update on running repairs
11th April Friday am
As it stands at the moment
Still waiting to hear anything about the shower repair Mr xxxxxxx called in on his way home from work (Monday 07/04/08 pm)and said"o dear yes it does need doing i will make sure Scarborough Council come out and do this as you cant be without a shower."
I have bought the subject up twice this week with YCH but still nothing, The kitchen tap has been mended twice tues 01/04/08 and thurs 03/04/08 it was still pouring so they came out again on tue 08/04/08 to replace the tap unfortunatly they took of the large taps which where used as i cant turn on the small ones so, they replaced them with small star taps which i cant use and guess what you got it, over night the tap dripped about 3 quorters of a pint over night into my kitchen cupbourd.
phoned again and was told someone would be in touch no indication as to when .
Nothing heard from them about the timer control for the boiler as its live i would have thought it was urgent ,we have to control the heating from the boiler and i dont think any pone wants live electrical items just left.
A man came to repair the window 09/04/08(the plaster and concrete surround came down on my head when we where painting 3 weeks ago).but he could not do any thing as he was a carpenter and the repair had been reported so badly on paper it said we needed a piece of wood replacing above the window.(I really think that this is deliberate as its not the only repair that has been reported so badly that the wrong person turns up and we are stuck waiting again and we cant say they didnt send some one) we had another man this morning but i had to ring up and push to get it to happen.He has cleared the area and put up some plaster bourd with dab adhesive and its propped up until they come back and plaster which wont happen until next week.
The Plumber has just arrived again and is not happy i got the "Whats the matter with the taps i put on like i was having a go at him personally,which i could have as they are leaking ,i explained to him that i have osteaporosis and carpol tunnel syndrom i wont get better just worse and i cant use the small sharp taps they have put on ,he said that i would have to wait and they would go on order, all this even though i had explained when i rang what the problems where and was assured it would be put right. just to ad insult to injury the plumber then asked to see the shower as he had a reapir on his sheet for a shower, even he was gob smacked about it as i told him that the assessor had called on monday and was well aware of what needed doing .
So another week on and all iv achieved is to get the tap to stop dripping and on top of all this i have only had one person call this week with prior information ie they just turn up i have asked xxxx xxxxxx to please let me know when people are coming as i am in and out of hospital and am often ill in bed as well as the fact that i realy dont want to be here alone with any of them as i have been verbally abused in the past.I realy think that it is normal to expect to be told when some one is coming into your home and a phone call or e mail takes seconds after all the times i have explained this and had jess the tenancy adviser explain it as well that they would have got it by now.Y C H would never survive as a regular company because people would only use them them once,then sack them.
I recieved a call from xxxx at head office YCH who is trying to sort out the problems and coordinate aswift repair also recieved a call from xxxxxxx who formally apologised to me and said it looks like monday for the shower so we will just have to wait and see.
Here I am unwashed cold and tired its snowing a blizzard so I have had to put on the central heating unfortunately I cant control it as we are still waiting for the electrician to come and replace the timer(about 2 weeks now),and the leaky kitchen tap is now throwing hot water down the drain.
I would try and get on with something but im thwarted at every turn, for example
started painting in the living room, when half of the mortar and plaster fell of from above the window on my head I reported this three weeks ago but we wont see any one until next Monday at the earliest so front rooms out of action, the housing association requested that we empty the loft as insulation was being fitted so the contents of the loft are now in a heap in the kitchen (only place left with a bit of space.)
As I am unable to move this stuff myself I have to keep asking friends and relatives to help and I must admit there all just a bit fed up with it.
Due to the mess the workmen make most of my positions are in plastic boxes to keep them safe.
The TV is in the bedroom and we still don’t have a proper kitchen floor the only safe place is in my bed and im not sure if the black mould that appears on the walls (due to lack of outside pointing up) is doing my asthma any favours.
On Monday I will start again with the phone calls trying to get it sorted but I hold out no hope we have had a hole in the roof now for longer than 2 years.
The whole thing has been a night mare starting with the house of horror report see below and ongoing day after day its wearing me out I had to give up work and my blood pressure is awful, I can honestly say if you have an option live further south and avoid social housing.
Below is the article that went into the newspaper bearing in mind that I had been trying to get repairs done for a year prior to this article.
Published Date: 08 February 2005
Location: Whitby
HINDERWELL woman has made a desperate cry for help after spending weeks living with no central heating, kitchen or bathroom.
Yazmin Owen-Taylor of Coronation Avenue moved into her home eight years ago when a car accident left her disabled and unable to work.
She worked hard to get her health back and now works as a volunteer counsellor in Scarborough, but she has no central heating, has been without a kitchen since November and has had no bathroom for three weeks.
"My whole life is just falling down," she said.
"I can't think so I don't work efficiently.
"I seem to be dealing with other people's problems, but nobody seems to be dealing with mine."
Since November Mrs Owen-Taylor been microwaving her meals in the lounge and although she has a heater, it costs her £5 a night to run it.
She emptied her kitchen in November when she was told she was getting new units, but she is still waiting for the work to be done.
And when she moved the cooker she discovered a hole in the rotten floor and four inches of stagnant water under the floorboards.
"You are not supposed to treat disabled people in this way," she said.
"What about old people? They would be dead before anyone came looking for them."
She said the hot water had been off twice last week and workmen had stuck a waste pipe with glue after water poured into the kitchen through the boiler.
"It is like every repair they come and do creates two," said Mrs Owen-Taylor.
"My main objective at the moment is to actually be able to come home and live in my house."
Richard Adamson of Yorkshire Coast Homes said that contractors were ordered to do the work in November.
He said Mrs Owen-Taylor had not been asked to move the old units out of her kitchen and that Yorkshire Coast Homes was not aware the work had not been done until she contacted them last week.
I used to think that they where having a go at me personally and I got quite paranoid ended up on pills from the Doctor, However I now know they are just incompetant council trained workshy idiotes.
Why does it take so long to get anything repaird ?.
Why does the repair only last a little while?.
example
2 weeks ago i rang my tenancy adviser and asked her to arrange a repair to a leaking hot tap in the kitchen,we have gas heating so all the time the tap dripped it was using the gas and running money down the drain my only alternative was to turn of the boiler .
A week later a plumber turns up and repairs the tap the repair lasted 5 hours befor the tap was running again on thursday another plumber turned up he said nasty things about the first one and said the tap was now fine the repair lasted 1 hour befor it was running down the drain again .
I rang and was told that another plumber would not be available until next friday as im freezing cold this did not go down well and after some chatting i managed to get them to agree to come on tuesday, only got to get through the weekend and monday.
I suppose its only a small thing but i also have problems with my wet room shower as it is also leaking the water comes straight through the mains electricity box and down the kitchen wall ,this is scary as im afraid i will be electricuted in my shower so iv not used it in a week , i did tell the landlord and the tenancy adviser about the water and the electric but no one came near for a week and then a guy showed up who said he did not know how to repair the leak as he only worked on the showers ,i smiled sort of sideways at him he dug around and put some silicon stuff in a hole and left.I waited the statutary 5 hours for the silica to set then turned the shower on upstairs while i went down to make the tea, but befor the kettle could boil there was an avalanche of water coming through the electric box and along the kitchen wall,As the office was closed by then i waited until this morning i rang the number and got a message about emergancy repairs but of course its not an emergancy being unable to shower or use your heating its just a pain in the rear.i hold no hope for a speedy conclusion and would add that i am a disabled lady of 53 who is getting realy fed up with social housing .