{"id":2009,"date":"2011-08-01T20:33:51","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T04:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=2009"},"modified":"2025-01-10T11:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T19:24:47","slug":"one-hell-of-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=2009","title":{"rendered":"One Hell of a Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Anyone who calculates buying vs. renting knows that it is necessary to include maintenance costs into the expense of buying. \u00a0What one can&#8217;t account for is the &#8220;gotcha!&#8221; nature of the pratfalls of ownership. \u00a0You never know what might be hidden in the walls of your home. \u00a0If you&#8217;re a renter, you don&#8217;t care; that&#8217;s someone else&#8217;s problem.<\/p>\n<p>Often these problems start as a trickle and end up a river. \u00a0I&#8217;ve dealt with <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=668\" target=\"_blank\">problems like this in the past<\/a>. \u00a0It must have been my time up at bat in this game again because thanks to my home I&#8217;ve had the <del>week<\/del> month from hell.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FRIDAY &#8211; July 1st<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It started with a trickle. \u00a0Not one, but two. \u00a0I noticed the emergency drainage pipe from (what I assumed was) my air conditioner was flooding the pan in my washer and dryer closet. \u00a0Around the same time I was made aware that my second bathroom had a trickle of water constantly running from the tub faucet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SATURDAY &#8211; July 2nd<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Like celebrity deaths, home problems must come in threes and on July 1st my clothes washer simply stopped working. \u00a0No power. Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>A plumber was scheduled to come the following weekend for the bathroom and I had a technician come look at the washer immediately. \u00a0The technician charged me $24 to look at the machine and said it would be &#8220;maybe&#8221; $400 to fix it during the following week (this was July 4th weekend, after all &#8211; a perfect time for things to break). \u00a0I thanked him and decided to do some research. \u00a0I ended up getting sold a Sears repair deal for a $319 flat fee that seemed to be better. \u00a0The repairs and the entire machine would be covered under a year warranty. \u00a0The only catch was that I&#8217;d have to wait until July 12th for anyone to come out.<\/p>\n<p>I thought I&#8217;d get my plumbing problem fixed in the interim. \u00a0I let my tenants\/roommates know that I&#8217;d have a plumber come the next Saturday. \u00a0When the plumber cancelled that morning one of my roommates said he knew how to fix the leaky faucet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SUNDAY &#8211; July 10th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The previous owner of my home had made some wacky &#8220;improvements&#8221; behind the scenes to the kitchen faucet (among other things) that made it much more difficult to replace a year and half ago. \u00a0On Sunday we spent over six hours, one trip to lowes, one trip to sears and two trips to home depot trying to find the right tools to get the bathroom faucet handles off, trying different things every time and believing we just &#8220;didn&#8217;t have the right ratchet set&#8221; etc.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, I&#8217;m talking about <em>those<\/em> handles &#8211; the ones that you&#8217;re <strong>supposed<\/strong> to be able to twist off with your hands. \u00a0At one point my tenant managed to yank the stem\/handle assembly out of the wall. \u00a0We discovered that the previous owner had (either himeself or someone he hired) put pipe sealer all over the place &#8211; and most generously in places where one\u00a0shouldn&#8217;t\u00a0put sealant at all &#8211; effectively sealing the stem assembly to the wall. \u00a0We replaced the washer at the end and put the stem back in. \u00a0However, when it was back in I noticed that a washer from a different part of the stem assembly was still sitting on the counter. \u00a0Bad news. \u00a0We knew we had to take the stem back out. \u00a0Hours later it still wasn&#8217;t coming out. \u00a0I called a plumbing service and scheduled an appointment for Tuesday. \u00a0 However,\u00a0I could hear (and feel the vibration of) water in the line, which should have only happened if someone downstairs was taking a shower. \u00a0Nobody downstairs was home. \u00a0 That was worse news. \u00a0I could NOT wait until Tuesday taking the risk that water was leaking out of the pipes that whole time in the wall. \u00a0I called an emergency plumber who came to examine the situation within 90 minutes (for $156).