Complaint Review: MIDTOWN APARTMENTS

On December 16th, after returning home from more than 7 days travel, a single mother and her two minor children returns to -20 degrees outside and near freezing inside. Prior to leaving, Mom placed the thermostat on 60 degrees to keep things warm enough to prevent busted pipes. Upon her return, the thermostat had been moved to its lowest setting which is just below 50 degrees. Mom and her minor children returned to temperatures in the high 30's. Just enough heat to prevent frost bite and definitely not enough to prevent literal freezing.

Mom's travel was required by her employer. Because the children are minors, she has to temporarily place them in an adult's home for care until she returns from her travels. This is not the first time this year she has had to travel for business reasons. Because Mom is a government employee and a U.S. Army Soldier, she has had to travel from between 3 days to 7 days every few months for the past year. Usually, her return is to warm and comfortable apartment. This was not the case on just 9 days before Christmas. This single parent, Military family returned home after 10pm on a Saturday night to an ice cold close to freezing apartment which quite frankly felt like an ice box.

As you may assume, Mom was tired from traveling all day Saturday. She picked up the children in North Pole and finally stepped through the archway of an apartment with a crisp chill that was void of the relaxation and comfort anyone deserves after the frustrations of a full days travel. Mom turned up the thermostat, pulled out all the blankest they owned and went to bed expecting to have heat by morning.

At about ten minutes to 4AM, Mom awakened with a stuffy nose and a chill she could not shake. When contacted the answering service took the request for heat. Sometimes if the request is urgent enough, they are supposed to return the call to the tenant with a report from the complex of what to expect next. This is all too familure to Mom as she has been in similar situations with this complex many, many times before. On a regular basis in 2004 including the winter months, Mom would call in to report no heat or hot water and would receive no response from Midtown Apartment for hours. If it was the weekend, there was often times nothing heard until the next working business day, excluding holidays. In 2005, Mom graduated from the University of Fairbanks in Alaska without a shower because there was several times that year Midtown Apartments did not provided no heat or hot water to their tenants. Earlier this year 2006, Mom went almost two weeks without a refrigerator because hers suddenly died over night and was not replaced. She lost all refrigerated without reimbursement from the complex. Some of the frozen foods were salvageable. This incident cost an additional months groceries without even an apology for Midtown Apartments. This certainly makes living spendy for a single parent of two minor children.

Mom returned a call to Midtown Apartment's answering service at about 4:20AM, once she did not receive a return call of when to expect to receive heat for her and her children. She was politely informed that the Property Manager was contacted and the report was given directly to him. Remembering her history with this complex and a little skeptical that here report was delivered with an urgency, Mom picked up the phone. Considering the urgency of the need for heat for her and her children, she was certain she would receive feed back as to when to expect action. She called the property manager directly at his home. She provided her apartment information and her name and with a pleading tone, she began to request heat for her children to protect them from the deadly mid-winter temperatures outside.

The current property manager for Midtown Apartments is Stephen Enochs. When contacted by Mom to relay the urgency of her report and to explain that she has minor children, Stephen Enochs immediately began swearing at her asking why she was calling his home. He sounded as if he had been awakened from a comfortable sleep in a warm bed and did not like the idea of a tenant or anyone else disturbing that regardless of his responsibilities. When requested to stop the profanity and hear her out, Stephen Enochs again spewed swear words of more than four letters and hung up on Mom.

Willa
Fairbanks, Alaska
U.S.A.