We have been having problems with the drain in our bathroom being blocked by tree roots for the 2 years we have rented this property. Every few months they roots grow back after being pulled out and our toilet blocks. The landlord refuses to get rid of the problem completely due to cost of pulling out the tree so we are stuck with this problem.
The last time our toilet was blocked i called in the morning to ask for a repair. I was told that repair requests could not be accepted over the phone and i would have to come into the agency. I could not do that so emailed them my complaint at about 10am. A plumber finally showed up at around 5 that afternoon and had a look but said it was too late to do the job, he said the real estate only just called him about the repair and he would have to come back in 2 days (the next day was a public holiday and he wasn't working), at this point the toilet was flushing a little but filling up with water and he insisted it would be fine for the next 2 days. By the next night the drain was fully blocked and the toilet was not usable. So we had to go without a toilet for the whole night and part of the next morning while we waited for the plumber.
I emailed the property manager to complain and i got a very rude email back saying that the plumber was lying, that she NEVER told me i couldn't lodge a repair over the phone (she did) and that if i had any questions to call her.
I rang straight away to try and sort out what had happened (and stupidly expected an apology) but instead she still denied saying she wouldn't accept my repair request over the phone, saying i must have misunderstood (which i did not because those were her exact words), that she called the plumber at 11am so he was lying and that when i lodged the repair request the toilet was still working a little bit so the repair wasn't considered urgent and if we wanted it fixed that day we were required to put the word "urgent" on the request. According to our lease a blocked drain is URGENT and common sense would think so too but not this lady. She then started asking why i have even called in the first place as she can't "turn back time" so theres no purpose to my call and what did i possibly want? I was so angry that this woman didn't even feel an apology was necessary and she didn't care that we didn't have a toilet for a whole night saying that "it wasn't HER fault" that all she can do is hand our repairs and if the tradesmen don't do them theres nothing she can do. She seemed to miss the point that it is her job to make sure repairs are carried out.
NOTE: I ended up sending an email to her boss complaining about her behavior. He called back right away and was very apologetic about us having to wait for the repair but also said it was the plumbers responsibility to make sure the repair was done and that he can't force them to actually come and fix the problem straight away even if it is urgent. (whats the point of having the clause in my lease stating that a blocked toilet is urgent then?) he was very hesitant to apologize for his agents behavior and i had to practically drag it out of him, he ended up reasoning that she must have been having a bad day.
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