. . . . . . Continued from this post and this post
*** It ONLY took me an entire week, 4 un-returned calls, 3 un-returned texts, and one very angry voice-message to contact the landlord's Realtor to get everything in line for this move-in. I could barely schedule the electricity turn-on for the day of move-in. Here's how it went down:***
Thursday aka Dooms Day: I was scheduled for work, so I tried to sleep in, but my dreams were rudely interrupted by the doorbell. Not having a doorbell for the last year, I managed it work the first ring in to my dreams, but by the second, Callie had started putting her two cents in, which woke me from my slumber. It was the Atmos man. Since it was a mere 40 degrees outside, his presence wasn't completely unappreciated.
Thirty minutes worth of trouble shooting later, I was still without gas (
well. . . . . . home gas at least), due to a busted 90 on the outside of the house. Though the terminology was foreign to me, anyone could see that gas was never going to enter the house after viewing the problem.
Just one to add to the list, I thought. A microwave that sounds like an airplane is taking off for flight-
check. A side door that takes the strength of The Incredible Hulk to open and close-
check. A utility room door that sticks and is split at the bottom-
check. Living room windows that are completely separated, letting cold air seep through and every bug within a 5 mile radius rush in for shelter-
check. A garage door opener that doesn't work-
check.
Need I continue?
 |
| Not good captain, not good |
Perturbed, I sent the landlord several detailed and pictured text messages of the problematic situations. I also let him know that I
do consider not having hot water an emergency. After no response, I called and left a message, and then I called to let Patrick know. He called and left a few words of his own, starting with, "Unfortunately we moved into your rent house. . . . . . . . " (
He's come so far in 6 years. I am so proud of him!)
 |
| Not something you want to see in your house!!!! |
Later that morning the repair men were looking at the gas pipe making faces and man noises, saying things like,"Looks like we need a 13 inch nipple at the 90."
I don't know much about gas pipes, but I do know a bit more about nipples, and a 13 inch nipple sounds serious. Apparently when the foundation repairs were made on the house last month, no one thought to make sure the plumbing was still intact.
Oopsy.
After re-contacting Atmos to schedule another appointment to turn the gas on for the repair that was promised to be done by afternoon, I was told the gas couldn't be turned on without a city inspection.
Uh-oh.
After contacting the city inspection office, I was told the repairs couldn't be made without a licensed plumber obtaining a permit to do the repairs, which hadn't been done.
Double Uh-oh.
After re-contacting the landlord who to inform him of the snow-ball effect, he tried to tell me to bypass the system and just call another gas company.
Hmmmmmm.
After contacting my father, he said to set the landlord straight.
I'm on it. I love setting panda jerks straight.
After RE-CONTACTING THE LANDLORD, and arguing with him about the well-being of my and my family's life vs. getting blown up by gas at the house AND how much money it will cost him to do things the creditable way vs. how much money we had already given him for the month, he decided to do things the right way.
Besides, we have enough natural gas floating around the house anyway (AGHEM.....Patrick). By this time it was afternoon, and he spent the remainder of the day at "my house" calling every inspection and plumbing company he could to get things done in a timely manner.
The two of us got in another spat about whether or not the microwave was "broken", since
I was costing him so much money by requesting things be done a certain way, and turns out
I was right (
as usual): the thirteen inch nipple
was very serious, and if things hadn't been done the right way, they would have never caught the OTHER leak that was inside the house by the furnace. IGNORAMUS'.
Patrick's thoughts, "We've moved into the Money Pit!"
We had to spend the rest of the week driving the 8 mile trip each way through city lights, back to an empty apartment, to take showers.
{Despite it all, I do think the landlord is a nice fellow. He was just completely clueless about the condition of his house, and got overwhelmed when I bombarded him with it all in one day.
And he had no idea how stubborn I could be. He did credit us "no rent" for the days we were without gas, and called after everything was done to make sure in the end, we had gas, and proper heated water.}
Do you have any renter nightmare stories?
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