RANT: Am at mercy of bullshit realty management company

[Whoa_Nelly]

I am so fucking pissed off! My central A/C went on the fritz yesterday. It's in the 100s where I live, and my house is already reaching 90 inside.
Because the owner of this property has American Home Shield, the company that does the repair states the EARLIEST they can come out is Friday. I said that was unacceptable. I called the realty management company, and had to leave a message for the manager. Right after that the repair company called again and told me that I had to accept or reject the Friday appointment, and they could put it back into the system and I MIGHT get a Thursday appointment, AND they only did service repairs fucking TWO days a week. I was told I had to accept or reject the appointment. I rejected it, only after talking to the person on the line that they should be calling the management company...and again was told I have to accept or reject. FUCKERS! Am now waiting to hear back from the realty place and will make it known that if there is no repair done today, and for whatever day the A/C is repaired, I will be staying in a motel during the interim AND will be deducting those days per diem from my next month's rent.

Am so pissed! Because I have moved to such a rural place in CA, things around here are done bass-ackwards. Were this a large city, there would be someone here today. this has put me over the edge in my vacillation regarding whether to move from here back to a major city. This sucks

:rant: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[bertha katzenengel]

1. Tulare? Coalinga? Chowchilla?

I am very sorry. Wish I lived in your area and knew how to repair A/C. Best of luck.

on edit - asking town names totally sounds like i'm trying to figure out where you are. i'm not - i'm just showing off that i know names of little places in central ca. :asshole: <-- me

don't reveal where you live, really. :hi:

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. You're close!

Am in Lemoore...and have been regretting this move back here after 23 years. My son and his family (have one granddaughter, grandson on the way) live here and wanted me close. I am going to have to move, and will probably move to Oklahoma City (birth place...still have friends there) and it is in a rea of the US where I can reasonably expect to be bale to buiy a home and get started in Interior Design. This area is sooo depressing...

[bertha katzenengel]

5. OKC is nice. Visited there on a cross-country road trip in 2000.

From So. Cali. I'd never lived anywhere else. We got out of the car at our friend's house and I said "What is that noise?!" Sounded like forty neighbors had some strange extraterrestrial band saw in their garages. It was deafening! Mrs. V. said "cicadas." Well what the hell did I know?!

I like OKC. But yes, central Cali can be extremely depressing. Let us know how it turns out, Nelly. :hi:

[sui generis]

2. what does your lease agreement say?

If it states the landlord will keep appliances in good working order, then you have a case to offset your rent with your motel payments.

Talk to them again - tell them you will be in a motel until the repair is done and get them to agree to let you offset your rent by the receipts from the motel.

You're paying rent for a property that you can live in - if you can't live in it, they're breaking the contract.

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Thanks..am getting that document out right now!

It says I'M responsible for all appliances. However, I believe CA landlord teneant law states the landlord must keep the property and and all that is inclusive in repair.
Am checking in to that now.

What my lease states:
Teneant shall properly use, operate, and safeguard Premises, including, if applicable, any landscaping, furniture, furnishings and appliances, and all mechanical, electrical, gas and plumbing fixtures, and keep them, and the premises clean, sanitary, and well ventilated.

It also goes on to state that I pay ONLY for damages to these things if I am the one responsible for the damage...which I'm not.

[Xithras]

14. Technically, that won't fly.

Loss of A/C, even in 100+ degree valley heat, isn't enough to deem a house unliveable. Believe it or not I grew up in this valley, in this same heat, and I didn't live in an air conditioned home until I was 12 (and even then it was a swamp cooler). Even today a lot of people live in the valley without any kind of air conditioning. When you live without it constantly, your body adapts and you don't need it as much.

A/C is considered a convenience, not a neccessity. Having your A/C go out isn't treated the same as having your front wall collapse.

[lildreamer316]

3. Shit I was going to invite you over

but it seems I'm across the country. I think you can complain to your city also about this; there being a law about unfair conditions (like no heat in the winter?) check this out.

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. Thanks for the invite!

:hi: I appreciate your kindness :)

[lildreamer316]

8. What time is it there? And what temp?n/t

[Whoa_Nelly]

10. It's almost 3 PM and just over 100 outside

It's 88 in the house, but now is cooling <<fingers crossed>>
and even though weather underground says it's 98 outside, am sure it's just over 100 since the high today is for 102...will be 102 tomorrow as well, and 101 on Thursday. Damn I miss those monsoons in Tucson right now (where I was living before this move), and the T-storms in OKC...

[lildreamer316]

15. You poor thing!!

Glad you fixed the problem.

