there and then.
I refused and they finally left.

My peeling ceiling really needs work done but no way I was going to engage the 2 of them.

I called another contractor the next day to get a quote and was quoted $350-$450.
I have been putting this off since forever, but thanks to the 2 of them, I finally engaged a contractor to fix the ceiling

So the next time someone try to tell you that if you have to decide there and then and refuse to let you compare prices,
walk away...in this case, ask them to walk away