Repairs & Request Or Maybe Not

Repairs & Request Or Maybe Not 

More from my housing association, some simple repairs i requested they refused, oh and a personal insult/suggestion/innuendo that i found very offensive and the refusal to give me access to my bicycle locked up in the storeroom downstairs.

Tap/Washer/Riser Unit

My tap sprung a leak, no big problem but im not a plumber and the constant drip drip drip was annoying, so i head off to my housing association, speak to the woman on reception someone from the rear office comes out and explains that it is probably the washer and isn't something they would repair, that is the tenants responsibility. Ok not a problem, i am fairly competent at DIY so off i go to Wickes and buy a replacement washer, quite an easy job to replace, not something i had done before but easy enough, but still drip drip drip.

So back i go, explain the tap is still leaking same guy comes out again and tells me it is probably the tap riser unit or words to that effect, cant remember exactly but basically the valve in the tap is knackered.
Same answer again, it isn't their responsibility, it is down to the tenant to get it repaired.
Hold on a minute, a small 2 minute fix for the washer i can understand, this is a little bit more than that and quite a lot more expensive, so the question is, when i move out, what are you going to do, my property, i fitted it, i will take it with me.

Oh uh i see,  suddenly it is a repair the housing association can undertake and within a couple of days the repair is done and no more dripping tap.
WTF why lie? why be as awkward as possible? It dosnt make sense, but then again all things considered its just par for the course.


My Bike & The Storeroom 
So all the residents got a letter saying the storeroom downstairs was going to have its locks changed, they gave us a date that the lock would be changed and we were requested to make sure that nothing was left in the storeroom. So the date came and passed and for a week i carried my bike up the stairs into my flat, there is nowhere secure to leave it, locked or not, so it was either the storeroom or carry it up to my flat. 
One week on they still haven't changed the lock so i thought for convenience i would start using the storeroom again, you know, its a full sized adult bike a bit of a ball ache carrying it up and down the stairs a couple of times or more a day. This goes on for about 2 weeks they still haven't changed the locks and then one day i go downstairs to go get my bike and go out but cant, they have changed the lock.
There is nothing wrong with that, i cant complain we were warned it was going to happen.

The issue

I have on at least 4 occasions over a 9 month period asked for access to retrieve my bike.
I have been told yes we will sort it out or i will pass your message on to the relevant person and they will be in touch, you know, in one way or another they will allow me to get my bike out of the storeroom, 4 times, every time i went to the housing association i got a positive answer, but no end result.
What can i say, they have kidnapped my bike, holding it to ransom IDK, theft? 

It is a total refusal to allow me to retrieve my bike.
They know its there
4 times i have asked for it
4 times they said they would assist and then done nothing at all to help.

How do i feel about that, im pissed off. 


But i would also consider accepting that they have taken ownership of my bike and would happily allow them to reimburse me to the sum of £300, for the inconvenience of not being able to access or use my bike, the time wasted approaching them to get it back, and the value of the bike they have taken ownership of, £300 sounds like a fair figure.


The Extractor & The Light
So in my bathroom I have an extractor,  it is automatically activated whenever the light is turned on. It sounded like a helicopter, it came on, even on the lowest speed it sounded like a helicopter taking off. Lying in the bath was a nightmare, im one of them people that likes to soak for an age in the bath, with that extractor it was impossible, way way way too loud.

Not only  that but the extractor was 2 way and when it was off it didnt block the exhaust hole, so my bathroom would fill up with dust, from what i can only assume was incoming from the open vent behind the extractor.

So after one of our cosy little residents meetings in the church downstairs i ask the housing/area manager or whatever she was if it could be fixed or replaced, she said yes made a note of it, but nothing ever come of it. I didnt bother going back to them i just took the matter into my own hands and removed it from the wall blocked the vent hole put it back in place, then disconnected the wiring. 
Job done the extractor is silent i get little or no dust thru the vent having closed it up myself.


The light, pretty much the same problem, it vibrated and buzzed very loudly, so after sorting the extractor out myself, that is now silent, every time you turn the light on you  get very loud buzzing and vibrating, nothing major to them, it works, they refused to do anything about it. 
Again, not a major issue, i am competent enough at DIY to swap the light fittings in the hall with the one in the bathroom, so the noisy light was now in the hall. 

Funny thing, i get electricians around to test my electrics, annual safety check a legal requirement for the landlord to undertake and point out the light to them you know the buzzing and vibrating, they changed it instantly without question accepting there was an issue with it!


Neither of these are major repairs, more of an inconvenience than anything else, but its the little things, they all mount up.


They Like To Play Games Too - Trading Places
  
So there are sisters working at my housing association, one is/was (havnt seen them for a while) a little larger than the other, not sure if they are twins but they look very very simillar, if you didnt see them on a regular basis you wouldnt know which one was which apart from the weight.

So i go to my housing association one day and ask to speak to my housing manager this is the larger of the two sisters, she comes out we go into a little office and start  talking over whatever it is i went to see them about.

We talking for a while and something isnt right, cant remember the exact conversation, but for whatever reason it became obvious that i wasnt talking to my housing manager but to her sister, i dont know what her job is at the housing association, she may well be in a position to help with whatever issue i went in there with, she knew i was going in to speak to her sister, bare in mind the simillarities between the two, why didnt she identify herself as herself.

I had to ask the question or rather make the statement, you are not N, no, she replied with a little smile, i am S her sister.

Why, when knowing i was going in to see N did S come out and knowing how simillar they are not identify herself as being S?