<\/p>\n<p>As we already knew, the stems were cemented to the wall, making a piece that is supposed to be taken off by simple hand turning into mangled metal. \u00a0However, by 9pm he had taken both stems out and chipped off as much of the sealant as possible before changing the washers and putting them back in. \u00a0The evidence can be seen if you look closely at the handles. \u00a0That gold line is where the silver was scraped off by the wrench. \u00a0The rest of that handle is mangled, but luckily that part is mostly covered up by the removable part of the handle.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-KCB3bysMp-w\/TiEuk0oQ1tI\/AAAAAAAAEJY\/rjvq6dFSXio\/s800\/DSC02503.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Little did I know &#8211; that fix would be the <strong>EASIEST<\/strong> of all the things that were breaking down around the house that month.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MONDAY &#8211; July 11th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Monday I made contact with an AC repairman to come out the next morning. \u00a0I called my HOA and arranged for pick up (I have to leave a $100 deposit check) of a roof key that night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TUESDAY &#8211; July 12th<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A sears technician arrived around 8:30am on Tuesday the 12th and almost immediately said he couldn&#8217;t do anything because he needed another man to get the dryer off of the washer. Sears installed this set-up in the first place, so they should have known these were stacked or at least asked when they took the service appointment. \u00a0He leaves with an ambiguous statement that he&#8217;ll call me either later today or in a few days.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after that my AC man arrives to fix the AC leak. \u00a0He flushes the lines, takes $50 and leaves. \u00a0This is still morning and the AC isn&#8217;t running.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>9:30am &#8211; I haven&#8217;t heard from Sears so I call and complain. \u00a0I get nowhere with their customer service, they tell me I&#8217;ll have to wait a few days or till next week till they can reschedule two technicians to come out. \u00a0I go to work after returning the roof key that the AC man didn&#8217;t end up using.<\/p>\n<p>12:30pm &#8211; Original sears technician calls me from his personal phone and says he has located another technician to meet us at the house. \u00a0I drive home and meet them.<\/p>\n<p>1:30pm &#8211; The technicians conclude they&#8217;ve found the faulty part, the control board, but they don&#8217;t have one with them. \u00a0They have to order the part from a shop in Van Nuys and have it\u00a0couriered. \u00a0Their dispatcher tells them to go on other service calls and come back when the part is delivered.<\/p>\n<p>While waiting for the delivery I throw out some water damaged items from the AC leak like this folding table:<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-M9E5l8MAakQ\/TiEukvBYUqI\/AAAAAAAAEJM\/iPc7CQqZrus\/s800\/DSC02501.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When I try to vacuum up the mess my vacuum cleaner motor dies almost instantly. \u00a0I put it on the porch as it was literally puffing out some noxious smoke.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-Lr4pPUSL2gA\/TiEuk50Y6dI\/AAAAAAAAEJU\/KEESoNGt8wI\/s800\/DSC02502.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"532\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p>2:45pm &#8211; I take delivery of the part from the courier and call the technician. \u00a0No idea when they&#8217;ll arrive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>3pm &#8211; I notice the AC is still leaking\/dripping. \u00a0I call the AC man and he says the soonest he can come is Thursday morning, but he&#8217;ll call to confirm on Wednesday. \u00a0I call him back later and ask if I&#8217;ll need the roof key &#8211; he says no. \u00a0The pipe that is leaking can be seen in the photo below.