Sunday, June 1, 2008

You mean I have to wash them by HAND?

Horrible news. Our dishwasher broke. Devastating. And ridiculous! It's brand new with the house. Only a couple months of use and now it won't work at all. By the time I finally accepted that it didn't matter how many times I pushed the start button, it was broken, I had quite the pile of dirty dishes. So Aaron and I tackled them together this evening. I have always had a dishwasher, save 2 semesters at college. A dishwasher is a necessity. Much quicker. My in-laws are probably thinking I must be quite the pansy, they still hand wash, and maybe I am, but I quite enjoy being a pansy in that way! Oh, and we're now out of dish soap. I predict misery for a long time. It takes forever to get anything repaired around here. Woe is me! Maybe I'll stock up on paper plates. Hand washing dishes is no way to spend your day.
While we're on the subject of self-pity, let me just vent a bit about these town houses and the property management. Already a terrible renting experience and only gets worse. For one, we have a $100 a month HOA fee. First of all, I didn't think renters were supposed to pay the hoa. It's home OWNERS association, right? And secondly, $100 a month is ridiculous! In our other neighborhood there were grumblings about the $300 a year. When we asked what the money goes to we were told that it's so high because we have a clubhouse which needs maintained, and all the landscaping is done for us. Like, we don't need to mow our tiny lawn, they do it for us. Fine. But the clubhouse isn't available for use yet, and our yard is a big pile of dirt right now! Where's our money going? No doubt it's helping build the rest of the houses out here. Which seems to me should be illegal.
Also, our air conditioning was only turned on on Thursday. For all the very warm days we just had to have windows open because the builders wouldn't come and TURN ON our air conditioning.
There was a huge issue regarding our blinds. They were originally stolen from our place before we moved in and weren't replaced until a couple weeks ago. And that's only after Aaron gave them much trouble about it. They hate us now. But we got our blinds!
The workmanship here is extremely shoddy. 4 of our doors don't shut properly, one bathroom won't close at all, (a repair request has been put in for this over a month ago) you can lock people into the master bedroom, but not out of, the stucco is already flaking and cracking, our back porch isn't mounted very well to the wall, there was that plumbing mess, and now the dishwasher. But what can we do? Apparently what I do is complain about it on the internet. Avoid J. Ballard homes! Don't let the general authority last name fool you. There must be no relation.

6 comments:

jjertmann said...

I think I might die if my dishwasher broke. Seriously. I'm so sorry for you!
That's too bad about your house. I've only really rented for a few months and it wasn't bad at all for us. It was an older place though. I think the workmanship gets worse and worse every year. Keep on those landlords or whatever they are!

Smullin Family said...

I vote paper plates....even when the dishwasher IS working! Really, I'm not joking. We're out of them right now and it's bugging me. Hope I can remember next time I go shopping. :o)

Stephanie said...

how long is your lease?

Tiffany Hales said...

Tell them you are going to send your mean lawyer cousin after them. Then tell them you referrals of those whose have been eaten alive by her legal tactics, and fixing the door, dishwasher, locks and any other problems immdiately will save them much grief in the future.

Christine said...

Wow Melanie!! You post things so often! I feel bad for not posting very much. I need to take more pictures too! I hope you get the dishwasher working soon, I know how it is to be without one. I never knew how nice it was not to have to do the dishes everyday--I truly love that luxury!

Anonymous said...

Hey--I don't think you're a wimp. You've just been lucky. Jana