Plan B Forum

when dealing with someone on a semi professional basis at what point is it ok to drop all pretext of civility and give them both barrels (linguistically)? As things go I'm generally understanding and foriging of things that go wrong along the way. Shit, after all, happens. But at a certain point it becomes abundantly clear that the situation has gone full blown clusterfuck. When it gets to this point I have a hard time withholding the torrent of bile from those who in my opinion have taken adavntage of my understanding nature.

the current situation

the shower stall in our new house is dicovered to have been installed incorrectly. I will not get into the long drawn out mess this dicovery involved suffice to say the warranty company agreed to fix it. unfortunately fixing it involves tearing the whole thing out and resetting it. I'm told it will take three days.

Day 1 workman to remove stall door and plumber to re-set stall
Day 2 Drywall repair
Day 3 Reinstall door and if necessesary tile repair.

Sounds good to me.

Last thursday workman removes door. NO plumber
Friday Call warranty company Find out plumber forgot to assign work will do on Monday.
Annoying but shit happens.
Monday plumber resets stall looks good.
Today get e-mail from warranty company saying 17th is the next availible drywall day then the 26th then next year.

Mind you before they started work the shower was usable.

I respond letting them know my displeasure and let them know that the situation is flat out unacceptable. (I use every bit of self restraint tokeep from using any language that would be deemed improper in polite society) response comes I remain firm and continue to restrain my tounge.

No further followup at this point.

after re reading the e-mails I think what I did was appropriate, but I am left wondering at what point does one go all out?

the relevant bits of the exchange today

Hi (wife)

Plumber said the finished up and we can schedule drywall repairs. ... Next drywall appointment open is on December 17th between 8 and 12 and we can schedule the tile company for the same day. After that we are looking at the December 26th same time, or after the new year.

Let me know what works.

Thanks

(name removed)

My response

Two weeks for drywall!? That is entirely unacceptable you said it would take three days for the entire project and you’ve already blew that just getting the stall reset. Now you want us to wait two weeks for the next step?! (with at least another day to get the shower door back on) We’ve been more than patient here now it’s time for you to get your act together!

in response

I am only scheduling repairs according to the schedule allotted to me by the drywall company, they only give me 3 days a week for repairs with 2 repairs per day. I can see if (builder) can talk to them to get me an earlier day, but again I am working with what I am given. I am sorry that you feel that I do not have my act together but again I am doing my best with what I am given. I will talk to (builder contact) and see if he can help me with expediting your repairs.

Me again

I really don’t care about the excuses at this point. If you had problems with scheduling you should have got them ironed out before you deprived me of my primary bathing facility. If you are not up to getting this task done in a timely manner Just put it in writing that you agree to reimburse me and I will hire someone to do it myself.

I don’t think I am out of line for wanting to be able to take my morning shower in my own home without having to wake my son.

Crackpot
One issue you are probably aware of is that you are dealing with the "PR" person and not anyone calling the shots. That being said, getting sheetrock done is not a thing one should have to wait for. Once it is all said and done, the guy will probably take a few hours at most to repair your shower area, then the tile guy will probably take the same. If both were scheduled correctly it would only be a day or two (to let the spackling dry in between each doing thier jobs).

You need to talk to someone other than the PR person. Also, call the Better Business Bureau and lodge a complaint. Can't say it will get things done faster (or better) but at least a complaint is lodged.

After that, GO OFF on the person. They are probably used to it and if it makes you feel better, that's the point.

I had an extension put on my house years ago. I wanted to do it myself but my wife knew it would be a longer time if I did it and I agreed. We had bidders and went with the "medium" bidder as I don't believe in the lowest nor the highest cost. Total idiots and even my wife says she should have let me do it even with the time it would have taken. Stupid shit like the clothes rod and shelf in the closets being too high for even a 6'4" person to reach. One side of the extension roof having drip edges and the other side not having drip edges. Five posts on one side of the stoop railing versus three posts on the other side railing (symetrical sides). The tiles on the bathroom floor cracking every 2 months in the same spot, them coming and fixing them every two months. Windows cracking multiple times even when we haven't opened them during the duration of fix to cracking again. Nails in the sheetrock pulling out. Who the F%$^ uses nails on sheetrock anymore?!?!?!? Insulation in the attic going all the way to the eaves and blocking the vents in the eaves so the attic does not breath.

