Calls has been made by the Consumer Council of Fiji to tighten the licensing process of building contractors as Fijians are falling preys to the gimmicks of some unscrupulous building contractors.
Chief Executive, Premila Kumar has confirmed that the council has received one hundred and fifty complaints in the last four years with a monetary value of three point one million dollars.
Some of the complaints received by the Consumer Watchdog includes poor quality job, inferior materials used and non-completion of work within the time-frame.
“Complaints are simple complaints which is very important from the consumer perspective because you pay money for quality of the job, the job needs to be finished on time and the materials being used by the contractor also has to be of quality, unfortunately these are the areas where we receive complaints and it is causing lot of frustration to consumers.’
Kumar says consumers have suffered for too long and lost their hard earned money at the hands of some unscrupulous building contractors
Fiji Masters Builders Association Secretary Vijay Naidu says people need to carry out background checks before hiring any contractor.
“Consumers in Fiji need to realize , you can’t just give away money it’s like saying that here is money go and build my house , what guarantee is there that that person has the right skills, right knowledge and right equipment to do the work that you want him to do.”
The Association says they are putting recommendations together to introduce a legislation that would substantially increase protection from “unscrupulous operators.
