Landlord doesn’t want to reimburse me for plumber.

By weneedhelp2

We had a sink valve burst in the middle of the night and was flooding our apartment and damaging the 2nd and 1st floor. After-hour help can’t give us ETA and we were afraid it could take hours so we decide to call a plumber. 1st one did not pick up and the 2nd said they do not have authorization so we call back after-hour help again and was told to wait. while the 1st floor and 2nd floor tenants were helping us control the flooding, we get a call and we honestly it was from the after-hour help, they wanted $300 and we give it thinking it’s a special request to come after hours. 1st floor tenants called the firemen and they were able to help us and they sucked out as much water they could. Main valve was in a locked room which they had a key to. As they were leaving, the maintenance guy came and they explained to him what was going on. Then the plumber came. The maintenance did not want to fix the bathroom as it was a mess and told the plumber to do everything. Plumber needed signature and maintenance guy just stood there, so we ended up signing and was told to just discuss bill with manager.

Morning came and we found out that the maintenance guy was supposed to be the one who fixes everything and the plumber should not be there in the first place. We told the manager how their employee did not want to fix it so he made the plumber do it. She then talked to that employee and he lied about putting the sink and toilet back. No!! We told her that on the plumber’s invoice, it’s listed what he did. She talked to her regional supervisor and found out that because we called the plumber and signed, we need to pay it. THIS IS INSANE! It was their employee who declined to work on our bathroom, we did not say that only the plumber can do it. And we thought that employee and plumber were in the same "dispatch team."

Our problem is:

1. They sent us an incompetent employee who did not want to do his job. He did not even question why the plumber was there. As a tenant, I do not know their management protocols but this employee definitely should. Why didn’t he say something about plumbers not allowed in the apartment AND left HIS job to the plumber?

2. Why do they want us to pay for fixing up their property? They are pretty much blaming us for the mistakes of their employee for not following after-hour procedures. Why did he not report to his manager? He also lied that he put back our toilet and sink.

3. Is there any rules or laws we can cite to our landlord that it is his responsibility to repair the apartment.

Thank you!!!

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Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(

Landlord doesn’t want to reimburse me for plumber.

By

Our sink valve burst in the middle of the night. We called the after-hour line but couldn’t give out ETA so we were afraid it will take up to an hour or so, that’s why we tried to call a plumber. First one did not ring, 2nd one said they do not have authorization to come to us. So we call back after-hour to check again and was told to wait. Apartment is flooding quickly and 2 apartments below us are getting leaks already. 2nd and 3rd tenants were in our unit trying to control the water. We got a call back and we honestly thought it was the after-hour help trying to get more information. They wanted $300 to dispatch the plumber and we thought it was because it was special as it was after-hours. So we gave our credit card and continued to work on the flood. We can’t find the main valve so 3rd tenant called firefighters and they were able to help us out, and sucked the water the best they could. They ended up taking off the sink and toilet. The apartment maintenance guy came over and firefighter explained the situation, then the plumber came. Maintenance guy did not want to fix our bathroom saying it was too hard so he had the plumber do it. Plumber needed signature and maintenance guy just stood there. We thought that because it was in our apartment, we had to sign. We were told to just talk to the manager about the bill. Didn’t get done until after 3AM. Now come morning, we found out that the apartment has a protocol or levels on how they handle plumbing problems. They said that plumber should not have been in there in the first place and that the maintenance guy was the one who should have fixed it. We then realized that the plumber who came in is the number that did not pick up. We explained to property manager all the details and how their maintenance guy told the plumber to put everything back to place. She said that he did not have authority to do that, she decides on that. But she understood what happened and was going to talk to the maintenance guy. She also explained our case to her regional supervisor. She sadly gave us news that she was told that if we called the plumber and signed the bill, we should pay. WHAT? She said that she will talk next to the corporate managers and fight for our case. I’m afraid that they will also say no.

Our problem is that
1. we have no idea that plumbers are not allowed in. Their employee should but did not say anything. It looked to us that they were working together as the "dispatched help".
2. the employee was supposed to do it as his job and why he was there in the first place but he refused and gave his responsibilities to the plumber. It was pure incompetency of this employee that got us in this mess and they want us pay for his mistakes??
3. the employee did not even report what was going on to his supervisor. he even lied that he put in the toilet and sink himself!

To my understanding, if the employee did not want to do it, the landlord should be responsible. It was their mistake for sending an untrained incompetent employee. It’s so unfair that they are making us pay for the property damage when it should be their responsibility.

How do we go about with a dispute? We need some solid rules or laws that we can quote to our landlord. Thanks!

Related posts:

Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(