<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-bVxm8zcrPn8\/TiEukjSofPI\/AAAAAAAAEJI\/FXezGX2YBV4\/s800\/DSC02500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"532\" height=\"800\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>5:15pm &#8211; Two sears technicians finally arrive. \u00a0After 45 minutes or so they realize the new part does nothing to fix the problem.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-AVs7jD-4vU8\/TiEuk4XVQ8I\/AAAAAAAAEJQ\/3iUEWfVkkXQ\/s800\/DSC02498.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<p>6:30pm &#8211; The technicians say that the new part they need is not available and has to be done on \u201cemergency\u201d order. \u00a0They do not know when it will arrive, but the earliest they could come back is Friday (but they won&#8217;t know till tomorrow if the part would be here by then anyway). \u00a0I inform them I will not be home Friday. \u00a0They say that a scheduler will call me tomorrow (Wednesday) to set a new repair time for next week.<\/p>\n<p>The technicians slide the washer back into the closet and close the top. \u00a0They move my dryer more out of the way &#8211; but my living room is still unusable (they had to remove the closet door as well). \u00a0It isn&#8217;t that I&#8217;m angry that my dryer is going to sit in the living room &#8211; it&#8217;s that it is now going to be inoperable for two weeks. \u00a0Where before I at least could wash my clothes myself and dry them in the dryer &#8211; now I have neither appliance available&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-xajgGULl2C4\/TiEulWGWrgI\/AAAAAAAAEJc\/MGpNsLx4deU\/s800\/DSC02499.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>WEDNESDAY &#8211; July 13th <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>9:00am &#8211; nobody from Sears has called so I call in. \u00a0The first person tells me that the part should arrive at my house in the next two days. \u00a0I inform him that I work &#8211; and I won\u2019t be home during the day to accept it. \u00a0He takes my work address and puts me on hold to attempt to reroute the package. \u00a0After being on hold for a while a new customer service agent answers the phone &#8211; with no idea that I\u2019d talked to a previous agent. \u00a0I have to explain the whole situation again &#8211; giving all my info again. This time she says that she can\u2019t change the routing of the package and that I\u2019ll have to call back \u201clater today or tomorrow\u201d to find out the tracking number to request the package rerouted. \u00a0She also says that the technician scheduled the next visit to install the part for July 28th. \u00a0This is not good news and she says they \u201cmay be able to schedule sooner once you have the part.\u201d \u00a0I am told to call back later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>11am &#8211; AC repairman calls to confirm that he can come around 8am Thursday morning. \u00a0This time he says he may need the roof key though.<\/div>\n<div>11:30am &#8211; I call HOA to once again arrange for roof key pickup later in the day.<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>2pm &#8211; Called Sears again &#8211; still no tracking # so I asked them to call me when they have it. \u00a0Rep said they would call \u201clater today\u201d<\/p>\n<p>5pm &#8211; missed call from Sears technician (the one who was at my house Tuesday) telling me he is sure the part will arrive over the weekend and I should \u201cgo ahead and schedule an appointment for Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>6:30pm &#8211; another customer service agent tells me no matter what my technician said they can\u2019t schedule my appointment before I have the parts. \u00a0They now have a UPS tracking number but \u201cit is wrong\u201d and I\u2019ll have\u00a0to call again the next day to get the \u201cright\u201d one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><strong>THURSDAY &#8211; July 14th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>8:30am &#8211; AC repairman does a more thorough flush of AC drainage system and believes the problem fixed, never using the roof key.<\/p>\n<p>9am &#8211; \u00a0I call Sears and I&#8217;m given the UPS tracking number and told the soonest appointment I can get is July 25th between 1 and 5pm. \u00a0I ask the person on the phone to check the delivery status as I&#8217;m not in front of a computer (the AC guys were actually still working at this point and were\u00a0making too much noise for me to go to my room to get online). \u00a0The Sears agent says she can&#8217;t access UPS&#8217; web site from her work station so I&#8217;ll have to check the status on my own later.