[Whoa_Nelly]

9. UPDATE: Had someone I know

talk me through checking circuit breakes, and the one for the A/C was tripped. I reset it, and the A/C came on...whew! Am now calling back the realty management people and telling them I did this, and that will let them know if this happens agains as it could be a faulty circuit breaker.

Have to assume that maybe a power surge tripped it...or...? Anyone have any ideas?

[madrchsod]

11. apologize to everyone you got mad at!

keep the appointment and have the tech guy go over the unit. my air did this for several years untill i had the tech guy check it-there were relays that were dirty and were not functioning correctly.i guess it was tripping the breaker...
i feel your pain..it`s 100 here in northern il

[Whoa_Nelly]

13. Nope..not making any apologies

Since moving into this place, neither the management company nor the owner of this property has lived up to attending to the things they said they would. Was told the owner would be having all the vertical (and mostly broken) blinds replaced...a company did come out and measure over three months ago, I followed up several times asking when this would be happening, and NADA has been done. Meanwhile, I have window coverings that are in bad shape, offer little privacy, and have taken down some of thema nd replaced these with window treatments of my own design (the old verticals can go back up when I move out)...also was told that it was too bad that the sink drain broke, but that doesn't mean it has to be repaired...the prob with the sink drain in the master bath was something I noted in my walk-through,,,could see that it was about to go south, and it did within the first month I moved in. ..and those are just a couple of the things regarding this rental house...there is more.

This rental is on a month-to month, so am thinking of getting a storage unit, downsizing, getting a small less costly place and setting my sights on buying a home in OKC.

[madrchsod]

19. ya i wouldn`t either

crappy management and owner..thank goodness you rent month to month...ya okc sounds alot better.

[Xithras]

12. Could be overworked, could be failing, could be randon coincidence.

A tripped breaker just means that there was too much resistance on the wires. That resistance could be caused by anything...unless it happens again and you can establish a pattern, just write it off to bad luck.

BTW, I can sympathize. I live a couple hours north of you and lost my A/C last month...it REALLY sucked. This valley just gets so hot in the summer...blaugh.

[Whoa_Nelly]

16. My thoughts also re: wiring

I left a message on the property manager's voice mail that I'd let her know immediately if it trips again.

Thanks! And a big HOWDY shout to you up the valley! :hi:

[RazzleCat]

17. Breaker, and other odds and ends

I do property management (as well as network mgt). First off when its 100 out its hard to get an AC guy over now. That said, here are some things to think about. One keep the appointment. If your breaker is tripping, it could be bad, and or your blower and compressor could be miss matched, as well as your A coil. You could also be running low on freon, causing the compressor to work harder, causing a trip in the breaker. I just went Thu two AC issues. First one was a 4 ton compressor matched with a 2 ton A coil and blower, the breaker would not stay on, and the compressor was in the words of my electrician "oh shit" pulling 100 amps Thu a 30 amp breaker (needless to say, we purchased and installed a new breaker). Second issue was a bad set of line sets crossed with a different compressor on the roof, and a cross in the electric causing one unit to have two AC's on their box. One last note according to OSHA if your breaker trips, it should be replaced, so at the very least make them test the AMPS coming Thu the breaker, test the pressure on the freon in the compressor, change out the filters, and in general do a "tune up". I get my units tested every year, for pressure, filters, and general oil of the parts. Second do not set your thermostat to way low when it starts up again, move it down slowly, giving the AC a chance, so start out at say 84 and move it down 2 or so degrees each hour.

[Whoa_Nelly]

18. Thanks for the info, etc.

Especially about setting the A/C to do short moves down to a reasonable temp. The neoprene on the copper tubing outside the unit is wasted, so am going to replace that myself to help it avoid over stressing it.

As soon as the property manager calls back (it's been over six hours now since I placed first call, and 45 minutes since my last call...and that's not including a call to her cell phone last night or the message I left on the realty company's phone last night), and am going to tell her that since this happened, perhaps the owner will want to have the unit all checked out. Who knows? There could be other probs , as you stated, including a dirty coil. I had asked when I moved in when the last time the unit had been serviced, and they would not respond.

You sound like a competent manager....sure wish you were mine! :yourock:

PS
Re: HVAC company under contract to American Home Shield (AHS) and since I'm in the boonies, they only do service calls two days a week in my area. However, the owner could still OK someone local to come right out, and he would still get to be reimbursed through AHS...this is according to my son who has the AHS contract for the area for household appliances (washers, dryers, dishwashers, microwaves)