Very Unpleasant Experience With Electrician

[shazcarvalho 1]

Hi guys, just wanted to share my experience with you all and possibly get some advice.

I got the keys to my resale HDB flat in May this year. After which, I started looking for an electrician. I checked quotes online as well as had a couple of electricians recommended by friends. I met up with one guy upon my friend's recommendation. He came down on a Saturday and gave me a rather reasonable quote. He also mentioned that the trunking cost will be minimal and will be added in after the work is done because he can't gauge how much he will need to use. So, I asked him to please work with my contractor on the schedule. She feedback to me that he was very uncooperative. Didn't keep to his schedule, turned up as and when he felt like it. I am a single, working woman so I could only head down on weekdays after work and on weekends to check the progress. My contractor also kept me in the loop through the phone.

The renovations commenced end on the second week of June. It was scheduled to end on 18 July, I was to move in on 19 July. The weekend before it was scheduled to end, I checked with my electrician on the status and requested that he complete everything by 15 July. He told me it was not gonna be a problem. The contractor handed over the house to me on 18 July in the evening. I had gone down for a final look and realised that one of the twin sockets was incomplete. Some others were crooked and not aligned. So then I contacted the electrician and asked him when he would be completing everything, he said he will arrange again but he cannot do weekends. He can only do on weekdays between 9am to 5pm. So that meant I had to take a day off work to see that everything is completed, which is unfair to me.

Over the next couple of weeks, I tried to arrange for a time. There was one weekday that my friend was gonna be around so I dropped him that he could come on a Friday, so just let me know if he can make it. I dropped him that message on a Tuesday. There was no sight, no sound. Then 2 weeks later, he emailed me and told me that I have overlooked payment, I replied him that it was not an oversight but that the work has not been completed. Subsequently, we kept missing each other's calls. When I finally did manage to speak to him, he started shouting at me and I couldn't get a word in so I passed the phone to my friend who was with me at the time.

I did tell him that he can even come and fix in the evenings after 6pm. His response was "who works at that time?". He was adamant about not being able to work on weekends. In the first place, before I agreed to engage him, it should have been made clear to me that he cannot work at certain times. Its absurd because the first time we met was on a Saturday.

When my friend was talking to him, he was shouting at her too and saying that he does not work on weekends. She did offer to pay half of cost for the incomplete and crooked ones, he told her to go and give the money to God.

After that very unpleasant situation, I spoke to the friend who had recommended him and she also saw the incomplete and crooked work done. She said that he was actually recommended by her colleague. So she spoke to her colleague who said that she would have a word with him but after that, nothing. This happened on 18 Aug. 2 days ago, he emailed me and asked me to settle everything by this week. He is denying everything mentioned before and is accusing me of shouting at him instead. This guy is so very dishonest and has a terrible attitude.

In his quotation and invoice, it is stated that a deposit is required upfront, which has been paid. The remaining amount is to be paid upon completion. However, because it was not complete and some of the crooked ones were not rectified, I feel that its unfair for him to demand full payment. Now, he is saying that I am the one who shouted at him and I am the one who is inflexible with the timing.

Can anyone advise me how I should go about dealing with this?

[Pelect 3]

Apart from the timing and personal issues, there are 2 physical issues you described.

One of them is alignment and this can be done very easily. A lot of them would simply tap the cover plate to get it to align.

The other problem is not clearly described; one of the the twin sockets was incomplete.

Regardless, both issues seemed trivial so best is to try and continue to work it out with contractor since he has emailed you to settle everything within a week.

Focus on the issues and perhaps agree on payment upon completion on the spot. It's just not worth your time and energy to drag this out and neither is it productive for the other party though he might be indifferent. In singapore, we were brought up to have high standards in terms of commitment and punctuality but when it comes to most contracting, somehow, a lot of our expectations fall short. Quality of work is the other issue most people face.

[Carmeo88 0]

Can provide us the company and electrician detail to avoid using this contractor in future?