<\/p>\n<p>9:15am &#8211; The AC repair guys leave. \u00a0I try the UPS number and it doesn\u2019t work&#8230; call back to sears&#8230; new agent puts me on hold &#8211; comes back says there isn\u2019t a tracking # at all&#8230; puts me on hold again&#8230; for NINE MINUTES&#8230;then told me the tracking number was a \u201cmistake\u201d and they\u2019ll call me later today with a real tracking number. \u00a0I then asked if there was a complaint department. \u00a0Yesterday they said no when I asked that same question, but this agent said they \u201cdo all that through email.\u201d I asked for the email address and was put on hold again. \u00a0After a few minutes a new customer service rep came on and started asking questions. \u00a0She then put me on hold to \u201csee what she could do.\u201d \u00a0After five minutes I was HUNG UP ON! \u00a0I immediately called back and was told by a new agent that I should \u201ccall back in an hour because all the managers are in a meeting.\u201d \u00a0She also said the Sears phone lines automatically drop calls after they\u2019ve been on hold for more than two and a half minutes. \u00a0I&#8217;m speechless&#8230;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>9:30am &#8211; I return the roof key and head to work.<\/div>\n<div>12pm &#8211; My roommate sees the original Sears repairman in our building going to a unit 4 doors down. \u00a0He tells my roommate the same thing he told me in the voicemail yesterday.<\/div>\n<div>5pm &#8211; my roommate sends me a snapshot of the UPS infonotice by our mailbox and calls UPS to see if he can pick up the package but UPS says no because the driver never scanned in the infonotice number.<\/div>\n<div><strong>FRIDAY &#8211; July 15th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>9am &#8211; Sears calls with tracking #.<\/div>\n<div>2pm &#8211; I\u00a0call UPS to see if I can reroute package. \u00a0UPS says it will cost $6 for me to reroute it since I\u2019m not the sender. \u00a0They say that their driver will probably come around 6:30 on (Friday and) Monday &#8211; so maybe I should try and catch him then. \u00a0Otherwise I\u2019ll have to pick it up in Van Nuys on Tuesday. \u00a0I have to be out of town Friday night so I won&#8217;t be able to take the package if he comes Friday.<\/div>\n<div><strong>MONDAY &#8211; July 18th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>The AC is still leaking into my condo. \u00a0I try to go a different route and contact the HOA about a building plumber. \u00a0It would be another two days before they could give me the name of a plumber that knows our building.<\/div>\n<div><strong>TUESDAY &#8211; July 19th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>The UPS delivery man never bothered to call me, and when I arrived home on Monday he had already come and gone. \u00a0So I had to make the 14 mile round-trip to the Van Nuys UPS warehouse after work. \u00a0Once the part was in my possession Sears refused to give me a sooner repair appointment. \u00a0I set an appointment with the plumber to come the same morning as Sears on July 25th.<\/div>\n<div><strong>SUNDAY &#8211; July 24th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>10pm &#8211; on my way home from West Los Angeles my check engine light comes on. Audible\u00a0expletives\u00a0can be heard inside my automobile. \u00a0I have an appointment on Tuesday in Thousand Oaks (about 30 miles away) to get all my immunizations for my upcoming Thailand trip. \u00a0That appointment may now be in jeopardy. \u00a0The shots for Hep A\/B need to be taken 30 days apart and if I don&#8217;t get the first shot by Tuesday I won&#8217;t have time to get the second before the trip. \u00a0I cross my fingers that both the washer and the AC drain can be fixed in the morning on Monday and I can drop my car off on the way to work.<\/div>\n<div><strong>MONDAY- July 25th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>9:30am &#8211; the plumber arrives and discovers that there has been vandalism in the garage. \u00a0A piece of copper pipe was stolen &#8211; thus kinking the line and preventing any condensation from dripping to the garage (where it was intended to empty out). \u00a0He says he&#8217;ll bill the HOA directly and that should do it. \u00a0In the photo below you can see a pipe ending before it&#8217;s holster. \u00a0The section that should have gone through that holster was stolen and crimped off. \u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-V5mqiWYQTP8\/Ti2sC24kqvI\/AAAAAAAAESo\/ViVBn30q9_A\/s800\/DSC02617.