Tuesday, August 29, 2023

No Hot Water in Apartment August 28 2023

August 28 2023,
 
So I am with CIVIDA here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 
 
CIVDA Head Office
10232 – 112 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada, T5K 1M4

Phone: 780-420-6161
Fax: 780-426-6854
Email: help@civida.ca
 
So on August 28 2023 I called in to the CIVIDA phone number 780-420-6161 and I reached the after hours team because it was around 6:00 PM MDT (GMT-0600) and I got the after hours person. 
I have absolutely no hot water in my apartment in the bathroom or kitchen.
 
So the person I get is in some call center who couldn't even spell my first name and barely spoke English. 
 
So I tell him that I have no hot water anywhere in my apartment and please send out a maintenace person to fix this issue.  
 
His reponse to me was that oh we have to send out security. I am like why are you going to send out security for a maintenance issue? 
 
He is like we have to verify the issue. I am like what no I said I don't want security I want an on call maintenance person to come out and fix the issue.  The guy refused to even try and help me and refused to listen.  I gave him my full name and address and phone number and the building name that I live in and I disconnected from the call.  No one showed up from CIVIDA. No one even cares enough to come out and look at this issue. 
 
Sending out a security guard for a maintenance issue shows how little CIVIDA cares or even trusts their residents.  Wow absolutely horrible customer service.  CIVIDA doesn't give a damn about the people that live here!  

 Basically I take this as an insult at this point and I disconnected from the call it was simply like they are saying we don't believe you have a legitimate issue and you are a liar and we are going to send some out  to verify it to make sure you are telling us the truth. This is just horrible customer service. 
Wow this is how you get treated if you have to live in social housing here in Edmonton this is absolutely horrible.  

So I emailed the district A office and the help@civida.ca email address (DistrictA@civida.ca)
So the next day the manager (Anna Mpande) from the Distrct A office emails me  saying oh they are going to have to get a contractor to come in and look at this. I am like why don't you have one of your own maintenance staff look at this issue. 
 
I don't believe that this is even an issue with just my apartment either I believe that this is a building issue. 
 
The last time I had to get a "contractor" to come in was to look at my fridge and that took days to fix.  The staff at CIVIDA don't care about the residents here we are thrown here can't get things repaired. 
There was actually an article about this very same issue with CIVIDA saying that 40% of their properties are in poor condition and are in need of major repairs. That article comes from the Edmonton Journal on April 17 2023.  The link is provided bellow.
 
 
In the event that this article can't be found at a later date a copy of the article can also be seen at the link bellow.
 
There was also a 2nd article by the CBC as well about CIVIDA 

And in case this article goes away a backup copy of this article can be seen at 
 
 
Now the minimum housing standards for Alberta states the follow
 
Backup copy of Alberta's Minimum Housing Standards August 2023 

Section 7(a)

(a) The washbasins and bathtub or shower shall be supplied with potable  hot and cold running water.

Section 9

9. Water Supply
     Every building used in whole or in part, as housing premises must be supplied with a potable
    water supply of sufficient volume, pressure and temperature to serve the needs of the inhabitants.
    (a) All hot running water shall be maintained at a temperature of not less than
            46 degrees C (114 F), and not more than 60 degrees C (140 F) measured at the plumbing fixture.

Section 14 (a)

14. Food Preparation Facilities
 
(a) Every housing premises shall be provided with a food preparation area,
    which includes:

    (i) a kitchen sink that is supplied with potable hot and cold water and
        suitably sized to allow preparation of food, washing utensils and
        any other cleaning operation;

As per section 9 (a) of the minimum housing standards 24.8 C is well bellow the minimum of 46 C.  
I actually re-ran the test again this morning August 29 2023 and I am getting even colder temperatures being 20.8 C this morning with a theometer at the tap. 
 
I had to have an ice cold shower this morning because of these people this is how you get treated if you live in Social housing here in Edmonton, Alberta.  Wow just horrible CIVIDA! You clearly don't give a damn about the people that live in your housing. 
 
Clearly CIVIDA is in violation of the Minimum Housing Stanards and Alberta Health Services Enviromental Health Services has also been contacted but they rarely do anything as they don't want to get out from behind their desks and actually do their jobs!
 
As of 11:00 AM on August 29 2023 this issue isn't fixed. 
It appears that the hot water came back on again sometime in the afternoon here and I once again have hotwater after just under a day of having no hot water at all. 

EDIT: 

Ok as of this afternoon the hot water was restore I went down the District A office located in the 
building and I was told the reason why we had no hot water since about 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM.

From what I was told on August 28 2023 some one from CIVIDA was doing an 
inspection and turned something off which shut off the hot water to the whole
building. So I was right it wasn't just my apartment which is what I thought 
but even though I gave the person my full name and address and phone number and all
of my contact information no one showed up.  Just horrible customer service. You complain
about no hot water CIVIDA doesn't care and doesn't even bother to show up that night
they should have had a plumber come in and fix it last night.

Wow So this is the kind of thing that is going to happen is it?  People turn off the wrong thing and turn off the hot water to the whole building the staff doing this "inspection" doesn't
sound too competent.  I am not impressed.

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