Plumbing problem in apt rental!-what are my rights?

[Crema Americana]

One of my main gripes here is poor workmanship.

We had some plumbers come to the house to fix our toilet and they did nothing. We told them there was a problem with the flusher on the tank - it's installed in the wall and we have to leave it uncovered to pull the wire manually and set it, or else it goes sideways and the water goes into the bowl. They didn't listen to a damn thing, just put a new cover on it, and on the first flush the stopper got stuck and we had to take it apart again. Lousy work.

I never thought of myself as a handy person, but that saying "if you want something done right you have to do it yourself" really rings true here. Nobody cares about quality or being "prolijo" and doing a good job. Everything is chapuza... very hard to find good professionals.

It is for precisely this that I hope to see an apartment in person before renting to make sure all faucets, outlets, and toilets work correctly.

 

[Lucas]

One of my main gripes here is poor workmanship.

We had some plumbers come to the house to fix our toilet and they did nothing. We told them there was a problem with the flusher on the tank - it's installed in the wall and we have to leave it uncovered to pull the wire manually and set it, or else it goes sideways and the water goes into the bowl. They didn't listen to a damn thing, just put a new cover on it, and on the first flush the stopper got stuck and we had to take it apart again. Lousy work.

I never thought of myself as a handy person, but that saying "if you want something done right you have to do it yourself" really rings true here. Nobody cares about quality or being "prolijo" and doing a good job. Everything is chapuza... very hard to find good professionals.

It is for precisely this that I hope to see an apartment in person before renting to make sure all faucets, outlets, and toilets work correctly.

Unfortunately these complains are very often and too common in this country, and there is a motive for all this, and the motive is that they are NOT formal professionals as you are accustomed to deal with, not in that sense of the word at least... and in mostly of the cases anyway, sure there are few truly professional tradesman somewhere out there who have experience, commitment and professionalism to their trade but good luck in your quest to find them.

Let me explain the concept of all this, there are not properly registered professional plumbers as such as a certified tradesman or for any formal trades apprenticeship for that matter, anyone can be a plumber, an electrician, a painter, or anything they wish really so you never know if this fellow you are hiring have enough experience in breaking and trashing places before so by the time you hire him hopefully he will have had trashed many places beforehand so when he reaches and laid a hand on your place he will have learned somehow something of 'his trucho trade' in the process by practicing his apprenticeship in some others home, is a case of a hit and miss really, how lucky or unlucky you are.

In any developed society all this trades thing has been properly organized and regulated, the law will separate the responsibilities of each party in the contract and the offender who is caught by not doing their part will be punished accordingly to the law as it should be, but hey! not here, that kind of safeguards and guaranties doesn't exist so every man for himself, therefore as a result we have these kind of shoddy, incomplete and unprofessional workmanship that you are experiencing in and around your home with all the implications that this carries. I'm hopping by now that you will understand a little be more about how locals have to deal with this, not a easy way out of it, and yes you're not alone as victims of these 'truchosman' nightmares, lovely isn't?

 

[Davidglen77]

I never expect things to be done properly here. Some of you know I had a store here for 3 years and one of my biggest problems was non-working toilets and many times they overflowed and poop washed into the main room of the store. I fought and fought with the landlords and all they did was threaten to sue me for false claims of broken pipes. It's so difficult here with these things, it's one of the many reasons why I shut down my business in Buenos Aires.

 

[va2ba]

You most likely won't get any help and they will most likely try to stick you with the bill to fix everything by not giving you the security deposit. When you check into an apartment, always always always check everything in the apartment before you sign the contact. After you sign the contract, it is to late to expect them to fix anything.

 

[Jen27]

WOW that is crazy that so many of yall have had the same experiences. Thank you for sharing and helping contextualize my situation!

Funny enough, we went to San Telmo today, and in the restaurant bathroom I noticed the same RUBBER tube to hook their toilet into the wall! Meaning, if this rubber comes loose at ALL, water is free to go all over the floor. Anyway, Maybe it's more common than I originally thought/?

