The Voice - Consumer's Voice

My kitchen is broken!

Good day sir. In 2023 December I hired a man to come and do some kitchen fittings and ceiling which later he failed to the last finishes. We paid him P11,000.

Last week one of the kitchen fittings collapsed, I requested him to came as see the incident so we can talk about the way forward as it looks like there was wrong usage of nail in the cupboards. The glass electronic stove was shattered and 20 items were in those cupboards. I texted him on WhatsApp, he just blue ticked and my phone calls he doesn't want to pick them.

Kindly advise me what to do in such matter. Thank you.

I think you'll have difficulty here. You told me that this guy was operating as an individual, not as a company and if that's correct, the Consumer Protection Act won't apply to the work he did. It's a good example of why it's best to use a registered company to do work like this for you.

Secondly, he's clearly not very good at his job. He didn't complete the work and it looks like his poor workmanship led to the collapse and subsequent damage to your stove.

Finally, he's really unhelpful. He's ignoring your messages and calls and when I contacted him he was very unwilling to give me any information.

However, there is a hint of good news. I did a little detective work and it's possible that he is actually running a company. It's worth contacting the Competition and Consumer Authority to see if they can apply some pressure.

They blacklisted me!

Sir I need your help. In 2023 I took a bed and microwave on hire purchase and I kept on paying then my job ended and I told them I'm no longer working. Then they ended up taking their products. I was trying to apply for youth empowerment money but they have blacklisted me with the amount of P7,200. What can I do?

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do. This is how hire purchase works. It doesn't matter to the store why you stopped paying, all they care about is getting their monthly instalments. You did the right thing when you told them that you were no longer working, but they still expect to get the payments every month. If you don't, eventually they will come and repossess the goods. It's important to remember that when you're buying goods on higher purchase, they don't belong to you. Until you've made the last payment, they remain the property of the store and they can repossess them if you're in arrears.

What's worse is that even if the goods are repossessed, you'll still owe the store the money you agreed to pay them and if you don't pay them, they'll record that on your credit history so that other potential lenders can decide whether to lend you money. Obviously, in your case, this prevented you from getting a loan.

Realistically the only thing you can do is to find a way to start repaying this money and only then will they update your record.