Plumber Allegedly Refused to Leave After Arriving in Customer’s Flat & ‘Harassed’ Customer After That

What do you get when you pay $150 for a midnight plumber? 

You get your washing machine in a worse state and two strangers who don’t want to leave your property.

33-year-old Li Chen Tien took to Facebook on Sunday (20 November) to share her horrible experience with a plumber. Here was her recount of the story:

Context

The story begins like this. Li needed a plumber urgently at night. 

There had been a leakage from the pipe of her washing machine and because her freezer was near the washing machine, she was scared that the leakage might affect the contents of her freezer. 

Inside her freezer were packets of breast milk, so she didn’t want anything to happen to them. 

Since she couldn’t afford to leave the leakage lying around, she had to enlist help quickly.

Out of desperation, she called for two plumbers to come down to take a look. Unfortunately, that was her undoing. 

Plumber Problem

Before the plumbers came, both parties were unable to strike an agreeable price over the phone as the plumbers claimed that they had to first assess the situation. 

In the end, after investigating the condition of the leak, Li and her husband were quoted a hefty sum of $220. 

Logically, they declined to pay such a ridiculous price. 

Upon being rejected, the plumbers became heated. They refused to leave the premises and scolded the couple. They claimed that seeing as how it was a Saturday night (close to 6pm) and they had to rush down, the price was more than fair. Also, they claimed that they had to change a lot of parts. 

After some discussion, the two parties were agreeable on a $150 bill, with Li and her husband giving the workers an extra $20 as compensation for rushing down. 

Getting to Work

After about 1.5 hours, they reported back, saying that the job couldn’t be done. They claimed that because they had insufficient parts, the leak couldn’t be fixed.

They then demanded more money to get the job done. 

The plumbers that got to work couldn’t get the washing machine to work?

It was then that Li and her husband realised they had fallen into a scam. 

Replying to their request, Li told them no, since that was not part of the original agreement. 

In the end, they returned all the piping to the original state and left. Also, they forced Li’s husband into paying the original $150 by making a threat to report the incident to the police. 

Plumber Gone, Problem Stays

At around 12am, Li wanted to use the washing machine. To her utter horror, the leakage was not only unsolved, but also became worse. When the machine was turned on, water spurted from the top of the machine. 

In a bid to confront them, Li called back the plumbers from before. They called her “crazy” and then blocked her number. 

Left with no choice, she made a police report. 

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The Next Day

As our story rolls into the next day, we find one of the plumbers returning to Li’s house. At about 1pm, he shouted vulgarities at her doorstep. 

She didn’t open the door, but instead called the police. 

In police presence, the plumber agreed to give the couple a $100 refund, with $50 being for him to keep out of Li’s kindness, considering that he had made two trips. 

The two parties signed on a handwritten contract and solved the problem there and then.

Eventually, Li got the problem solved after hiring another person.

The best part?

She only paid $50. 

Plumber’s Take

So far, we’ve heard Li’s side of the story. Shin Min Daily News has spoken to the plumber, also surnamed Li, and here is the antagonist’s side of the story. 

The plumber claims that he spent about three to four hours at Li’s home, trying to fix the two water leaks that he had found.

“She was unhappy with the price and kept refusing to pay, so I couldn’t leave. In the end, I gave her a discount and charged her $150.”

He claims that it was a fair pricing and he did not overcharge them.

On the issue about the midnight call, he claims that they demanded for him to rectify the problem immediately. 

“I had just reached home, I wanted to sleep, couldn’t it be done the next day?” he asked in ridicule.

He stated that in regular scenarios, he would agree upon the price with customers beforehand, but was unable to do so this time as he wasn’t able to gauge the severity of the issue over the phone. 

With respect to the extra $50 extended by Li, he sighed: “I made two trips and I only got $50, I didn’t earn anything.” 

Netizen’s Response

Many extended their advice, saying that Li should have immediately called the cops the moment they refused to leave. In response, Li said that she and her husband did not want to cause any trouble because they had a baby in the home. 

Others provided her with sources such as the town council website for handyman contracts that offer reasonable pricing. 

Last but not least, commenters shared similar sentiments towards the plumbers. They criticised the incompetence of the workers and ridiculed their pricing. 

Oftentimes scams seem too good to be true. That’s why we pounce on it.

But in this unique case, this scam seemed too bad to be true. 

Unfortunately, there was still a victim.

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Featured Image: Zaobao