I
knew that yesterday was going to be a long day and a late night at the office.
I could tell by the times reserved on my calendar and the work that needed to
be done that I wouldn’t be getting home at the usual time. With this fact in
the back of my mind, the day was already beginning to drag as midafternoon came
around to smack me in the face. In a series of texts from my wife, it was made
very clear that the refrigerator was not the biggest maintenance problem in the
apartment. When my wife got home she noticed the same subtle noise that we heard
last summer in the office… dripping.
Off
in the corner of the living room, the saturated ceiling tile was now bathing
our bookcases in a stale staccato of water coming from one of the many possible
sources in the maze of pipes hidden by the flimsy barrier above. After
notifying the front desk, maintenance was in the apartment to assess the mess
created by one of their many predecessors. Essentially, what happened was that
the many cans of spray foam encapsulating the pipe had given way and the bucket
semi permanently secured below this quality piece of craftsmanship was
overflowing into our living room.
A
couple hours later nearly all the foam had been chipped away and the totality
of the failed fix was revealed. While I am not certain as to the exact nature
of the issue, it was very clear that cutting corners was made a priority in the
past and we should, hopefully, have a proper remedy to the problem. But that is
going to have to wait as the area needs to dry, parts need to be purchased, and
our patience needs to be tested further. Fortunately, while they were in the apartment,
they called a service company to come out and fix the fridge… a problem that
was consciously being ignored by the new management company, Camco, for nearly
two weeks. After phone, verbal, and written messages there is no doubt in my
mind that we were ignored. At the opposite end of the service spectrum, as soon as maintenance found out that the issue wasn't resolved, they took care of it right away.
So
now, as we wait for the leak to be fixed (not just a finger in the dike), we
are left assessing what needs to be cleaned, what needs to be thrown away, and
whether or not we want to keep the furniture in the same places knowing what
problems keep surfacing just above our heads. More work that I really don’t
have the time or energy to deal with at the end of the day. Needless to say, we
will definitely be resuming our apartment search in the new year as the
problems and inconveniences are beginning to outweigh the rent at this point.
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