Adventures of new home ownership
Oct. 12th, 2009 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bktheirregularSaturday, an air-conditioning technician came by to dismount the A/C from the apartment I'm renting, and install it in the new place, to replace a unit the sellers took with them, because they'd charged it to their business account less than a year ago, or something like that.
Naturally, the troubles began before I could even get out the door of the old apartment building. The building superintendent and the A/C tech got into an argument about something, I don't know what, maybe the amount of noise inherent in dismounting a split A/C unit, and then they tried to drag me into it:
Super: "[Tell him to speak more politely!]*"
Tech: "[Tell her to speak more politely!]*"
Me: "[I don't understand even half of what either of you are yelling about!]*" (sotto voce) "For crying out loud, is it something in the water?"**
* - translated from the Greek
** - in English
The fun continued when we got to the new place. One of the nice things advertised for this apartment was the roof access. This was relevant on Saturday because the exterior part of the A/C unit was mounted on an overhang over the front balcony, and the best access was from the roof.
Except...
Me: "The roof access is locked. We can't get up there."***
Younger Seller: "Just undo the dead bolt on the door, and unlock the gate."
Me: "No, I mean the gate up to the roof is locked. There's a combination cable lock on the gate. Do you have the combination?"
Younger Seller: "What? When did that happen?"
*** - This conversation bounced between Greek and English.
Several calls later, we finally got someone on the line who knew the combination to the lock. By then, though, the A/C tech had made use of ladders to dismount the old A/C unit and put up the new one. (More on that later.) I got enlisted to feed a conduit through a hole in the wall, to connect the inner unit to the outer. I was trying to feed when he gave a yank without warning, pulling my hand into the wall, gouging open a fingertip, and leaving my blood in the structure of the building.
When I left, the sellers were still packing, but they promised that they'd leave the key to the apartment inside once they finished moving out Sunday morning, to complement the key they'd given my aunt. (They'd switched the lock on the door for some bizarre reason. This becomes relevant later, as well.) Finally, I bade them farewell and went on to do my errands for Saturday.
Sunday, after lunch, I decided to head over to the apartment again, to measure out the various rooms and put together rough sketches of how to lay out my new digs. I swung over by my aunt's to pick up the keys they'd given her, went over to the building, put the key in the lock ...
...when "put the key in the lock" is a significant step in the process, that should be a hint that something's just about to go wrong.
The key didn't turn. I was locked out of my brand-new apartment. One phone call later, the younger seller came by.
Younger seller: "This isn't the right key. Are you sure your aunt gave you the right key?"
Me: "It's on the same ring as the key to the downstairs storage closet and the front door. This is the one you gave us."
After many attempts to open the door, including springing the lock with a makeshift shim, he finally called a locksmith. Then he left to work on their new office, basically sticking me with the locksmith's bill (35 euros). Locksmith turned up, asked to see my ID (probably figuring a burglar wouldn't have done so), and tried about five different methods to jimmy the door before popping open the shroud around the keyhole and opening the door with a bit of bent wire.
Then he offered to sell me a new lock on the spot.
I declined, politely, informing him that I was planning to replace the lock anyway, and put in a deadbolt as well; meanwhile, I went searching for the key that the sellers had promised would be left for me in the entryway. Half an hour and three phone calls later, it turned out that the older seller had walked away with the key in his pocket. Two hours later, he swung by my old place to give me the key, and you'd better believe I went to test it out and make sure that one worked.
Oh, and by the way, while the younger seller and I were on the roof searching for an alternate way in, we spotted the new air conditioning unit that was supposed to be bolted down on the ledge above the balcony. It wasn't bolted down, just left standing in place. Add that to the list.
I guess I'm looking at some stress this upcoming week.
Naturally, the troubles began before I could even get out the door of the old apartment building. The building superintendent and the A/C tech got into an argument about something, I don't know what, maybe the amount of noise inherent in dismounting a split A/C unit, and then they tried to drag me into it:
Super: "[Tell him to speak more politely!]*"
Tech: "[Tell her to speak more politely!]*"
Me: "[I don't understand even half of what either of you are yelling about!]*" (sotto voce) "For crying out loud, is it something in the water?"**
* - translated from the Greek
** - in English
The fun continued when we got to the new place. One of the nice things advertised for this apartment was the roof access. This was relevant on Saturday because the exterior part of the A/C unit was mounted on an overhang over the front balcony, and the best access was from the roof.
Except...
Me: "The roof access is locked. We can't get up there."***
Younger Seller: "Just undo the dead bolt on the door, and unlock the gate."
Me: "No, I mean the gate up to the roof is locked. There's a combination cable lock on the gate. Do you have the combination?"
Younger Seller: "What? When did that happen?"
*** - This conversation bounced between Greek and English.
Several calls later, we finally got someone on the line who knew the combination to the lock. By then, though, the A/C tech had made use of ladders to dismount the old A/C unit and put up the new one. (More on that later.) I got enlisted to feed a conduit through a hole in the wall, to connect the inner unit to the outer. I was trying to feed when he gave a yank without warning, pulling my hand into the wall, gouging open a fingertip, and leaving my blood in the structure of the building.
When I left, the sellers were still packing, but they promised that they'd leave the key to the apartment inside once they finished moving out Sunday morning, to complement the key they'd given my aunt. (They'd switched the lock on the door for some bizarre reason. This becomes relevant later, as well.) Finally, I bade them farewell and went on to do my errands for Saturday.
Sunday, after lunch, I decided to head over to the apartment again, to measure out the various rooms and put together rough sketches of how to lay out my new digs. I swung over by my aunt's to pick up the keys they'd given her, went over to the building, put the key in the lock ...
...when "put the key in the lock" is a significant step in the process, that should be a hint that something's just about to go wrong.
The key didn't turn. I was locked out of my brand-new apartment. One phone call later, the younger seller came by.
Younger seller: "This isn't the right key. Are you sure your aunt gave you the right key?"
Me: "It's on the same ring as the key to the downstairs storage closet and the front door. This is the one you gave us."
After many attempts to open the door, including springing the lock with a makeshift shim, he finally called a locksmith. Then he left to work on their new office, basically sticking me with the locksmith's bill (35 euros). Locksmith turned up, asked to see my ID (probably figuring a burglar wouldn't have done so), and tried about five different methods to jimmy the door before popping open the shroud around the keyhole and opening the door with a bit of bent wire.
Then he offered to sell me a new lock on the spot.
I declined, politely, informing him that I was planning to replace the lock anyway, and put in a deadbolt as well; meanwhile, I went searching for the key that the sellers had promised would be left for me in the entryway. Half an hour and three phone calls later, it turned out that the older seller had walked away with the key in his pocket. Two hours later, he swung by my old place to give me the key, and you'd better believe I went to test it out and make sure that one worked.
Oh, and by the way, while the younger seller and I were on the roof searching for an alternate way in, we spotted the new air conditioning unit that was supposed to be bolted down on the ledge above the balcony. It wasn't bolted down, just left standing in place. Add that to the list.
I guess I'm looking at some stress this upcoming week.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 12:23 pm (UTC)This is why living in Greece would send me into a nervous breakdown. ::hugs::
no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 12:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 03:50 pm (UTC)