Rogue Plumbers

Leaky sewage pipes and fittings for water supplies may actually cost less than you are paying for plumbing services. There has been a rise in the number of rogue plumbers who terrorize households by overcharging or providing poor services. Such unreliable plumbers typically have a modus operandi. They quote cheap prices for enquiries on the phone, like $60, but charge $150-200 upon arrival. Also, they usually don’t have a company, and only offer their cell phone numbers.

The Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) saw an increase from 127 of such cases in 2007 to 158 cases in 2008. Just in the month of October alone, 64 cases were reported. A customer who paid $220 to repair a heater was told to turn it on after 3 days, only to discover that it had not been repaired. 

Plumbing work can be classified as sanitary service or water service. The former refers to work on existing water pipework and sanitary fittings such as toilets, urinals and basins, while the latter involves work on new water pipework and fittings for water supply. 

In 2002, licenses by the Public Utilities Board for registered plumbers were removed to offer a broader variety of plumbers for consumers. This eliminated the prerequisite of learning proper procedures in order to obtain a license. Some plumbers believe that the removal of this requirement has allowed rogue plumbers to engage in dishonest acts and perform shoddy work, leading to an accumulation of bad reputation for the plumbing industry.

A housewife even had to resort to calling the police; the plumbers she hired had declined to quote a price over the phone and only told her the bill would be $400 upon arrival. After consulting her friend on the phone, she requested that the plumbers stop work. However they refused, even though they had not yet started, and further threatened her with a spanner. She had to pay up in the end as they continued with their work. A PUB officer later confirmed that the pipe had not been leaking in the first place. 

Customers can contact the Singapore Plumbing Society (SPS) hotline at 6294-9252 or the NTUC Income hotline at 6788-8788 for referrals to authentic plumbers.