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/div>\n<div>In a stroke of genius, the original\u00a0architects\u00a0for the building just had the AC condensation come down (for both units) and drain into the garage. \u00a0This is a lovely pool of mosquito prone water sitting next to my car. \u00a0Not to mention how it is dripping onto the tracks for the electric garage door opener.<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-iCq3exRvIhs\/Ti2sCy1c8xI\/AAAAAAAAESs\/zNIRd-tECvQ\/s800\/DSC02618.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/div>\n<div>Here is a shot of the crimped pipe that the plumber snipped. \u00a0The clean end is his cut, and the crimped end is where the vandals tore off the rest.<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-xvIwtNahZ7g\/Ti2sC9KA56I\/AAAAAAAAESk\/f6J5R62ID7Y\/s800\/DSC02619.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"527\" height=\"800\" \/><\/div>\n<div>Well &#8211; at least the problem is solved, right?<\/div>\n<div>(you know where this is going, don&#8217;t you?)<\/div>\n<div>9:45am &#8211; I return to my condo (after taking a look at the vandalized pipe in the garage) to find the pipe in the ceiling still dripping! \u00a0The plumber has already moved on to a sewage pipe problem downstairs in another unit &#8211; but he says he&#8217;ll come back when he is done down there.<\/div>\n<div>11am &#8211; Sears still hasn&#8217;t showed up. \u00a0Time is running out for me to fix all the home problems and get my car to the Mazda shop in order to have it returned the same day.<\/div>\n<div>11:40am &#8211; Sears automated service calls and says they are &#8220;experiencing service delays and may not be able to come by 12pm.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>1pm &#8211; Sears has not come yet. \u00a0I wander downstairs looking for the plumber. \u00a0He tells me the only option left is to open up the lines in the garage and blow air in. \u00a0There are two lines and they don&#8217;t know which one is mine &#8211; so they have to cut the pipe and cap it to do each one individually. \u00a0They tell me they can do this without me being there and they will call me after they&#8217;ve done it either today or tomorrow. \u00a0He also says this is something that should be done anyway since the crimped pipe may have backed up the lines.<\/div>\n<div>1:15pm &#8211; Sears has not come yet &#8211; I call their customer service and I&#8217;m told &#8220;the technicians are on their way with an estimated arrival of 1:30pm &#8211; they will call you.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>1:45pm &#8211; Sears has not arrived or called.<\/div>\n<div>2:30pm &#8211; Sears&#8217; driver calls and says he is on his way&#8230;arrives a few minutes later and gets to work.<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/-WrlIANV0VGc\/Ti-EbKngkwI\/AAAAAAAAEVI\/fFb37DFHaVo\/s800\/DSC02621.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/div>\n<div>3:30pm &#8211; plumber blows C02 through drainage pipe and discovers the pipe that was vandalized is the floor drain for the washer &#8211; nothing to do with the AC.<\/div>\n<div>3:45pm &#8211; Sears finally puts washer back together, tests and leaves.<\/div>\n<div>4pm &#8211; Plumber throws hands up in the air and says he can&#8217;t do anything more &#8211; the drain is capped somewhere in the wall and to get to it you&#8217;d have to rip out drywall with a contractor. \u00a0He charges me $85 (apparently for the c02 pipe flush) and tells me I&#8217;ll have to install a tube myself taking the drainage to the washer drain or rip out the wall and fix the piping &#8211; my choice. \u00a0Of course, in his opinion, the only way this would even happen is if the previous owner did some illegal piping changes during a renovation. \u00a0Great.