KOTA KINABALU: The Consumer Claims Tribunal here yesterday a contractor to refund RM12,000 in down payment to a house owner for failing to complete the renovation work on the house.
The claimant, Kasmir Singh, said he signed an agreement with the contractor, Molinus Mojinmot, on December 7 last year to carry out renovation work on his house which cost RM21,000.
“I paid RM8,400 as deposit to Molinus so that he could buy the materials needed for the renovation work. A week later, he called me to say that his father had passed away and asked for another RM2,600. The total amount paid was RM11,000.
“On December 18, I went to Kuala Lumpur with my family for the Christmas holiday and Molinus promised me to complete at least 50 percent of the renovation work by the time I came back from holiday.
“However, when I returned home, he had not done anything. In fact, I had banked in another RM1,000 to him when I was in Kuala Lumpur,” said Kasmir, who sought the refund of the RM12,000 he had paid to the contractor.
Molinus, who was present at the hearing yesterday, replied ‘akun’ (agreed) to the contents of Kasmir’s statement and was accordingly ordered to pay RM12,000 within 14 days by Tribunal President Datuk Dr Lawrence S.H. Thien.
In a separate case yesterday, the Consumer Claims Tribunal ordered another local contractor to refund RM1,700 for failing to complete the installation of a sliding door on a Rumah Rakyat project house at Kampung Buang Sayang, Papar.
The claimant, Azlan Jumah, who was contracted to build the house, had appointed the contractor to undertake the installation of a sliding door costing RM2,100 for which he duly paid the contractor RM2,000 on May 29, 2012.
“From May to September, as the contractor, Ryea Enterprise, did not complete the installation of the sliding door, I had to appoint another contractor to finish the job as I had to deliver the house on time.
“I paid the second contractor RM1,700 even though I had already paid RM2,000 to the previous contractor,” said Azlan who claimed RM4,500.
Thien however only awarded RM1,700.