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What a difference a day makes!

By
Real Estate Agent with MORE, REALTORS
Like the old song goes..just 24 little hours....Monday evening I received a frantic call from my daughter (lives in a condo & her first experience with the restrictions). The ice maker water line had become disconnected while she was at work. She came in to find the water had drained down into the neighbors storage area, wetting drywall at the main stairwell, wetting the freshly cleaned carpet in the main stairwell, into her storage area, wetting drywall ceiling (peeling the paint back) and running down the drywall seams and then out to the garage area. Arrgh! She called the insurance company and they provided her with the name of a company to call (from a pre-approved list of 3). They came out and assessed the damage ($150.00 non-refundable), but nothing could be done until the condo association would give approval. She called them and spoke to the "night" person, who told her nothing could be done until the next day. The next day (Tuesday) she called again and spoke to Dianne the management company manager. She said she'd take a look at the damage and get back to her. She informed her that it was my daughters problem and she should deal with it. Wednesday (today) the restoration company came out again. They had talked with the management folks earlier and he said they were rude to him and they would not authorize the work. Now, keep in mind, this involves the building, not just the unit! When "Tony" from the clean-up company was there with her, he estimated several thousand dollars for the cost of clean up. He needed written authorization from the association to go forward. That's when she called me & her dad to come over. I'd been there Monday evening to take photos around 9:00p.m. Her friend had already mopped up about 13 buckets of water that same evening. Well, he explained what all he'd have to do and the difficulty in estimating a cost as it was unclear whether or not insulation would be behind the drywall or in the ceiling. They have a strict protocol to deal with the problem. If it was soaked, it could easily become a hazard (think MOLD!). Arrgh! Again, my daughter called to talk with the manager at the association. She left a voice message to call her back. No one ever answers the phone; you have to leave a message. Finally she received a call back and this time spoke to the assistant, Julia. She was not understanding the severity of the situation. My daughter passed the phone to the clean-up man and he explained twice, the problems involved. Due to her rudeness, he said "That's it! We are not going to do this job". He needed the authorization and they were too difficult to work with. He then handed the phone to my daughter who found the assistant had hung up. Back to square one. He tried to have her sign a "No Liability" form from his company and I told her "NO WAY!).  I had her call the management company again and leave a voice message again, to call her as it was an emergency situation. We left, and she went back to work. Just now she called me, and the mgmt. co. said she should take care of her unit and they would call "their people" to do the clean up and then charge her for that.  She has $1000.00 deductible insurance. To me, that sounds better, as if they don't do the clean up properly, THEY will be the folks liable. We still have no clue as to when they will do the job. The manager still has not been there to assess the damages at this time. The saga continues...