Just a few days ago, an elderly woman reported that a repairman demanded $4,000 to patch a hole in her kitchen. Although she ended up paying $800, the problem was not resolved.
And it appears she is not the only one facing this issue.
In a recent turn of events, residents have been encountering a peculiar situation involving repairs for leaking kitchen cabinets.
Another woman, who went online to find a solution for her leaky kitchen cabinet, ended up paying a hefty sum of $2,100 for a repair job that did nothing to fix the problem.
But this time, it wasn’t Google that recommended her the repair service.
The Patchy Repair Job That Involved Glue (Again)
As reported previously, a resident found herself in a sticky situation when she discovered a leak in her kitchen toilet and sought the help of an online repair service. The service provider brought two buckets of glue to “patch up” the hole, claiming that the glue cost $168 per 500 gram and eventually using $4,000 worth of glue (their claim, of course).
It was later discovered that the service provider was operating without a license. After a heated argument, the resident settled the matter by paying $800…which didn’t fix the problem, too.
Following the report, another reader, 53-year-old Ms Chen contacted Shin Min Daily News with a similar experience. She revealed that water was continuously seeping from the bottom of her kitchen cabinet in early July.
“The water made the kitchen counter wet and dirty, and the cabinet seemed to be getting a bit loose,” she said.
After unsuccessfully trying to locate the source of the leak themselves, Ms Chen’s family decided to seek professional help.
Unlike the previous resident who found the repairman from Google, this household came across an advertisement on TikTok, where the repair service claimed that there was no need to dismantle the cabinet or break any tiles.
Drilling holes and filling them with glue would suffice, they said.
Ms Chen contacted the service on 8 August, and they arrived the following morning for an inspection. After the two repairmen confirmed that drilling holes and filling them with glue would solve the problem, Ms Chen and her family agreed to proceed.
“Subsequently, they brought up two buckets of glue, weighed it on the spot, and claimed that it was sold by the kilogram at $120 per 500g. They emphasized that they wouldn’t use much, and the cost would be a few hundred dollars at most.”
Not sure about you, but that sounds extremely familiar.
To her surprise, after nearly half an hour of repair work, the repairmen demanded $2,300. Following a negotiation, they agreed to reduce the price to $2,100, which Ms Chen reluctantly paid. “Before they left, they specifically told me not to turn on the water for a few hours.”
However, when Ms Chen turned on the water in the afternoon, she found that the leaking problem persisted.
Paying for Peace of Mind
Ms Chen mentioned that she initially did not have enough cash on hand, and the repairmen suggested accompanying her to the bank to withdraw money.
“They initially insisted on receiving only cash, but later agreed to let me pay $1,000 in cash and transfer the rest.”
She also revealed that the two repairmen were young men. “My mother, who is in her eighties and uses a wheelchair, was at home, so I did not dare to confront them. For the safety of my family, I had to bite the bullet and pay.”
Inconsistent Statements from the Repair Service About “Glue”
A Shin Min Daily News reporter contacted the repair service using the phone number provided by the interviewee. The service claimed to be a professional leak repair company that could complete the repair work without damaging the house structure.
However, when asked about the charges, they said it was calculated based on usage, at $70 per kilogram for a “special waterproofing chemical”.
“There is no such product in Singapore; the chemical is specially imported from China.”
Now, remember: in the first report, the elderly was quoted $168 for 500g of “glue”. In this latest incident, she was quoted $120 per 500g.
When the reporter asked for the specific name of the chemical, the person could not answer and claimed to be a customer service representative who had just started working the day before.
Subsequently, the call was transferred to another person who claimed that the previous respondent was just a friend and that the actual price per kilogram of the chemical was $460.
When the reporter asked again for the name of the chemical and the company, the person could not answer but insisted that they were a legitimate company before hastily hanging up.
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