Despicable Contractor - How To Counter?

[icebaby 2]

Hi there! Could u pls pm me ur contractor?

Thanks and good luck

Can PM ur contractor..just in case?

[den74 0]

Hi,

Can PM your contractor ? Am in the midst of searching for an ID firm.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

[BigBro 0]

Hi, sorry to hear about your plight. Do u mind if u can PM me your ID's firm and name.. Thanks!

[Disillusioned 0]

That day went to the house... realised that the tracking for my master bedroom wardrobe is rusty.

Can u imagine.... lesser than 1 year already turn rusty. And I haven't even moved in!

How "reliable" this contractor is.

[Myi 0]

Yup it's best to read in between the lines before signing the dotted line..my sympathies and i hope i'll choose a responsible id

[starstar 0]

can you please pm me the ID and name of the company?

money hard earned & life is stressful enough....

[Summerrain 0]

Hi there! My heart goes out to you. me also having a VERY HARD time with my despicable contractor

The things done by my disgusted contractor are as follows:

1) Bursting of waterpipe and therefore we bath with dripping cold water for 2 nights,

2) Lighting not done properly and because of that lights can't be switched off for 3 days,

3) His worker drinking from my fridge, asking my mother-in-law to buy food for him,

4) His worker leaving the front door and gate wide open after his work knowing that this is an occupied flat (and nobody is at home at that time) resulting in my dog went missing.

5) Damage to our ceiling fan,

6) Painting of wrong colour to utility room,

7) Telling me mkt practice to paint ceiling white and not the same as wall colour as we wanted and the contractor overcharge us!

8) Wrong advise to relocate aircon as it turns out piping cannot be done,

9) Claimed to be able to bore a hole at toilet to relocate drainage but cannot be done. Now water overspill to toilet floor when we bath,

10) Due to damage of ceiling fan, there is no relocation of lights but the cpntractor still include in the electrical costs.

11) The cooker not sealed and no cabinets (cooker and cabinet to be installed as in the contract) but he never deduct from reno costs and charged us,

12) His unskilled India or Bangladesh worker damage my parquet and end up with scratches even if you fill with paint,

13) His worker does chemical wash and pour into my new basin,

14) His worker washing cement stain and pour into my new toilet bowl,

15) The contractor was 99% not at my place overseeing the job! despite repeated requests from us to ask him to come down to see at the faults done by his workers! He can over the phone claim that its due to wear and tear without seeing the physical damage!

and so much more ! and the worst thing now is that he is claiming from us the costs of the freebies he gave us earlier!!!

Now we are at SCT under mediation.....duno how it goes from there....just wan to get this over and done with

[Devilaz 0]

sorry to hear that.

for the freebie what they give u?

[Cantona7 0]

So sorry to hear the mishap from you Summerrain.

How much are they claiming from you and did u paid them all the balance?

[bullet 0]

Hi there! My heart goes out to you. me also having a VERY HARD time with my despicable contractor

The things done by my disgusted contractor are as follows:

1) Bursting of waterpipe and therefore we bath with dripping cold water for 2 nights,

2) Lighting not done properly and because of that lights can't be switched off for 3 days,

3) His worker drinking from my fridge, asking my mother-in-law to buy food for him,

4) His worker leaving the front door and gate wide open after his work knowing that this is an occupied flat (and nobody is at home at that time) resulting in my dog went missing.

5) Damage to our ceiling fan,

6) Painting of wrong colour to utility room,

7) Telling me mkt practice to paint ceiling white and not the same as wall colour as we wanted and the contractor overcharge us!

8) Wrong advise to relocate aircon as it turns out piping cannot be done,

9) Claimed to be able to bore a hole at toilet to relocate drainage but cannot be done. Now water overspill to toilet floor when we bath,

10) Due to damage of ceiling fan, there is no relocation of lights but the cpntractor still include in the electrical costs.

