For the past couple of weeks we've noticed the water hasn't been getting as hot as normal in our apartment in the early morning when we get up for work. However it's always been fine around 8am when we've tried it at weekends. Assuming it was probably just a case of the water heating in our building not coming on early enough Lou emailed our residential office to see what they could do. They acknowledged the email by saying "thank you for the maintenance request" and that (we thought) was it.

This morning after I left for work Lou returned home from her night shift and jumped into bed for some well deserved sleep. However she was woken at midday (after only 4 hours sleep) by a noise outside. After waking up she went to use the bathroom only to find a big bunch tools strewn all over the floor, the hallway light on and the sound of water rushing out of the bath tap. With no notice or permission at all a maintenance man had been given a key to our place, let himself into our apartment and had began work on the shower whilst Lou was asleep in the bedroom! We didn't even know they would need to come in to our home to fix the issue we complained about and we certainly were not given a 24 hour warning that they are required to do by law (which they are usually good at doing).

Luckily the maintenance man was on his lunch break when Lou woke, but it was still a big shock to her and needless to say she wasn't best pleased and it scared her a little bit because initially she thought we might have been burgled. Lou got on the phone straight away and complained to the office who immediately came over to see what was happening, and although they apologized for screwing up it still didn't really stop us from being annoyed about it. Apparently somebody new had started in their office and had not managed to handle our request and the subsequent maintenance action properly meaning that we never got notified with a slip under the door like usual. Apparently we're expected to accept this as a reasonable excuse, or so it seems! We were then doubly annoyed when we then realized it was not a one day job and we would be out of hot water and a shower until they have got this fixed!

For the rest of the afternoon work carried on in the bathroom, and they made plenty of noise whilst they smashed away tiles and fiddled with the piping (and yes of course, they didn't have the part they needed to fit). This stopped Lou from being able to use the bathroom or getting any further sleep - not the best thing when you're not expecting it and you have another night shift to do! Eventually by 3pm they left and they were going to leave us with no water at all until Lou complained and they agreed that leaving the cold water on would actually be ok. When Lou queried them about how we were supposed to wash ourselves their answer was to give us access to another apartment which was empty - except it was in the apartment building next door to the one we live in! They even left our bathroom in a mess and didn't tidy up, triple and quadruple annoyances!

By the time I got back from work Lou was pretty worked up and frustrated - understandably so after only having 4 hours sleep, not being able to have a wash or even use the bathroom at all. I convinced her to phone work and let them know she wouldn't be able to make it for the night shift tonight because she was in no state to go in. This also means we will now lose out on some money too (annoyance number 5 if you're still counting!).

With little choice but to accept their offer of the spare apartment Lou took the key to this other place and finally at 5pm we went to go for a shower in the apartment in the building next door. I went along with her so that I would know where to go tomorrow morning. We put the key in the door to this 'empty' apartment to only then open the door and be in the middle of somebody's home amongst all their personal belongings (kids toys were all over the floor etc). After mere seconds we dashed back out and didn't stay in their long enough to know if someone was in (but we think there was no one home at the time)! How bad is that? I would not be happy if some random neighbour was given the key to my place and decided to let themselves in, even if they were unaware of it's occupancy! It's just a good job for them I guess that we're trustworthy people! We ran over to the residential office to tell them what had happened and the lady there explained it was an apartment with the same number but in our own building that they should have given us the key to - what a joke (yep that's the 6th annoyance)!

I like the fact most people in BC are chilled out and laid back but when it comes to things like this it's not always a good thing. Disorganization is rife in so many ways out here and often I have to admit I find it amusing but not this time when it's directly affected us (karma?). Everyone wants their home to be secure, safe and access to it managed properly. Until now we haven't had a great deal of concerns or problems with the apartment management but this is all a little bit disturbing, let's hope they at least fix the bloody shower tomorrow!