I have told the apartment company that we will be packing our bags and showing up at their office tomorrow morning. I told them I truly need a new living arrangement, and I expect them to find me a comparable alternative, as stated in the contract. I'm totally going American-style with my requests and demands, but that's how I was raised so I'm not sure how else to do it.

With how much everyone was celebrating tonight down town, I'd actually be surprised if anyone is at work tomorrow, but we will see! (I don't agree with Christina, but it was fun to see the people so riduculously happy with news of her win-fun to be in plaza de mayo for all the madness!)

Ok, I will let yall know how it goes. This should be interesting....
And if they don't move me, at least the saints won tonight. Heres to hoping for the best.

 

[Jen27]

You most likely won't get any help and they will most likely try to stick you with the bill to fix everything by not giving you the security deposit. When you check into an apartment, always always always check everything in the apartment before you sign the contact. After you sign the contract, it is to late to expect them to fix anything.

Oh, also, I would have checked everything, but my husband arrived first. As a man, I don't think he was as picky as I would be. I arrived two days late, unfortunately in this case.

 

[Lucas]

WOW that is crazy that so many of yall have had the same experiences. Thank you for sharing and helping contextualize my situation!

Funny enough, we went to San Telmo today, and in the restaurant bathroom I noticed the same RUBBER tube to hook their toilet into the wall! Meaning, if this rubber comes loose at ALL, water is free to go all over the floor. Anyway, Maybe it's more common than I originally thought/?

I have told the apartment company that we will be packing our bags and showing up at their office tomorrow morning. I told them I truly need a new living arrangement, and I expect them to find me a comparable alternative, as stated in the contract. (1) I'm totally going American-style with my requests and demands, but that's how I was raised so I'm not sure how else to do it.

With how much everyone was celebrating tonight down town, I'd actually be surprised if anyone is at work tomorrow, but we will see! (I don't agree with Christina, but [(2) it was fun to see the people so riduculously happy with news of her win-fun to be in plaza de mayo for all the madness!)

Ok, I will let yall know how it goes. This should be interesting....
And if they don't move me, at least the saints won tonight. Heres to hoping for the best.

(1) You won't go far ahead with this approach, you do not have any rights here on these kind of disputes, an American-syle approach doesn't count much here particularly when you are dealing with the property owner or the administrator they have the upper hand in these cases. Approach them carefully and softly and perhaps there will be a better chance that they will do something about it.

(2) Indeed, they are very happy to see the sun shinning again after a long period of darkness....as much as the happiness displayed by US citizens when Obama won the presidency of their country.

 

[Jen27]

Ok, the problem is fixed. My urgency on the phone may have helped it along, but who knows?

The plumber was coming last night, but no showed, but then again at 11 today, but he didn't show up till 6. I expected that because of that what yall said, so I wasn't worried when he was late!

Anyway, they re bolted the toilet to the floor.

Thank yall for all your help!

 

[Crema Americana]

Glad to hear it's fixed!

And I'm surprised to hear that there isn't some type of guild or apprenticeship for these types of things. Seems like anyone can grab a wrench and go to town without any type of formal training?

 

[Jen27]

(1) You won't go far ahead with this approach, you do not have any rights here on these kind of disputes, an American-syle approach doesn't count much here particularly when you are dealing with the property owner or the administrator they have the upper hand in these cases. Approach them carefully and softly and perhaps there will be a better chance that they will do something about it.

(2) Indeed, they are very happy to see the sun shinning again after a long period of darkness....as much as the happiness displayed by US citizens when Obama won the presidency of their country.

1)Lucas, thanks for the tips. I will try that in the future. I am also beginning to see that looking for a direct answer her in BA is not always possible, and that I need to remember much of my cultural training from college!
Like, I was hoping she'd just tell me outright, "Hey , a new apartment is NOT possible." but she was beating around the bush, so I kept asking.
I will be trying to read between the lines from now on!

2) Not all of us were happy, but I know what you mean in that they are similar.