11) The cooker not sealed and no cabinets (cooker and cabinet to be installed as in the contract) but he never deduct from reno costs and charged us,

12) His unskilled India or Bangladesh worker damage my parquet and end up with scratches even if you fill with paint,

13) His worker does chemical wash and pour into my new basin,

14) His worker washing cement stain and pour into my new toilet bowl,

15) The contractor was 99% not at my place overseeing the job! despite repeated requests from us to ask him to come down to see at the faults done by his workers! He can over the phone claim that its due to wear and tear without seeing the physical damage!

and so much more ! and the worst thing now is that he is claiming from us the costs of the freebies he gave us earlier!!!

Now we are at SCT under mediation.....duno how it goes from there....just wan to get this over and done with

That's sad to hear that. Have you paid them everything? Suggest you engage a third party or qualify surveyoe to gauge the damage which might help your claim

[Disillusioned 0]

OMG.....

I sympathise with you Summerrain. I can totally understand your frustration.

Have you taken photographs of all damages done to your property? How much was the initial contract price?

For my case, the registrar told us SCT cannot handle the case because it involved dispute of the contract and the contract was over 10K.... I hope they will not throw the same reason to you. Because when that happens, you'll have no other choice... either you just have to just accept that its bad luck or you'll have to pursue in magistrate court where you'll have to engage a lawyer.... definitely high cost.

I cross my fingers for you. There's really a need to bring these despicable contractors to justice. The current laws do not protect consumers like us. And CASE does not help either.....

What angered me was also a news report some time back reporting that CASE's statistics 'showed' that complain cases of contractors are reducing or something like that. Then what about people like us who have fallen victim to these despicable contractors and yet CASE tells us there's nothing they can do to help us?

Now u know why I'm called disillusioned.

[sumobear 0]

Summerrain,

I had a hard time with my contractor too during renovation...almost end up with a fight. We had a gangster talk at my renovating home...both of us has our own backup. Very stress at that moment but I am also at the verge of bashing him up.

The problems he gave me are:

1) A cracked floor caused by acid washing that look like the dried up and cracked land of the sahara desert.

2) Wrong kind of paint, I spec ICI paints but he use Jotun paint that is 30% cheaper.

3) Order wrong tiles and want me to absorb.

4) Gave me a lot of excuses when I question him on his workmanship.

5) Workers place chemical on a completed cabinet and caused the laminates to have bubbles.

6) Plastered wall cracked badly and try to cover up with paint but the paints are in patches.

7) Workers scratched my toilet seats, deep cuts.

8) Worker smashed one of my toilet basin.

9) No warranty after renovation, I am paying for the workers to come back to fix the defects.

Most contactors will have their loads of excuses to tackle the newbies of home renovation so whenever there is a problem, I have to do a thorough research and take photos to tackle him. So far most of the time, I have outsmart him or slap him with the research and evidence that I am holding. Ultimately the lesson that I have learnt is NOT TO GO FOR CHEAP THINGS, it is Money versus Quality!

[Cantona7 0]

aiyo..din know that you had so much problems wif your contractor. we did have some defects but its minimal and our id kept his words to rectify them as best as he could. he din charge us extra for the extra work he has to put in due to his worker's mistake.

Yar that time Sumobear was veri stress out, but nw look at his home so nicely done up. There sure be a way to fix things up so Summerrain & Disillusioned don give up so easly.

[sumobear 0]

There are plenty of things which we just have to live with it...as a consumer, we will always want our home to be done up like a showroom condition but unfortunately our real space is not showroom condition for contractors, so there will bound to have some difference. Many contractors and IDs willl promise the sky but give you he11...I think I am somewhere near he11 during renovation. I am really depressed at that moment and I got heated up easily, sometimes scold my wife over small matters.

Even until today I can still find some minor problems but I try to live with it coz I do not wish to see my contractor again. Recently when I called my contractor to rectify some problem for me, he was trying his luck to ask me introduce some commerical jobs to him and also want to come to my home to take a look at my furnishing...I turned him down immediately.

Edited August 29, 2007 by sumobear

[raincole 0]

Agree.... It is not just about the money... and the cheapest doesn't mean good deal...