First, there is the issue of our ceiling. It started leaking in early January after some heavy rain. We called our management company, and despite promises to "send someone out" nothing was done. After another round of heavy rain, our ceiling started leaking again. This time they came out and decided to tear down a 5'x8' section of the ceiling in our living room. We were told this would have to remain open to dry out before they could repair the ceiling. Unfortunately, it did not stop leaking and after a few more trips out here, the inspector said they would have to repair the whole area of the roof above us. For the time being, they just covered the whole roof with a tarp. Here are some pictures we took to send to the rent control board:
THEN a third round of heavy rain descended upon us, and now the ceiling is leaking profusely onto our carpet. This is where the system comes in: In Santa Monica there is rent control, and in order to force a slow-to-move management company to fix your apartment, you have to file a Petition for Reduction in Rent with the City's Rent Control Board, mail a copy to the Landlord, and after 30 days if they haven't repaired the problem, the Rent Control Board will grant a reduction in the rent until the problem is fixed. The forms and requirements are pretty extensive. After numerous calls to the building management, calls to the rent control board and making sure we're around during business hours for the inspectors and roofers to come by, we're sick to death of the leaky ceiling. Our living room furniture is clustered in a small circle away from the leak and our pictures and wall decorations were moved to the kitchen table. Considering the fact that our building has a sign at the front door warning of the presence of chemicals known to cause cancer, I'm also worried that we're going to contract some strange disease or get sick from the water-logged beams being exposed for so long.
The Second issue we've had to deal with is my computer. I bought a Dell laptop the summer before I started lawschool and have been pretty unimpressed with it. It seems like I've always had one problem or another with it. Starting about a month ago, the screen would get really static-y and fade in and out, causing the picture to change colors on a grid and slow the computer down to a non-functioning pace. Sometimes I wouldn't be able to use my computer at all, a problem for any law student. Of course, when I called Dell's customer service (by the way, probably the most annoying customer service of any company I have ever encountered with the possible exception of Fed-Ex), the problem wouldn't show up once during the hour long call. I called a few more times without any answers. The problem came and went at varying interludes, so finally I decided to send in the computer for the mail-in repair. I'm still waiting for DHL to pick up the box right now, but I was told they should send it back (*hopefully fixed*) within 2 weeks. While that seems like an eternity, at least it would be before finals start and hopefully it will work.
The third issue is my wedding band. A little over a month ago, I noticed that a little stone in my pave-diamond infinity band was missing, kind of disturbing considering we just got married less than 6 months ago. We took it into the store we bought it from, and they are sending it to their jeweler to replace the stone, clean it, polish it, and make sure all the other ones are secure. While this is a poor example of "the system", it is annoying nevertheless. It has been two weeks without it and I am anxious to get it back.
There is little more frustrating than having a simple problem and having to jump through a million hoops in order to get some relief. It's also pretty obvious that I'm not a patient person. So hopefully this will all be resolved soon. P spoke to the building manager today and supposedly we are getting a 75% rent reduction for March, although we still need to put that in writing. My computer should be picked up soon and hopefully it will return to me, fixed, in about 2 weeks. When we dropped off my ring to be fixed, they told us they hoped to have it ready within 2 weeks, so I plan to call tomorrow and try to pick it up. I am cautiously optimistic that we are going to beat the system(s) and have fewer to-dos dealing with customer service on our list next month.
*About a month ago, I had to change my name on my frequent flyer account in order to book reservations. I called 4 times, emailed the contact info twice and finally mailed a letter. After about 5 weeks (while the website promised a 2-3 day turnaround) my name was finally changed. This was at the same time that Verizon messed up my automatic payment information, double billing me twice, charging a $25 fee twice that shouldn't have been charged and dealing with idiots on their customer service line at least 10 separate times. Wow, I guess January, February really were bad months for customer service.
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