The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I hate them, to a man. I cannot get ANYBODY in this fucking town to do a good job for less than the price of a limb. I recently had my basement waterproofed, to the tune of $5000. I come home this evening to find 3 inches of water covering the basement floor, because the pump they installed does not work. The trigger that causes the pump to start doing its business is faulty or something. *I* figured this out. Also, they plugged the pump into the outlet used by the previous pump, which has apparently been wired to only provide electricity when the *previous* pump's floater is in the "ON" position. So the new pump never turns on because the old pump is lying on its side waiting to be thrown away-- however the floater is STILL PLUGGED IN. The waterproofing company failed to test the pump before they left my house.

I cannot describe the anger I am feeling right now. I can't even destroy anything, because everything around me is MINE and that would be fucking stupid. As stupid as a contractor in Atlanta. Spread it around, that's the new definition of "can't get any more stupid."

Always have your house in a high spot, never in a valley. NEVER IN A VALLEY.

And I just spilled an entire glass of ice tea all over my bed, nightstand, and ibook.

Do not drink angry, people.

life is cyclical. you're that much closer to the upswing.

Add building inspectors to that list.

Wait a week. If the water is still there, they successfully waterproofed your basement.

But I feel your pain. We had a new fridge put in. The valve for the stupid icecubes was faulty. It flooded our floor and destroyed the walls downstairs. Brand new fridge. Bad fridge. I hate ice cube makers anyway.

Sven wrote:Always have your house in a high spot, never in a valley. NEVER IN A VALLEY.

I live on top of a hill and the basement always floods. And we can't even do anything about it because the house is rented so anything we do to fix it won't be worth it when we move out in 18 months.

You need a Holmes in Atlanta.

The cellar and contractor business is frustration of a high order, but you can see how spilling the ice tea could set off a frenzied rampage. I think that Jack is on the right track, though. Breathe in ... breathe out.

So the contractor sends a workman out.

He asks to borrow my hammer, because the concrete installers were sloppy and the lid for my sump pump is a little bit sealed in place.

I show him the electrical receptacle and all the joy that goes along with it.
He drains the system by turning on the pump (as I showed him how), and says "yeah, the float is being blocked by the pipe. They must have bumped it when they were putting the pipe in." All of which they would have discovered had they tested the pump before they left my house.

So he adjusts the float, and that part should work now. Which leaves the receptacle. He calls his boss, the owner of the company, and says an electrician is needed. The owner says that is MY problem. I call him up. We talk. He says he will talk to his workman back at the office, but claims the receptacle is my responsibility. This is not in my contract ANYWHERE. If there had been no receptacle, would they have not installed one for the pump?

I think he just wants to avoid hiring an electrician. Perhaps he figures his company is getting a bad rating on Angies List ANYWAY so why should he do me any favors? I have no idea. I do know that my apostrophe key is bringing up the search box in Firefox, so I cannot use any contractions in this post. What is next?

And the sky is overcast and rainy. Do not look forward to an updated coverfight from me today, unless somebody sends me flowers or something. Bah. Now my arrow keys are not working. WHAT IS THE DEAL?

jb wrote:WHAT IS THE DEAL?

Let me know when you figure it out. My machine's been doing all kinds of weird crap today like adding 400 chart pages to an Excel spreadsheet and bringing up "Save As" boxes that I can't close.

Here's my solution: I'm leaving in an hour to volunteer in my son's kindergarten class. I'll be manning the arts & crafts table -- I believe we'll be gluing dots on ladybugs for "L" week. Feel free to teleport up here and join me. We'll have bourbon after.

jb wrote:As stupid as a contractor in Atlanta. Spread it around, that's the new definition of "can't get any more stupid."

Well, there's always those who pay 'em... *ducks*.

Yeah, more fool me.

If only I knew how to waterproof a basement.

I take it these people didn't previously have bad reviews on angieslist?
-bill

jb wrote:unless somebody sends me flowers or something.

Send me your address and I'll send you an origami flower.

I came home tonight and there was water pouring out of our lights. I love broken pipes. A lot. Seriously.

jb wrote:Yeah, more fool me.

If only I knew how to waterproof a basement.

Who lives in houses with basements anyway? That's just weird. Why live partially underground - you're not a freaking wombat!

Proper houses (ie. the Queenslander-style house) are up on stilts - and so long as your stlts are high enough, they never flood.

Caravan Ray wrote:Proper houses (ie. the Queenslander-style house) are up on stilts - and so long as your stlts are high enough, they never flood.

they just get blown over.

We never flood here, it never rains.

We suck moisture from the ground and store it in a handy fleshy sack we grow from our forearm. All totally true, I swear.

Sausage Boy wrote:We suck moisture from the ground and store it in a handy fleshy sack we grow from our forearm

I think that's called a blister. Ewwww.

Paco Del Stinko wrote:

Sausage Boy wrote:We suck moisture from the ground and store it in a handy fleshy sack we grow from our forearm

I think that's called a blister. Ewwww.

You haven't been to South Australia, have you - he's not joking. South Australians are the only marine-based human life-form on earth. They can only live on salt-water. Fresh water makes them go on bizarre murderous rampages. There are more dead bodies hidden in South Australia than anywhere else on earth. In fact, there are so many hidden shallow graves around Adelaide - they have had to start hiding bodies in barrels in bank vaults. Also, because South Australia contains the world's largest uranium mine - most of the people are scaly, lizard-like mutants. With tentacles.

All totally true, I swear.

Ray - Earlier this week you enlightened me to some Austrailian lingo, and now offer solid evidence as to why I should reconsider making a long term deposit in the Austrailian banking system. I do hope, however, to one day shake the webbed hand of Sausage Boy for managing to avoid a nap in a shallow grave. Although I dare not tell you who I 'rooted' for in that horrible story!