NT - not today, not tomorrow

[Ecogirl]

Living in Darwin has certainly come as a culture shock in one respect - the motto up here is
NT...not today, not tomorrow (you get the picture)....

I woke up this morning at 5:30am to a flooded main bathroom (the water was coming down the walls etc)....i couldn't find the mains tap for this rented unit, my shoe collection (my middle name is amelda) was dripping and there was not a thing i could do.....

i waited until a decent 6:30am to ring the property mgr (who was pissed off i woke them up) and they told me to wait until 8:30 when they opened the office to sort it out.....not happy with that answer (cause i would kill my property mgr if they did that to my rented house) i managed to get the details of the emergency plumber......

i rang the plumber, told them i couldn't find the off tap and could they please come straight away cause i was worried about the unit below me and further property damage (and water coming out of my light fittings).....they told to they won't get there til 9am......

do these people not care - it's not my unit but this is someone's IP and the people managing it don't care.....i won't recommend these people as property mgrs.....

long storey short - it was the unit upstairs and they have gone away....they are trying to get hold of the owners and the body corp to turn the water off......water is now coming off their front balcony.........

this is an episode that epitomises my experience up here.....and my shoes are stuffed

disillusioned in the top end
ecogirl

 

[duncan_m]

Originally posted by Ecogirl
disillusioned in the top end
ecogirl

Oh dear

I spent 18years in Darwin, grew up there.. As soon as I could, I left the Territory Get on a plane!

 

[muppie]

I'm sorry about your shoes ecogirl
Is this the typical attitude of people up in NT?

 

[Ecogirl]

duncan
i would but i've just moved up here from sunny cairns for a construction job and i'm here for at least another 18mths......at least it's close to asia.......i love cheap travel
ecogirl

 

[Ecogirl]

muppie
the territorians are a really friendly bunch and they would do anything for you if they found you helpless on the street but when it comes to business matters they don't care....

the issue i've found from sourcing materials and getting stuff fabricated for work is that there is no competition from other companies.....there may be 2 or 3 companies that have the same service, they all know each other and if they don't want to supply things in the timeframe you need them they'll tell you to bugger off.....a lot of businesses prefer not to work to meet timeframes - they do it when it suits them which is not how business works down south......so it all gets rather frustrating

and now it's seeped into my personal life.....i guess it's called aclimatisation....
ecogirl

 

[chrispy]

I had the same problem with my Darwin ip thats why I sold it

PM could not care less

Seems to be right through all the trades

Not only do they not care they charge you over and over and over

Can I send you a shoe-fix from Melbourne??

We had so much water damage and leaking that the insurance in Darwin put a $2500 excess on our units???

On the bright side - can you claim new shoes - hundreds of them on your insurance

 

[OPM-addict]

PM and Strata Managers

Hi Ecogirl,

I feel your pain. Similar situation happened to be in a high rise flat I was in last winter. In W.A. its "Wait Awhile".

My problem was that the Strata Manager (SM) couldn't be contacted. She had turned off her phone that weekend. Why it was her birthday.

Both PM/SM seem to think that tennents and owners are happy to hand them money for not much work.

Respect, Peace, Out.

OPM-addict

 

[Ecogirl]

latest update

it turns out that the problem was from the flat upstairs and the pm for my flat only bothered to get in touch with the body corp at 4pm after i had phoned them 3 times (and i first told them about the prob 6 30am).....they couldn't get hold of anyone and told me if it was still flooded the next day to phone them......yeh right

there was no one answering the door in the flat above so i went and ferreted out who was an owner occupier in the building, found out who owned the flat above me and rang them myself.....they said there was no problem that they could see - i showed them my unit but they didn't want to turn the water off cause they lived there.....they told me that they'd get a plumber out in the morning????

meanwhile i still had water coming out of my light fittings and i was having cold showers cause i had the hot water syst off as there was water pouring all over that too (i don't know how their wiring works).....

so now the water has stopped (only after a day and a half) and i have green furry stuff growing in very interesting patterns on my ceiling and cornices....the pm said that the damage was listed as priority one and would get fixed when the tradesman came around.....

at least now i know where the off tap is for my unit - in a wall panel that is screwed shut (and not labelled) in the main bedroom's wardrobe....silly me for not working that out....

so i'm having drinks at my place tonight cause my friends don't believe me....have a good weekend

cheers and beers
ecogirl