<\/div>\n<div><strong>TUESDAY &#8211; July 26th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>8pm After picking up my car and dropping $100 for a &#8220;cracked evap tube&#8221; I drive to Thousand Oaks for my Thailand trip immunizations. \u00a0The immunizations will cost me about $700. \u00a0My insurance is fantastic so of course it doesn&#8217;t cover any of this. \u00a0I have an HSA for this purpose though and try to use the credit card for that account. \u00a0The card is denied. \u00a0I am embarassed. \u00a0After it is denied several times I call the bank. \u00a0I am informed that the card is deactivated if it isn&#8217;t used for six months. \u00a0Let me repeat that. \u00a0A card that you ONLY use for health purchases is deactivated if you don&#8217;t use it for six months. \u00a0So unless I get sick all the time&#8230; I&#8217;m punished with a deactivation. \u00a0That makes sense, right? \u00a0The card is reactivated and after over three hours at the immunization clinic I&#8217;m finally on my way.<\/div>\n<div>8pm &#8211; I pick up a tube for the AC drain at Home Depot and drop off my prescriptions for Malaria and &#8220;asia stomach virus&#8221; antibiotics at the pharmacy.<\/div>\n<div>8:30pm &#8211; Now that the washer and dryer are back in place in front of the dryer drain, getting a rubber tube into the drainage pipe is no easy task. There was only about four inches clearance behind the washer and dryer to wiggle the tube into the drainage pipe. \u00a0The pipe already had the washer pipe in it &#8211; which was NOT pliable, a harder thicker plastic. \u00a0That black vertical line in the photo below &#8211; that&#8217;s the tube.<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-Ft2RnLkGajw\/Ti-EbYLgvCI\/AAAAAAAAEVM\/YRf-lUZQZ9k\/s800\/DSC02623.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"667\" \/><\/div>\n<div>After ten minutes I had it in there good enough (I hope) and proceeded to climb on a chair and try to clamp down the other end of the tube onto the pipe coming out of the ceiling. \u00a0With the dryer giving maybe seven inches of clearance from the top of the closet door &#8211; and the sliding door pushing in from the side, this was also a difficult\u00a0maneuver.<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-EhkPViBJhys\/Ti-EbN-T5KI\/AAAAAAAAEVE\/yU1KtGfm9TQ\/s800\/DSC02622.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" \/><\/div>\n<div>10pm &#8211; this day would not be finished without another refused credit card charge though. \u00a0At 9pm Sam and I tried to finalize our trip to Phuket while in Thailand. \u00a0When I tried to purchase our flights around 10pm I filled out everything and when it was supposed to charge me I was brought to an error page. \u00a0When we went back through to try again the special price promotion was over and the return ticket was now twice the price! \u00a0Half an hour later I would get an email from American Express saying they had blocked a charge from Thailand for possible fraudulent activity. \u00a0If they hadn&#8217;t done that we&#8217;d have saved over 1,400 on our tickets. \u00a0Sounds like a lot, right? \u00a0That number is in BHT &#8211; so it really only comes out to about $50. \u00a0We ended up having Sam buy the flights from another airline and book our beachfront rooms for $15 a night. \u00a0Yes, $15 a night. \u00a0For $15 a night we&#8217;ll walk out of our room into this (hopefully sans the old man):<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_KXdQqALhpuI\/S6uJZ7oYJzI\/AAAAAAAAARg\/qTA2DLtkM0M\/s1600\/diu4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"304\" \/><\/div>\n<div>Speaking of old men; every time Boner &#8220;walks away&#8221; (dumb phrase because it takes place over the phone after he refuses to take the President&#8217;s calls)\u00a0from the President\u00a0my trip to Thailand gets more expensive. \u00a0Over the weekend we watched the exchange rate get lower and lower. \u00a0The dollar is now the weakest it has been all year against the Baht. \u00a0Just in the last week (depending on where you look) the dollar is worth over 5 BHT less than before. \u00a0Perfect timing to hold the US credit rating hostage, fellows, thanks a lot!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>WEDNESDAY &#8211; July 27th<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>This morning there was no water in my cup in the closet. \u00a0There didn&#8217;t appear to be any water on the outside of the pipe and\/or tube, so apparently my solution worked (for now). \u00a0I&#8217;ll have to do a test and put a cloth under the drainage pipe in the wall and see if all the water is really draining out.