Loose End

Not much going on, but I'll take this opportunity to complain all the way back to my plumbing problem at Christmas. As you may recall, I submitted the Rotor Rooter invoice -- $654 -- to the real estate management company on January 3, after repeated phone calls. At the time, I was told, "Sure, just send it and we'll reimburse you."

Not yet.

After 30 days, I didn't say anything because I know some companies send out checks on the 31st day or whatever. Yesterday when I was writing this company my maintenance check for March, I was reminded that I hadn't been paid.

I went through the annoying phone tree and left this guy a message; the tone was neutral to terse, not nasty, but I did say that I've waited 60 days which is a reasonable expectation to be paid in that time. I left my phone number, but, of course, no courtesy call was returned.

I was telling my client about this during our morning talk and he said it's a way he and his wife disagree -- his wife thinks you should only call when you have something concrete to report -- like "the check is now in the mail", but he thinks you should call even if all you say is "I got your voice mail and I'll investigate." I'm in that school too, but the class doesn't seem to be crowded.

What I have decided is next month when I pay my maintenance, if I have not been reimbursed, I'm deducting it. Don't believe that's legal, but at least it will get someone's attention when I'm in arrears. I'll include a note why I'm paying this amount. By then, it will be 90 days. I was thinking that there is an annual meeting of co-op owners where they present a list of who is in arrears, and I don't care if my name is on it for this reason. One way or another, I'm getting paid for this.

I started this personal mental rant -- like "I've been a co-op owner since this building was first converted; I always pay my maintenance on time blah blah blah" -- the "how can they do this to me?" and then I stopped myself. This is not personal; they are just disorganized and no one particularly cares if I get paid or not.

Having said all this, and even after this hassle, I stand by my decision to hire the plumber myself. I would have had crap water oozing from my sink all Christmas Day and it would have been a whole lot worse. So I don't regret what I did in paying. It got fixed.