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Complaints against renovation contractors jump almost 50% in 2021

The number of consumer complaints against renovation contractors jumped by almost 50 per cent in 2021, with nearly half of them about unsatisfactory workmanship or contractors failing to complete projects on schedule.

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This comes as the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) released consumer complaints data for 2021 on Monday (Jan 31). A total of 15,515 complaints were logged last year, down 15.3 per cent from the 18,335 complaints in 2020, said CASE.

"The decrease is largely attributed to a significant drop in the number of complaints against the travel and medical and medical consumables industries," said CASE.

Of the 15,515 complaints, CASE advised 86.7 per cent of the consumers how to resolve their disputes with the businesses. It also helped 13.3 per cent of the consumers negotiate and mediate their disputes with businesses.

In all, CASE said that 64.7 per cent of those cases were resolved, with S$2 million - in-cash and in-kind - recovered for consumers.

The association said the composition of consumer complaints it received in 2021 has returned to pre-2020 levels, an "early sign" that consumer purchasing behaviour and habits in Singapore have stabilised to pre-pandemic levels.


INCREASE IN RENOVATION CONTRACTOR COMPLAINTS
CASE received 1,300 complaints against home renovation contractors in 2021, up almost 50 per cent from the 869 complaints in 2020.

"Close to half of the complaints against the industry were about renovation contractors failing to complete projects on schedule and unsatisfactory workmanship," said the association.

The increase in complaints was attributed to the prolonged shortage in manpower and raw materials arising from continued border restrictions due to COVID-19, pent-up demand in the residential property market, as well as a corresponding demand for home renovation last year.


SHARP INCREASE IN PREPAYMENT LOSSES
CASE also said that consumers who prepaid for items or services such as beauty and bridal packages took a greater hit last year.

Consumers suffered more than S$520,000 in prepayment losses last year, a sharp increase from the S$190,000 reported in the previous year.

The beauty and bridal industries saw the greatest amount of prepayment losses in 2021. Consumers who made prepayments for beauty and bridal packages were unable to get a refund of their money due to business insolvency.

“Prepayment protection is an area of deep concern for CASE," said Mr Yong.

To better protect consumers against "hefty financial losses" due to company closures, Mr Yong said CASE has called on the Government to consider mandating prepayment protection in industries that collect large sums of prepayment.