Bathroom Woes

So I visited my new house yesterday night. I needed to pay a plumber for fixing the toilet leak in the flat above mine. Yes, I did say that I paid someone to fix the toilet of my upstairs neighbour. Why? Because his leak was ruining the paint job of my new place. Why should I have to pay for it? It is called the "goodwill" scheme under the Singapore government's policy. My block was built by the government for the public which is usually cheaper than condominiums and private houses built by commercial developers. As such, I have to adhere to government policies in the upkeep and maintenance of the building.

Apparently, the block where I am planning to stay in is over 30 years old, and the pipes for the entire block have started to leak. As such, it has been scheduled for upgrading, i.e. the government will plan improvements for the entire block. They will hold a poll among residents and if over 75% votes for the upgrading, it will be carried out latest by end of 2007 (yes, they work as fast as an MNC!). Of course, the costs of the upgrading will be borne by the residents themselves, but the upgrading works managed by the government. The deal is, I was not informed of the upgrading until AFTER I had renovated my toilet, which included changing the entire set of pipes in my toilet as the old iron ones were already corroding. There's another story to be told here, but I will leave that for my next post.

Well, since upgrading of the pipes has been scheduled to happen next year, I cannot insist that my upstairs neighbour fix his leak, so to speak. Yes, it is unfair given that the upgrading could possibly happen only the end of next year, but I also do not want to have to live with water stains and falling plaster until then. So I have agreed to the "goodwill" policy which means that I will pay for half of the fee for a plumber to fix his toilet. I wasn't too happy about that, but I realise that was the deal with living in public housing. I have lived in a private property all my life (my parents' place that is) and have been blissfully unaware of the complications that can take place living in apartment blocks.

Thankfully, the amount was manageable - $75 on my end. For some reason or other, the plumber refused to give me an address where I could send the cheque to. He also insisted on meeting up with me and that payment be made in cash. It all sounded pretty dodgy, and I would have refused to pay him in cash if not that the HDB (Housing Development Board of Singapore) officer had not called me to tell me that the plumber's name was Sam.

So I met up with him yesterday evening and asked for an invoice with my payment. To my disgruntlement, the invoice bore no company name, no address, and no contact number. I had Sam's mobile number through our conversations, but it was not printed on the invoice. It was a leaf from a general invoice book that someone could have bought from any stationary shop. I voiced my objection and asked for a name card. At least if he had one, I could call his company and check that he was an employee and had been contracted to do the work for my unit. But nope, he did not have a name card either. I could pay him, and he could deny he had ever received payment from me, and that the invoice could have been fabricated on my side. I asked him to contact the HDB officer who apparently was the one who had recommended him for the job. So he called Rahim.

I was much appeased to see that he not only had Rahim's contact number, and upon speaking with Rahim, he affirmed that this plumber had been recommended by him to fix the upstairs toilet. Sam wasn't a con man who had knowledge of my bathroom woes and had posed as a plumber to collect money from me. Yes, I know that $75 is not a lot for a con job, but it is still my hard earned cash, and in renovation, every cent counts.

So over the phone, I insisted that Rahim bears witness that I had paid Sam for the job, and he agreed. Honestly, the whole thing wouldn't hold up in a court of law. I was very much at a disadvantage here. Legally, to be a witness, Rahim would have to be present at the time when I presented to cash to Sam. And upon Rahim's own admittance, Sam wasn't a LICENSED plumber. I was flabbergasted to learn of this. That a government official would recommend someone who wasn't licensed to carry out public works. But the upstairs owner had agreed to it and had already flown back to Hong Kong, and the works have apparently been completed. So if the both of them chose to deny everything, I could end up being taken for a ride. Yes, I know some people would call me paranoid, but I hate anything dodgy and that's not aboveboard. In this situation, matters were pretty much out of my hand and I would just have to pay up. And so I did with a prayer, and left it at that.