A woman took to social media to air her grievance over two plumbers whom she claimed “scammed” her and her husband.
Not only did they leave her washing machine pipe leaking worse than ever, but they also could no longer be contacted after blocking her number, she wrote in a post on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Sunday (Nov 20).
Ms Li Chen Tien explained that on the night before, she and her husband were in urgent need of a plumber due to a leak from the pipe of their washing machine.
As the mother of an infant, she was concerned over her supply of frozen breastmilk, since they had a freezer full right beside the washing machine in their backyard.
“I do not want anything to happen to the milk,” she explained, adding that they sought help “out of desperation.”
Because they had seen “a number on our door step” for plumbers, they called that number for the two plumbers to have a look at the washing machine pipe.
When the men came, they gave a $220 quote for repairs, which Ms Li and her husband declined.
“But the 2 of them refused to leave our house and scolded us, they said its Saturday night (close to 6pm) and they rush down here for us bla bla bla.”
In comments to her post, Ms Li said she had asked for an estimate for the cost of repair when she called on the phone, but the plumbers refused to give one.
The plumbers later lowered the fee to “$160 because … this is a complex case and need to change lots of parts.”
Ms Li and her husband did not agree to this fee.
“I told my husband to give him $20 as a compensation since he rush down here. But he refused to leave our house still.”
Finally, the plumbers agreed to a $150 and said they would change all the faulty parts of the washing machine.
However, the after working for an hour an a half, Ms Li said “the so called ‘plumbers’ couldn’t get it done and told us that this thing can’t be fixed as they do not have the parts.”
Furthermore, the plumbers told Ms Li and her husband to give them more money if they wanted the washing machine pipe to be repaired.
“Then only we realised this is a scam, we told them no, we are not going to pay extra money because it is not in the agreement since the beginning.”
“In the end, they put back all the washing machine piping into its original state and left and threaten us to make a police report. So my husband paid him $150,” Ms Li added.
However, when she wanted to use the washing machine at around midnight, she had an unpleasant surprise.
“To my dismay, the leakage is worst than before. Water is leaking out from the top of the washing machine. So we called the plumber and our numbers got blocked (no dialing tone at all). We have since lodged a police report on this. Waiting for police to update.”
Some commenters on Ms Li’s post appeared to be familiar with the plumbers’ MO.
Others advised Ms Li concerning what she, or others who find themselves in the same situation, can do in a similar situation. 
/TISG