I was finally able to move out of my old apartment. It was rodent infested, in a high crime neighborhood, 500 something feet (as opposed to the apartment in Somerton which was almost 800), yet the rent ws more each month than my old apartment in Somerton- plus gas and water.
I noted when we first began moving stuff into my new place in University City that there were some problems that maintenance needed to address- One of the three bulbs in the bathroom fixture was out. I was unsure whether I was responsibl for new bulbs or if management was. So, I mentioned it to management. The mailbox key they provided fit the mailbox. It turned the lock mechanism. However, the little metal arm that is supposed to prevent the mailbox door from being opened was missing. My mailbox will not stay closed. Anybody who makes it past the front door (which can only be unlocked by entering a four digit code on a keypad) can get into my mailbox. When maintenance painted the apartment after the last tenant moved out, they used some kind of spray device. I know because, apparently being incredibly stupid, they failed to cover the cable outlet in the wall. The threads on the outside are filled with paint. The inside, where the needle thing goes, is completely blocked with paint. There are three windows in the kitchen. The window on the left does not stay open. When I tried opening the middle window, it came out of the track and almost fell on my head. The window on the right is stuck and cannot be opened. There are three windows in the living room area. The lef window will open. But it has no screen. The middle window is currently occupied by the air conditioning unit my friend Joe installed for me. The window on the right is stuck and cannot be opened. While moving in the last of my stuff, one friend smelled gas. I immediately called Philadelphia Gas Works. They sent two workers right over. They detected an internal gas leak in the oven/range. They shut off gas to the oven/range. I infomed management of this development. Today, after many e-mails and phone calls, I finally got a response from management.
She said she was unable to “accomodate my list of demands”. She said she could move me to another apartment or another building. She did not specify, but I have no doubt she meant ‘you can move to another apartment but you will be charged more’.
Since I contacted management about a month ago, only one repair has been made. I contacted Comcast Xfinity about the paintcovered cable outlet. I eventually made them understand my situation (I was living in the rat hole and my Xfinity service worked fine there. I needed it to work at my new apartemnt.). I scheduled an appointment for a worker to come out on the even then likely possibility that building management would not fix things before I was due to move in. The Xfinity worker said that outlets get painted over all the time, and that he could fix it. True to his word it took us more time to move furniture out of the way than it took him to unscrew the plate, cut off the paint covered cable head, and attach a new head. No thanks to building management, I was able to connect my router and get internet access.
I am beyond furious. Which one of my requests was unreasonable? Windows that safely open and have screens? Internet access that, as I repeatedly stressed to management, I need to do my work from home job? A secure mailbox? An oven and range that function safely? Please, explain to me just where I was out of line.