Contractors, I spit on them.

I just went through your hell. Had a new roof installed on both the house and the storage shed then had a new garage door installed. Oy fuckityfuck the crap we went through. The garage door installer managed to break our garage door opener and hang the door rails so that the built in cabinets would not open-effectively blocked. I took pictures and slammed the company on Angie's list. They fixed it all ultimately but such a sloppy job initially. Husband had to take several days off work. With respect to the new roof they knocked out our satillite dish, broke it necessitating a visit from that company to fix things for which I had to take a day off work. Still waiting for them to fix guttering the took down. Bastards all of them.

ALWAYS consult the BBB 1st...

oldr_n_wsr wrote:I had an extension put on my house years ago. I wanted to do it myself but my wife knew it would be a longer time if I did it and I agreed. We had bidders and went with the "medium" bidder as I don't believe in the lowest nor the highest cost. Total idiots and even my wife says she should have let me do it even with the time it would have taken. Stupid shit like the clothes rod and shelf in the closets being too high for even a 6'4" person to reach. One side of the extension roof having drip edges and the other side not having drip edges. Five posts on one side of the stoop railing versus three posts on the other side railing (symetrical sides). The tiles on the bathroom floor cracking every 2 months in the same spot, them coming and fixing them every two months. Windows cracking multiple times even when we haven't opened them during the duration of fix to cracking again. Nails in the sheetrock pulling out. Who the F%$^ uses nails on sheetrock anymore?!?!?!? Insulation in the attic going all the way to the eaves and blocking the vents in the eaves so the attic does not breath.

Contractors, I spit on them.

I've come to learn to listen to the person. I don't know everything but I do know enough not to get snowed and most importantly I can pick out a "perfectionist" personality. When it came to choosing my painter I chose the most expensive one because I could tell he'd do the job right. (and he did.) And I will and have recommended him to others.

My landscaper was the cheapest He was a bit flighty and took a while to get the job done but he did the job well and he worked with me on coming up with a payment plan. all in all I'd rate my experience with him as "Average" but I'm still confident that I got the best out of the field.

Ohyeah My e-mails worked they'll be here tomorrow to get everything done.

Welcome to the joys of home ownership, CP....

Today get e-mail from warranty company saying 17th is the next availible drywall day then the 26th then next year.

LOL...

Who in their right mind would want to schedule a contracting installer to be banging around their house on the day after Christmas?

The person who accepted that appointment was truly desperate....

oldr_n_wsr wrote: That being said, getting sheetrock done is not a thing one should have to wait for

Sheetrock?

Drywall or Gypsum Board...

Ah! plasterboard!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drywall

Lord Jim wrote:Welcome to the joys of home ownership, CP....

Amen to that! I remember the dawning horror I felt the first time something went wrong and I realised that I couldn't just call the landlord...

Sean wrote:

Lord Jim wrote:Welcome to the joys of home ownership, CP....

Amen to that! I remember the dawning horror I felt the first time something went wrong and I realised that I couldn't just call the landlord...

YOu kidding I was looking forward to not calling a landlord and having to deal with their half assed fixes. Rotted drywall that's sprouting mold? I fresh layer of plaster and primer will fix that

Not to mention I had a Condo before this so I eased into it.

Sean wrote:

Lord Jim wrote:Welcome to the joys of home ownership, CP....

Amen to that! I remember the dawning horror I felt the first time something went wrong and I realised that I couldn't just call the landlord...

That's not as bad as when the "soakaway" sewage system decides to cover four fields on the neighbouring farm with the contents of the cesspit.

And you realise you ARE the landlord.





And you live 10,000 miles away.

Glad I rent. Building is less than 10 years old.

No major problems.

Only one hole in the sheetrock from me when I slammed my computer through it.

(long story)

At this point I really can't complain since they just gave us a $150 gift card to Home Depot.

Result!!

Lord Jim wrote:Welcome to the joys of home ownership, CP....

Today get e-mail from warranty company saying 17th is the next availible drywall day then the 26th then next year.

LOL...

Who in their right mind would want to schedule a contracting installer to be banging around their house on the day after Christmas?

The person who accepted that appointment was truly desperate....

Or off work anyway.

Or didnt celebrate Christmas.