Ex-army officer gets refund for overpaid amount

Nura’ain says the contractor had promised to complete the project within a month.

A retired army officer who engaged a contractor to erect retention walls for her new house at Ulu Tiram, Johor Baru, filed a claim after she realised he had been overpaid.

Nura’ain Abu Bakar hired the contractor to build the walls to prevent earth movement as her single-storey bungalow was situated on higher ground and prone to erosion.

Speaking to StarMetro outside the Johor Consumer Claims Tribunal at Menara Ansar, Johor Baru, she said she was introduced to the contractor by another contractor who had installed water pipes at her house.

She said the project, budgeted at RM35,900, was to erect retention walls, external kitchen walls, drainage system and was inclusive of building materials, land reclamation and labour charges.

The contractor promised to complete the project within a month.

Work started on Feb 8 after he was paid RM10,000 on Feb 5, she said, adding 14 bank transactions were made in total up to March 23.

“Six of the bank transactions were made to a hardware shop while eight were to the company’s bank account,” Nura’ain said.

“No invoices were issued to me,” she said, adding the contractor instructed her to pay directly to the hardware shop as he claimed that he was short of money.

“In April, I realised that I had overpaid the respondent RM6,065 after looking at all the bank transactions.”

She then served the tribunal notice to the respondent at his house in Taman Puteri Wangsa, Ulu Tiram, that same month.

“He did not make efforts to refund the RM6,065 to me and only said that he would look into the matter,” she said.

Tribunal president Lee Chee Thim reprimanded the respondent, who was at the hearing, for submitting his counter claims only on the day of the hearing although he had been served the notice in April.

“I was busy as I had to attend to family matters,” the respondent said.

Lee ordered the respondent to pay the RM6,065 to the claimant within six months, with the first five monthly payments of RM1,000 to start on July 30 and the last payment of RM1,065 to be made on Dec 30.

The respondent appealed, saying he was facing financial difficulties and did not have any projects.

He said he was willing to pay RM500 per month starting this month, with the final amount of RM1,065 on June 30, 2025.

His request was granted by the president.

Those who need assistance can reach the tribunal at 07-227 1755/1766.