This are the deets for April. Get the gist at Yelp.
April 30: The Installation
So just before 8:30 a.m. - while the office was still closed (like yesterday when I first called about the issue) - James and Tommy arrived to replace the hot water heater. But now, I have to wait for someone to clean up the mess (excess water in the carpet, and dirt/mud/stuff from the dirty soles of one or both of these maintenance staffers), which James was nice enough to say he'd follow up on after asking me how I wanted it handled......or should I have offered to clean up after him and Tommy?
I don't know. but I emailed the office about what James said he'd (help?) arrange, stating that I'd be expecting someone to stop by today unless I was notified of someone coming later.
It was great to have the carpet cleaner at my door before the lunch hour to take care of my entire hallway. What was weird was receiving an email from Darla, the Property/Community Manager - about an hour after the hallway had been clean - stating that she couldn't tell me when someone would be stopping by since carpet cleaning is done by an outside vendor. I mean, did I receive her email late because of a(nother) technical glitch (which will be explained on my upcoming documentations page), or did she really send the email after everything had been cleaned up?
It's gonna be a slow two months (which is when the last lease I signed ends).
April 29: The Sunday Emergency Maintenance Call
While walking down my hallway this morning at around 9-ish, I noticed that my carpet was wet near the room of my apartment where the washer/dryer is supposed to be kept. Normally, this is a sign that I have water leaking from the above apartment; but today, it was the hot water heater with a drip coming from the bottom of it.
I called the emergency maintenance number listed on the April 2012 Newsletter. James answered the phone, and I explained the situation. He arrived within minutes. He stated that my hot water heater was no longer working, and he offered to get a new one for me as early as today, but no later than tomorrow morning. When I asked where he'd get me a new one, he explained that they're available on-site, but he didn't have access to the room that carries them.
He turned a valve, stepped out to get something to drain the hot water heater in order to stop the drip. While he was out, I checked my hot water and noticed that there was no water coming from any of the hot-water side of the faucets in my apartment. Okay.
When James came back with a vacuum in an attempt to clean up the water, he explained that he was trying to contact Pappy to find out when he could get a new hot water heater to replace the one I reported dripping. He also said that he was willing to work around my schedule after I continued pressing him for a specific time frame for when I should expect to hear from him today, so I gave him my home number and my cell number, explaining that we might be gone and not able to let him in.
Before he left - without the water vac he brought in to clean up the water, so that's still in my apartment - he explained again that the hot water heater would be replaced either today or tomorrow, and that if I didn't hear from him by a certain time today, that it'd be fixed by tomorrow morning.
So after he left, I had no drip coming from my hot water heater; no water coming from any of the hot-water sides of my faucets; and (sorry James) plenty of water on my floor after the vacuum was brought in.
I called James 20 minutes after he left, asking him to turn my hot water back on, stating that I would put something under the drip until the hot water heater could be replaced. He gave me verbal instructions to turn on the hot water, telling me to turn the circular valve nearest the top pipe counter clockwise (So, no, he didn't want to come out to undo what he'd done after I asked him to. Or should I have demanded him to come out?). I hung up the phone, did what I was told to do, but still had no water - hot or cold - coming from the hot-water side of any of my faucets in my unit.
I called James and told him that he needed to come out and turn the hot water back on, as I had no hot water coming from my faucet after following his instructions, and that I hadn't had a shower today. We agreed that he'd do it within a couple of hours, I stressed no later than 12 noon, so I hope he got my hint.
We'll see if things can go back to normal - with the addition of a plastic container under my hot water heater to catch the water dripping - by 12 noon today. And we'll see how soon it takes to get a new hot water heater since that's what was offered.
April 29: The Sunday Emergency Maintenance Call, Part 2
So James stopped by well before 12 noon to turn my hot water back on, resulting in both water flowing from the left side of my faucets and heat to make it hot. We placed a container under the hot water heater to catch any drips. He reminded him of the vacuum he left behind, and he explained that he trusted leaving it in my unit until he returns tomorrow.
I also got a few tips to help me with water issues in the future, along with the assurance that nothing shouls bust, or explode, or whatever happens in worst case scenarios involving hot water heaters.
Thanks for your help this morning, James. I think I might speak to you if I see you around the property (i.e., give you a wave or a head nod).
And hello, Mr. Shower. How you doin'?
April 19: I said, "No!"
So someone knocked on my door about 15 minutes ago trying to tell me that they needed to use my patio to work on the balcony above mine. I won't get into the way this guy expressed this idea to me, but will save it for another time. However, I did ask him to confirm that all he wanted to do was use my porch to place his equipment, and he looked me in the eye and said, "yes".
So I called the office and get Darla, the Property/Community Manager, and explain what's going on, and that I'd rather not have people they pay to work on the property knocking on my door if I haven't requested a work order.
Darla put me on hold, contacted the workers via radio, and got back to me stating that they were only trying to explain what they were doing (which was what I assumed, however, like I said, this guy didn't communicate his thought in the most professional way.)
As soon as I got off the phone with Darla, the same guy who knocked on my door was on my porch plugging his equipment into my outlet like the other lame-o did back in March. I had to call Darla again to explain what they were doing, making it clear that I no longer felt comfortable to leave my home today (because I have errands to run before my 3:00pm and 4:00pm appointments, which last about an hour) because I've got people on my porch using my electricity.
She apologized, said she'd come out and speak to the guys, but still.....Lame.
