This is just a vent because I'm so annoyed by my neighbor's contractors.
We live in the bottom floor of a 2-family house that's been condo-ized. Our upstairs neighbor just sold and the new owners are having some work down before they move in. On Tuesday, the wife was at the house and stopped by with their contractor because he needs to shut off the water to the house for an hour and needed to get into our part of the basement. We decided that he would do it the following morning. Well Wednesday came and went and I never saw him so I figured that he didn't need it. I was out all day yesterday and was on my way out the door this morning when he knocked. I was right by the door getting DS's shoe on and he knocked twice, with like 2 seconds pause...not even enough time for me to get to the door if I was in the other room. I stood up to answer and he just opened the door and tried to walk in! OMG what if I was in the shower or walking around naked or something?!?! I could not believe it. Then he tried to tell me that I had to wait and let him in right then and there even though I was on my way to an appointment and leave the house open for him while I was gone. Yeah right! Is it just me or is that beyond rude and obnoxious?
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WHOA. Way out of line. I would speak to the other condo owner right away.
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Did he have a key?
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What?! That's crazy! I agree with @MamaMoose, the new owner needs to know what creepers she's hired.
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@looch: No, DH unlocked the door when he went to work a little while earlier. We don't always leave it locked when we're home because our neighborhood is pretty safe...usually! It is going to be locked all the time now.
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@BananaPancakes: @MamaMoose: We're going to tell them when we see them. Unfortunately we don't have any way to contact them.
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Yeah, that's totally rude!
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@skipra: Did you tell him to leave?
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@Dandelion: Oh yes! I said that I was in no way comfortable having him in my house. He's going to have to wait until DH is home to do it. No way I'm ever letting him in here!
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@skipra: Good! I'm sure your upstairs neighbor will hear about it before you can tell them yourself. I would be furious if I knew the guy I hired did something like that!
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Ew, that is definitely not okay! Does he have a boss you can call and let them know or, is he the boss of himself?
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@swurlygurl: Looks like it's just this guy and a helper. He drives an unmarked van so I don't think he works for a company. We'll find out from the neighbors so we can report it if possible. Good idea!
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how obnoxious! DUDE! I hate contractors who feel like they run the place. Um, no...people still live here. Respect them.
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Rude? I'd call that illegal. I'd be calling his company and possibly filing a police report. Hell no does some random person get to come into my house without permission.
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And...the drama continued yesterday.
I am SOOOO thankful that I made this idiot wait until DH was going to be home. He turned the water off, no problem and came back an hour later like he said to turn it back on. DH went to the basement with him and was annoyed that he just quickly turned it full blast rather than doing it slowly so the water wouldn't just rush into the pipes - could cause a valve to burst, obviously he didn't know what he was doing. A few minutes later DH went back down to grab something and the sump pump was running and the basement was flooded in a few inches of water!!! The idiot contractor forgot to turn off one of the valves in our neighbors side of the basement. DH turned the water off again and I got the contractor from upstairs. He came down and first thing he did was turn the water back on before fixing the problem! Then he just shrugged and made it seem like a tiny mistake. The water was pooling around our dryer and getting all over our stuff (luckily most of it is in plastic totes so we didn't lose too much). He never apologized and we had to tell him that he needed to clean it up - he was just going to leave. After it was cleaned up, we asked what was going to happen with our things that were damaged and he started yelling and swearing at us! He was pissed that we asked him to pay for our damaged items. It got really heated and we had to tell him to get out or we were going to call the cops. This guy is not a plumber or licensed and insured. Now our neighbors are probably going to be stuck paying for our things. Just goes to show you that you really need to be careful who you hire, especially when you live in a shared space!
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@skipra: so sorry!! Hope you guys are able to document everything with photos and videos!!!
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@skipra: Oh my word!! What a jerk this guy sounds like! I agree with Mr.Bee, make sure you take tons of pictures and videos of the damaged items and the condition of the basement. Sorry you're going through this
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@mrbee: @Pepper: Oh yeah, we took photos immediately. I'm including everything that got even a drop of water on it - like books. Can still use them but who knows what was on the basement floor that washed all over them.
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@skipra: I'm just catching up! Have you talked to your neighbors about this, yet?
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Ugh. Contractors. I've never had a good experience with them.
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Oh my gosh, how horrible!!
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@Dandelion: Oh yes we have seen and spoken with them. They were very apologetic and took full responsibility. They are going to reimburse us to replace everything. It's up to them to try to get the money from their contractor.
One thing I just can't believe is that they didn't fire this guy! They said that was the only plumbing that he was doing and otherwise he was just painting, doing trim work, etc. We would've fired him immediately! Luckily we are moving at the end of the month and hopefully will not have to deal with anything like this in the future. -
@skipra: Wow, what a crazy situation!!!! I'm so glad the neighbors have been pretty nice about the whole thing and are going to reimburse you, but what a nut that contractor is!!!!
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WOOOOOOOOOOOAH NOT okay.
we had contractors in our home the last month for our basement reno and i would never ever have allowed them to impose on our neighbors in any way, even so far as parking after asking them--
his behavior and his prof skills are incredibly lacking common sense/quality.
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