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Electrician Tried to Charge $2,300 to Replace Circuit Breaker; Turned Out Old One Was Working Fine

2023-03-23 , 6:07 pm

If there’s one thing that Singaporeans can all agree on, it’s that the cost of living has definitely been rising over the years.

With that said, most of us probably still wouldn’t be willing to fork out $2,300 for just a circuit breaker.

But that’s exactly what an electrician charged Uncle Leong Seafood, a well-known seafood restaurant along Tebing Lane in Punggol, after claiming that the restaurant’s circuit breaker was spoiled.

And the worst part?

The circuit breaker wasn’t even damaged in the first place at all.

Here’s what the manager of the seafood restaurant has to say.

Power Outage Happened at Around 12 am

When speaking to Shin Min Daily News, 35-year-old Sun Baoling (Hanyu pinyin) recalled how the incident last Sunday (19 March) happened at around 12 am after the restaurant had closed for the day.

Ms Sun, the restaurant’s manager, was tidying up the restaurant with her father when they experienced a power outage in the establishment.

In order to ensure the refrigerated ingredients and crabs would not get spoiled due to the power outage, Ms Sun immediately searched for 24-hour electricians online.

After scrolling through the search results online, she decided to hire one of the electricians she found on the web.

Electrician Claimed that He Would Charge $350 for Transport Even if No Repairs Were Required

According to Ms Sun, the electrician told her that he would charge her $350 for “transport costs” even if he found out that no repair work needed to be conducted.

She agreed as it was already past midnight and added in her interview that they did not want to disturb electricians they knew personally.

Additionally, Ms Sun and her father were unable to find the cause of the power outage by themselves either.

Said Circuit Breaker Was Faulty, Tried to Charge $2,300

The electrician reached the restaurant at around 1 am that day.

After conducting some checks, he told Ms Sun and her father that the restaurant’s circuit breaker was faulty.

He also claimed that he would need to help them change their circuit breaker into an entirely new one and that it would take him one and a half hours.

But that’s not all.

He also told the father-daughter duo that he would be charging them $2,300 for his work.

Yup, probably more than what some of us even make in a month.

Ended Up Not Changing the Circuit Breaker

After hearing the price, Ms Sun and her father were extremely shocked.

Ms Sun also mentioned that based on their observations, she and her father did not think that the circuit breaker was the cause of the issue.

They decided to call their friends for their opinions before deciding that they did not want the electrician to replace their circuit breaker for them.

After their decision, they paid him $350 and asked him to leave.

Ended Up Spending $60 to Solve the Issue

Afterwards, Ms Sun decided to contact an electrician whom she was more familiar with.

Under that electrician’s guidance, she was able to find out that the power outage happened due to a short circuit caused by one of the restaurant’s fridges.

After unplugging that fridge, the restaurant’s power supply returned to normal.

They also found another electrician to fix the fridge the next day and were only charged $60.

And I’m sure you don’t even need to do the maths to know that the $60 repair was a far better deal.

First Electrician Did Not Conduct Professional Checks

When reflecting on her experience with the first electrician, Ms Sun said that he was a “swindler” and added that he did not even conduct professional checks for every switch on the circuit breaker.

He also did not explain the exact reason behind the restaurant’s power outage.

According to Ms Sun, he only “checked the electrical supply here and there” with some instruments.

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Electrician is No Longer Contactable

After the incident, reporters from Shin Min attempted to contact the electrician who tried to charge Ms Sun $2,300.

However, the man who picked up the call claimed that the reporters had called the wrong number and that he was unaware of such an incident.

He hurriedly hung up afterwards.