Delay in AC repair leaves Raleigh family steamed
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- With temperatures mostly in the 90's, the past two weeks have been especially hard for Tequita Jarmon and her girls.
She's lived at Raleigh North Milbank Court apartments for four years, and said for the past weeks her air conditioner has been broken.
"It shouldn't take two weeks to get an AC unit fixed. I have a two-month-old and an 11-year-old," she said.
Jarmon has box fans running in both bedrooms. She said the fans were given to her by the property manager when she first complained about the air conditioner going out.
Jarmon said the fans offer some relief, but said the family is constantly sweating.
"The clothes are saturated," said Jarmon. "You have to take showers just to cool off."
Jarmon said when the air conditioner first started giving her trouble last month, maintenance would come and refill the coolant, but that would quickly run out. Then she was told she needed a repair.
"Which put me at the bottom of the list," said Jarmon.
How long that list was, she didn't know. So ABC11 tried to contact management to find out. We knocked on the office door on the property but noticed the "now closed" sign as neighbors said we missed them by only minutes.
We also reached out to the company that owns Raleigh North Milbank Court apartments: The Aspen Companies. A spokesperson for the company said on-site management received a complaint about the air conditioner unit not working late last week and not two weeks ago. They say that's when they started to assess the needed repairs and put in the order for the new unit.
We also heard back from the on-site property manager, who wished to only be identified by her title.
Through text messages, she told ABC11 that they spoke with Jarmon on Friday, July 15, and told her that "a new unit was ordered for her and it will be installed once it comes in." She said that unit came in and was scheduled to be installed Tuesday, July 19. We checked with Jarmon and the work was being done.
The manager went on to write that the issue had been addressed from the beginning "when the work order was made."
Other residents of Raleigh North Milbank Court also told ABC11 they also had issues with air conditioners taking a while to fix. When ABC11 asked the manager if they had in fact dealt with or replaced any other units, we received another text saying "I will no longer answer any more questions."
NOTE: This story has been updated since it was originally posted to reflect the management company saying it was notified of the problem a week ago - not two weeks ago.
