AngryOwner

Hi Niie Sounds like we had the same experience so I'll share what happened to us further down this reply. Like Renosotong said, only thing you can do now is document EVERYTHING TO EVERY DETAIL … from the dates and sequence of events to every defect found. This will be important if you decide to go the legal route. The documentation can help bolster your case that the house is not in a ‘liveable state’ due to the bad reno works. (However, remember that ‘liveable’ is very subjective depending on the judge.) You must also show you have made every possible gesture (phonecalls, emails etc) to be amicable and reasonable in your requests. You may also use this documentation and approach the free legal clinics offered through the Law Society – list can be obtained through CASE. These are done at your nearby Community Club or Town Council. Basic legal advice only but at least it is free and you get a better idea of your legal standing. Unfortunately, from our experience and your description so far, it does seem that your contractor is not interested in collecting the final payment, much less doing an adequate job. They also know that homeowners have limited legal actions (through CASE/SCT/Lawyers) unless you willing to spend more money and time. So they rather ignore you (and all the CASE/Lawyer letters you can throw at them) until their own sub-cons chase them for payment, then they appear again with their hands out. (SCT is probably most effective as they can ultimately send a Baliff to impose a writ of seizure and sales. Limitation is the under $10k claim, some fees required (approx. $350) and the time spent.) If you have the Time, Energy and Money to fight for your legal rights, go to the lawyers and SCT and, quite frankly, hope that the contractor responds, as there are few quick and easy legal recourses for the homeowner. If you want a ‘liveable state’ as soon as possible, maybe consider rectification by other contractors ( no guarantees though…) For your own mental well-being, you may also consider another avenue… please see http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/got_service_or_not/854160/contractor_breaks_our_glass_door_yet_insists_we_pay.html#commentSection. (remember what I said about documentation…) Finally, Our own bad contractor experience: 1) Contractor first provided a full quotation list (e.g. A-Z = $30K) of renovation items with a verbal agreement that end of the day will only be charged what was actually used. Good chemistry then cos recommended by designer whom we trusted (then) 2) Along the way, like you, we found shoddy workmanship, broken equipment etc 3) After a delayed handover and a lot of deficiencies, we started chasing for Final Bill so as to pay them off and close the job. They delayed for 6 weeks, in spite of us chasing them so we can PAY them!!! They missed a final deadline and stopped communication. 4) Went to CASE, who said since we are the ones actually owing the contractor money, we are still liable. However, CASE also said since the Original Quotation was no longer accurate, it is up to us to prove what was actually done and for the contractor to prove his Original Quotation is still accurate. Lawyers said the same thing and advised that the next legal step is to send them a ‘Legal Letter’(but must pay the lawyers of course.) However, the Legal Letter has no real ‘power’ beyond getting lawyers involved… So we started measuring every tile, cabinet and wall against the Original Quotation and calculated a new figure based on works ACTUALLY done. To that we also proposed a reduction for the overall shoddy workmanship and damage done to our items, as advised by CASE. Final outstanding figure: a few hundred dollars. Then we waited… 5) 6 months later, they sent another email demanding for payment on Original Quotation. We sent them the detailed list of works actually done. They stopped communication again.

Hi Niie so sorry to hear about your bad experience. Suggest try CASE first - bring all receipts/invoices detailing what you have already paid, and any outstanding sum...(hope you have not paid all!!) CASE will help you draft a letter to the contractor which you will have to deliver yourself. After that got other steps... but if your outstanding is more than 10,000, cannot use SCT. Ultimately, if you have already paid for most of the work, it is unlikely they will come and fix... if you havn't, they may still fix cos they still eyeing the last payment... either way, it is a difficult situation for you... good luck

Dear fellow homeowners: We engaged Hup Huat Glass Contractor to fix our sliding glass door which was not sliding smoothly and their workers broke it during the repair. The workers then called their company and quickly left our flat after cleaning up the broken glass. When we called the company to ask about paying for a new door, the lady-in-charge said we should foot half the bill even though it was her workers who broke it. She raised her voice at us and hung up when we insisted her company pay for the full cost. So we recorded the phone conversation when we called her the second time. This time, she said she doesn’t need to pay us because she can easily claim that it wasn’t her workers fault the door broke, and that she did not sign any contract. We went to CASE but they couldn’t do much for us because for CASE to take action, they need some kind of written document to prove we had engaged the company. We had done everything over the phone - calling the company to ask for their quote for fixing the door, agreeing to their quote and confirming the repair date. We have made a police report but the police said it is a civil case. We don’t understand the logic of it all. So basically, unless we have anyone we engage to provide us with a service (eg. locksmith, gas tank deliveryman, broadband installation technician etc) sign some kind of written document before they step into our flat, they can come into our home, break stuff and not be required by law to pay us back? We have posted the voice recording of the conversation at STOMP on the following link: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/got_service_or_not/854160/contractor_breaks_our_glass_door_yet_insists_we_pay.html If you have or intend to hire Hup Huat Glass Contractor, please remember our experience.