<\/div>\n<div>As a kind of final proof of bumbling corporate ineptitude Sears sent me an email this morning asking me to take a survey about my opinion of their service. \u00a0When I clicked on the survey link I came to this:<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-V4nnNGIektU\/TjAuPHiwWzI\/AAAAAAAAEWk\/CLOkfS_Na6k\/s800\/Untitled-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"233\" \/><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;<em>Sorry, service is temporarily unavailable. Please, try later!<\/em>&#8220;<\/div>\n<div>Oh sure! \u00a0I&#8217;ll try again all day so I can tell you how your service was the most horrible service experience in my life! Why not? \u00a0I already took two full days off of work and drove to Van Nuys (a 90 minute drive in rush hour traffic) for a 60 minute part repair, I might as well take another day off to keep trying your survey link.<\/div>\n<div>Sears&#8217; mission statement reads in part: &#8220;Sears Holdings is committed to . . . providing quality services.&#8221; \u00a0None of the cases we reviewed in business school had a business that was this bad at its primary mission. \u00a0If this were a textbook case we would expect the company to be out of business very quickly.<\/div>\n<div>I don&#8217;t expect to receive anything, but I plan on sending Sears a bill for my time lost from work as well as my trouble (waiting for parts, driving to Van Nuys, having an unusable living room for two weeks, being on hold, hung up on, \u00a0etc.). \u00a0With all the complaints I see online about their service I doubt contacting them (the same phone number that hung up on me on my first attempt) would do much.<\/div>\n<div>I&#8217;ve also sent an email to the HOA for my condo building asking them for reimbursement of the money I spent on services rendered for the AC. \u00a0It OUGHT to come out of their insurance since the drainage pipe in the garage was vandalized. \u00a0I also need to know the piping schematics of my unit so I can decide whether to tear out the drywall and possibly sue the previous owner for the illegal piping (if discovered).<\/div>\n<div>Since the updates to those two actions won&#8217;t come for a while I&#8217;m going to finally post this blog about all this nonsense that happened this month.<\/div>\n<div>NOTE: I know that probably only my mom and dad would want to read all this &#8211; but blogging about it is a convenient way for me to keep track of it for my complaints with Sears and the HOA.<\/div>\n<div>UPDATE: Of course my home improvement problems for July aren&#8217;t over, the month isn&#8217;t over yet &#8211; something had to happen! \u00a0Minutes after first publishing this blog post I received the following youtube video from my tenant\/roommate:<\/div>\n<p><object width=\"560\" height=\"349\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/OlEdD3zZ8YE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\" \/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"560\" height=\"349\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/OlEdD3zZ8YE?version=3&amp;hl=en_US\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>THURSDAY &#8211; July 28<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course this only required five minutes and a new (fairly inexpensive) showerhead to fix. \u00a0I thought was done for the month finally. \u00a0Then, when I tried to brush my teeth before going to bed I discovered that&#8230;. \u00a0 The cold water in my bathroom is turned off. \u00a0Now, the water lines going to my master bathroom are separate from the rest of the condo. \u00a0Why the plumbing was arranged this way was for contractor convenience I&#8217;m sure as my shower shares the wall with my next door nieghbors&#8217;. \u00a0However, now I&#8217;m in the difficult position of running around asking these people if they shut off the water for some reason before I call a plumber. \u00a0Of course, noticing this at 11pm at night and not planning on being home again until late Sunday night makes this a problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anyone who calculates buying vs. renting knows that it is necessary to include maintenance costs into the expense of buying. \u00a0What one can&#8217;t account for is the &#8220;gotcha!&#8221; nature of the pratfalls of ownership. \u00a0You never know what might be hidden in the walls of your home. \u00a0If you&#8217;re a renter, you don&#8217;t care; that&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2009"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5159,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009\/revisions\/5159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}