Cornwallis Manor Apartments

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/22) */
Our apartment building is 50 years old. The HVAC system is one large unit with an outside cooling tower that cools the entire building by circulating chilled water. We began having problems with the a/c in mid-September. It began with fuses at...

the cooling tower blowing, causing the tower to stop cooling and circulating the water. We called [redacted] to find out why we were blowing fuses so often. It was an electrical problem with 400 amp fuses getting hot and blowing. We called [redacted] along with [redacted] the fuse problem was fixed. Unfortunately this power problem had fried our 100 ton compressor, now we did not have a/c at all. This process took 2-3 weeks due to needing professionals to repair this problem on their schedule, not ours. It was now October when we shut down our a/c unit every year, due to the cooling tower being outside. We have to drain the water out of it to prevent freezing and damage to the tower. We called in [redacted] to start the repair on the compressor. A new one had to be purchased; which we did in November. [redacted] removed the bad compressor and installed the new 100 ton compressor during the winter. Now all we could do was wait for it to be warm enough to fill the cooling tower again. We began the process of turning the a/c back on March 1, 2015. While filling the tower, we found that some pipes leading to the cooling tower had frozen and busted. These were replaced and the tower was filled with water. [redacted] was notified that we were ready for them to turn the compressor on. Once again this was on their schedule, not ours. After adding Freon and doing a pressure test they discovered a new problem in another part, the cooling chamber. They were not equipped to diagnose this problem and had to call in [redacted] from Durham to bring in a computerized x-ray system to locate the exact location of the problem. Again this was done on their schedule, not ours. [redacted] found the problem. Certain parts were needed that had to be custom made and others had to be ordered. [redacted] told us that the parts should be here as early as today, with work beginning as early as tomorrow. It will take two days to complete. We anticipate the a/c being on by Friday. This has been an expensive, long process. We have been at the mercy of our vendors, UPS delivery and parts being in stock.
Every detail of this process has been explained to Mr. [redacted] on numerous occasions by us and by [redacted] He doesn't seem to have any understanding of why this has taken several months, of which five months were late fall and winter when the a/c would have been off anyway. He constantly and rudely accuses us of not doing our job fast enough or at all. He, acting alone, has called the city building inspector on us on two separate occasions and each time the inspector noted that repairs were in progress, and we were not ignoring the problem. His only recommendation was to supply fans to tenants that requested one, which we did. You may contact the city building inspector for the reports. This was not the answer Mr. [redacted] wanted, as noted in his complaint, so he complained to the Revdex.com.
No matter what we do, we cannot please Mr. [redacted]. In September we offered to move him to another apartment on a lower floor which is cooler. He said no. We offered to move him to a two-bedroom since he has been over occupancy for over a year. He said no even though he could be evicted for over occupancy. He told us that he could not afford to move, we offered to terminate his lease, refund his rent and security deposit so that they could move to a more comfortable home. HE REFUSED. We made this offer to any tenant that did not want to wait for the a/c to be fixed. Only three tenants took the offer. The remaining tenants chose to be patient and wait. Mr. [redacted] is the only tenant that chose to do NEITHER. We have run out of options to offer Mr. [redacted].
If you need any further information or documentation please call or email us.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/04/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Last summer the A/C system in the apartments at Cornwallis Manor, [redacted] Carolina only intermittently worked. It would work sometimes for a week and then it would go out again. It would be fixed and then stop again. This went on through July and August. My daughter has the receipt where she purchased a small portable air conditioner for us to use on September 9, 2014.
My wife is an invalid and I have a major heart condition. Last year we were patient and only anonymously called the building inspection department after months of hearing it will be fixed on Monday, or next week. The owners have made it clear that if you inquire about the status of the repairs you are complaining. Given my wife's condition, and my own, added to the expense of relocating we are just not able to move at this time.
My wife has nurses who come seven days a week. Monday through Friday, they are here for seven hours each day and on weekends they are here for 2.5 hours each day. My son was staying with us to help with his mother at nights. I explained that our son was a caregiver and spent the nights with us to both owners and they said it was no problem.
I have never been rude or anything but respectful to the owners. The last time I spoke to one of the owners I asked if they had a time frame for getting the A/C up and running. I was told, "Why don't you just move, you're not happy here?" I replied, "I only want the air conditioning that we were promised when we moved in." The owner then replied, "I can throw you out of here tomorrow. I can have you evicted." She was obviously mad so I just left her office.
At this point I called the building inspection department this year and reached out to others including the Revdex.com who I thought might be of help. We understand that the owners are upset and frustrated by the problems and expense with the A/C system. Most of the tenants are complaining about the unbearable heat but are afraid to say anything to the owners because of the threat of being made to move. The owners continue to advertise that the apartments have "Central Air and Heat" on their website at http://www.cornwallismanor.com/.
The little portable air conditioner that my daughter bought us only cools the bedroom and on hot days it doesn't even cool the bedroom very well. But without it our apartment would be unbearable. I sincerely believe that due to the building design, if the A/C is not repaired soon someone will die because of the unbearable heat when the days get hotter as we move into summer.
Since last year there has been no apparent sense of urgency to make the repairs on the part of the owners. Since I have made the complaint to the building inspector and others there does seem to be more activity toward repairing the A/C but as of Friday, April 30, 2015 it is still not working.