Pipe dealer making fool of customers?
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 22 2013 : Taking advantage of the growing popularity of Polypropylene Random (PPR) pipes for use in bathrooms of big buildings, both public and private, dealers of the pipe are suspected of befooling their unsuspecting customers.

PPR pipes sold in Manipur are manufactured by the Sevior Faire Manufacturing Company Private Limited (SFMC) and the same product has become very popular across India including Manipur.

People prefer PPR pipe because it has three layers.

It is SFMC which has been successfully producing pipes having three layers for the first time in India.

The first and second layers of the pipe keep off ultra violet rays while the inner most layer does not let growth of bacteria even after the pipe is used for many years.

As per the company's specifications, life span of PPR pipe is 50 years.

It also prescribes that Pressure Normal 20 or PN 20 type of pipe is best suited for carrying both warm and cold water in bathrooms.

According to a source, Imphal dealer of PPR pipes is Mohon Traders, MG Avenue (Major Khul).

It is suspected that Mohan Traders has been making fool of their own customers for the past many years.

The same pipes are also available at Sangita Hardware, Home Solutions and Binod Hardware all based at Imphal but it is Mohon Traders which gives maximum discount.

PPR pipes are sold at a discount of 55 per cent at Guwahati and Mohon Traders gives the maximum discount at Imphal.

One salesman working at Mohon Traders said, "Others dare not give greater discount than us".

Taking advantage of the growing popularity of PPR pipes, Mohan Traders have been deceiving a number of ignorant customers every day by giving them pipes of lesser quality even though the customers are charged exact prices of the pipes they desired, disclosed the source.

There have been many cases of giving PN-16 pipes of lesser thickness while charging the unsuspecting customers price of 32mm (outer diameter) PN-20 pipes.

Whereas price reflected in the cash memo was of 44 mm PN-20 pipes, customers were given PN-10 pipes of lesser thickness.

The size of PN-20 pipes ranges from 16 mm to 160 mm in diameter.

At the same time, some plumbers in cahoot with salesmen have been procuring PPR pipes of lesser quality in place of the ones chosen by house owners after taking price of the chosen pipes.

Apart from private buildings, Mohan Traders supplied PPR pipes for bathrooms attached in huge buildings constructed by PWD as well as the Assembly Secretariat.

"PWD demanded large number of PPR pipes and the amount involved in huge", said the Mohan Traders salesman.

Given such deceitful practice, it cannot be ruled out that contractors were also not involved in this wrongdoing, added the source.

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