Common Sense...What a Payne

Our refrigerator broke yesterday. Subsequently, we lost about $100 in food with refrigerated and frozen goods. All of the appliances in the apartment are 20+ years old, and being a rental, probably weren't treated as well as they should have been. Most appliances, even when treated well, are expected to kick the bucket around this time.

I was upset yesterday when I had to stay home from work to wait for the repairman, and had to eat out for our meals because the food that would have been used had spoiled overnight. So, I thought I'd try to get the complex to refund the food.

The woman I spoke with stated that they were not responsible for our loss. I explained that our fridge didn't arrive until later in the evening, and I wasn't going to put food in it until it was completely cooled. She said a new fridge is completely cooled within 5 minutes of plugging it in. I beg to differ, my freezer was not cool enough to restock last night.

Oh, but they replaced the fridge very quickly after it had been reported. But I had to report it twice, because it wasn't done properly the first time, your office even told me so. Oh but it was, we got the first report. Yeah, right, that's not what I was told.

Well, in any case, it was unforeseen and they are not responsible. I told her it probably should have been foreseen about 10 years ago. They can't replace every fridge in the complex just because it's old. This was unforeseen, even thought they've had several fridges go out (I think she slipped and didn't mean to tell me that), they could not have foreseen this and will not refund everyone for the food loss. If several fridges have gone out recently, perhaps you should replace them all right now before everyone else loses their food.

I have a feeling there are going to be more angry tenants within the next month or so with all of the other fridges going out. Common sense tells me to be proactive and not reactive, but that's just me.