Few days ago I realised my aircon has stopped working. It keeps blowing out hot air and it has chosen a great time to do this - when the daily temperature is 33 degree celsius and the humidity level is about 89% in Singapore.

As much as I hate calling home maintenance people to my house due to the countless con-sters I've came across, we called our regular aircon repair/cleaning man. The reason he was regular was because he was the only one that we met that actually did a proper job of cleaning. Nevermind the fact that he used to charge $35 and that price had hiked to $60 over the span of 2-3years. Nevermind that he's quite a money grubber for he often told us to repair this and that when it turns out to be just a cleaning issue. As long as he can get our aircon up and running we're happy.

Today he came (with his wife) and tried to switch on my aircon. Then he said that it was not our usual dirty-and-needs-to-be-cleaned problem. He said the sensor was spoilt and that it needs repairing. Repairing would cost $180. Recalling that my bro's own aircon sensor had the same problem before and he managed to fix it quite easily himself, we decided not to engage his service. The aircon man said that we have to pay him $20 for the petrol he expended driving here. Though not unexpected by his demands, I was enraged. Being his regular customer, I expect him to have the decency not to profit from us in this manner. Of course we are willing to help him recover his costs but $20 is definitely a rip-off. $20 worth of petrol can definitely last traveling for a few days. Pique, I called him a con-man and that $20 is extortion. Not too sure if he heard me coz he was in the toilet packing up his tools. But his wife sitting in the living room heard me alright and I think I frightened her a little. Yes you old bitch, hope it would frighten you enough to knock some sense into your con-husband.

When they left, my bro's girlfriend was saying that it's actually okay for him to ask for the $20 because it is the industry norm. When I heard that I was very sad. Sad not because I didn't know about this. But sad because a norm does not mean that something is okay, yet these conmen has made many of us (excluding me of course) believe that it is okay. I have never come across any other honest profession that allows a person to profit from another without having performed any service. If you bring your laptop (or any other electronics/appliance/watch) for repair, they don't charge you for having expended effort into finding out the problem and quoting you even if in the end you decide not to repair. When you ask an insurance agent out to discuss about a policy you would like to take out but in the end you decide not to take it, does the agent charge you for his trip fare or the work he has put into drawing up the policy? No.

And I'm not even saying that we should let the aircon person bear the cost of the trip. But I would like to repeat that $20 is unreasonable. (We even came across $40 in the past!). Hence I really feel that there should be some form of authority regulating the industry. I know regulation comes with a cost but I believe in this instance, the cost of the harm caused on the consumers due to dishonest practice far outweighs the cost of regulation. If you are not able to behave, then your parents should come in to discipline you. The logic is as simple as that.