When my AC unit stopped working last week, my apartment management called AirCall to fix it. The appointment was set for Monday between 7-9am, but no one ever showed up. My apartment management touched based with someone I assume is some type of manager or coordinator at AirCall. That manager then called me and informed me that the technician called out sick that morning, and said that I would need to reschedule for Thursday between 11am-1pm. I let her know that my big issue was the lack of communication on their end. She stated that they did notify the apartment management. Later, I asked my apartment management about it and they said that AirCall did leave a voicemail with the leasing office notifying them the technician had called out sick, but that they did so after the scheduled appointment time. Since I was out of the loop at this step, I can't say for certain what happened there.
I let the Aircall manager know that I would take the Thursday appointment and asked that she let me know if there were any delays or changes to my appointment time. She confirmed that she would do so. Thursday morning she again confirmed the appointment time. 1pm rolls around and no one is here yet. No call or text from the manager. About 1:45pm still no one had arrived. I texted the manager checking in and her only update was, "He located at your building now. He might be at another unit." Especially after the Monday appointment fiasco and after she stated she would inform me of any delays, I expected a response something along the lines of, "I apologize for the further delay. I know he's at your apartment complex so he's probably just running a little behind schedule getting to everyone's unit. I'll touch base with him just to make sure and give you an ETA." This would have been a great display of customer service rather than the dry response I received. The response I received indicated indifference on the manager's part concerning whether they met their appointment times, as well as whether she kept her word to customers.
Unfortunately when the technician did arrive after 2pm, the experience didn't get any better. The technician wasn't wearing any PPE besides a bandana tied around his head. All of the other vendors and technicians that have come into my apartment since the beginning of quarantine have had PPE, with an actual mask being the bare minimum. After being in my apartment for some time, he asked to use my restroom. I did feel some discomfort about this for a number of reasons including the current pandemic and the fact that I was clearly a single woman alone in a one bedroom apartment. It was an awkward situation and I think it would have been much more professional for him to have used the restroom available in the leasing office.
At the end of it, he couldn't fix the issue. All he said was that he needed to order parts and he would talk to apartment management. The AC was on when he said this so I asked for clarification. He said that he was able to get it on manually but that it would shut back off on and not be able to come back on it's own. I asked him how long the project would take to complete. He said it depends on when the apartment management approves it and couldn't give any estimate. I at least expected him to give info like, "usually parts like this take x amount of days/hours/weeks once we get approval from your apartment management to place the order." The communication you'd expect from a technician just wasn't there. I know the technician is employed by the property management and he has to go through them. But as the renter, I also need to know what's going on in my apartment and it was like I had to draw basic info out of the technician and I still am left uncertain about next steps.
Perhaps when they return to complete the job they'll leave a better impression (and if so, I'll update my review accordingly) but so far, I'm unimpressed. read more