A $140 lesson

On a whim during a visit to the supermarket last week, I bought two of these 'air fresheners' for the toilet bowls of my two toilets. Not that the toilets smelled, but it was a just for fun thing which ultimately cost me $140.
Over the weekend, on the Sunday actually, I suddenly noticed that one of the freshener was missing. Immediately, I flushed and noticed that the water was not draining away smoothly as usual, instead, the water level rised for a short while. So I deduced that the freshener had somehow dropped into the toilet bowl and choked up the cistern. I checked the Town Council website and it showed that the term contractor's cost was $23 per cistern but the limitation was that the contractor only worked during office hours. So I called the number printed on the sticker that was stuck on my doorbell (for a long time) and that contractor said that it would cost me $80 to $120. So I said the Town Council is only charging $30. He promptly told me to find the Town Council and hung up the phone. A point to note that once you call, the contractor will ask you straight for your address (block and unit no). It turned out to be their trick.

So, being the smart aleck, I browsed the Classifieds and the advert below sprang up to my sight. "CHEAP" and "FAST". Well, I decided I wasn't going to wait for dear ol' Town Council so I called up the number. On hindsight, when I read the advert again, this advert does not even have a company name, which should have sounded the alarm bells in my head.

So I called up and this man asked me, similar to the earlier contractor, for my address which I, rather stupidly, gave. I then asked him how much will it cost, and he muttered" Need to se then say". Damn, there was nothing to see, its just a toilet bowl, the choke is in the cistern.

But being the idiot (how many times have I said this, but I really feel cheated), even when he showed up outside my flat and I asked him how much will it cost, he still said he needed to see. He ignored my point that there was nothing to see.

When he saw the toilet bowl and there was nothing to see, he asked what has caused the choke. When I mentioned the freshener, he exclaimed and said he has seen many cases and they are one of the most difficult cases, and he might have to take out the entire toilet bowl!!! Wow, he got me worried and the only thing on my mind was to clear the bloody choke.

So he said with some conviction, that he hoped he didn't have to remove the toilet bowl and he will try to clear the choke. And so I gratefully accepted the $140 price (I managed to cut it down from the $150 he quoted).

But surprise, surprise, after a few nudges with a crude looking piece of metal, pouring a few buckets of water and a few tugs using the suction 'pump', the cistern cleared and he exclaimed "You heng ah, very heng ah!" By then, I was a little skeptical and said that "Uncle, your $140 very easy to earn ah."

He looked at me quizzedly and said"No lah...you very heng ah!"

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Ok, so end of story. So two lessons learnt. Don't use this type of air freshener and get the Town Council contractor. Even if you call the contractor on the classifieds, do not reveal your address and ask for a quote and call a few to get a good feel of the market price.