HOW THE CITY CHEATS TO MAKE MONEY

That winter storm that hit us was certainly most rough for residence of Queens County.  We got to see how many of the streets were not met with the Sanitation Department’s snow plows.  DeBlasio needs to find a way to make back the money used not just for the plows but all those extra temporary workers hired to shovel the snow. 

Although the storm didn’t fully hit until Saturday the 23^rd, we were advised by Sanitation that all garbage would not be collected but added that if you already put it out it was okay to leave it.  My street was cleared and by Sunday afternoon, the neighbors had taken care of the entire sidewalk on this block.

Across the street, where the Fire Telegraph Station is located in Forest Park, there was no problem in that sidewalk being cleared.  Somehow they are allowed to get a vehicle and attached snow plow, without a Parks Department insignia, to drive along the sidewalk from the driveway to the corner of Woodhaven Blvd.  If my neighbors drove a vehicle on the city owned-homeowner maintained sidewalk, they could have been fined.  Fine for the city…fined for the homeowner.

Sanitation workers were raking in the overtime here as the plows were at it even after the street revealed the black top and hearing nothing more than the constant sounds of scraping which just may result in our taxes going to repave the asphalt. 

Back to the garbage.  The next scheduled pickup was for Wednesday the 27^th.  Snow was melting but still a no show for garbage collection.  The recycled portion still stood atop the snow bank that included a bag with recycled plastics, etc. and cardboard boxes stored perfectly as smaller boxes in a larger box as I have done so often, without a problem, and always taken away.

With the garbage collection set for Saturday, the 30^th, all I needed to add was the regular garbage tied up in plastic bags.  No confrontation, I receive a citation attached to my door regarding the boxes not being cut and tied as well as not collected.  I peer out my window to see the boxes strewn all over and take a photo as an appearance to protest is in March.  Like all of us, I do not take photos of my garbage before it’s collected.  What’s stopping the Sanitation guy from moving things around?  And for heaven’s sake, the garbage has been piling up all over the place for days and at least done neatly!!! 

He also wrote that he observed “10 boxes filled with Styrofoam”…..really?  “I, an employee of the below agency, personally observed the commission of the civil violation charged below. False statements made herein are punishable as a class A Misdemeanor pursuant to section 210.45 of the Penal Law.  Affirmed under penalty of perjury”.  Will they be willing to penalize him? 

It is now Sunday, the 31^st as I observe the regular garbage being picked up at 1:27 p.m.  Now the Sanitation worker gets overtime?  This is all a win-win situation when it snows.  We don’t have to worry about the absence of color in this case.  We may see white, but DeBalsio sees green!!!

HOME SERVE SECURITY BREACH PLUS

Home Serve sells service contracts for your heat and hot water.  You may have also seen their insurance solicitation to cover your gas pipes. That’s another story.  I turned my thermostat on and the heat didn’t come up.  Pilot light on or I would have smelled gas.  I concluded that the tech who last came must have not done a perfect job when he fiddled with the thermostat.  Different Tech comes to the house.  He is not wearing any identification either pinned to him or around his neck.   I ask to see his id and he seems a bit surprised.  He has trouble taking it out from his wallet saying, “Gee, I don’t even remember the last time I took this out”.  Are you kidding?  I asked why he doesn’t wear it around his neck and he tells me that it’s too annoying.  Wait…it’s gets better.

I told him what the issue was and even brought him directly over to the thermostat on the main floor of my home.  I even commented that it was the problem.  However, his eyes see a female senior citizen who has a mobility issue and concludes that I don’t know what I’m talking about.

He goes down to the basement and I can hear him from the top of the stairs doing all sorts of stuff.  I ask what’s happening and he says something about the gas not getting to some valve or whatever.  Then he asks where the circuit breakers are.  I am able to point from the top of the stairs and tell him that one of them is tripped and has nothing to do with the furnace.  He tries it anyway as it trips right after. 

 
He finally comes up the stairs after not finding the problem and says, “Well, now the last thing I’ll check is the thermostat.”  He removes the cover to find that a wire is loose and that is the problem.  Really?  Should I be surprised?   Although I spoke with his “supervisor”, I intend to file an official complaint for both breach of security and rudeness. 

SEARS SALESMAN GOT ME SEARING

Looking for replacement windows, I go on the internet and although I did not choose Sears I received a call from them.  Set up a day and time for a salesman to measure the windows and give me a pricing for the 7 windows.  Email says that a Fernando Rodriquez would be coming.  Since there are many Hispanics living in this area and on my block, I wanted to make sure that communication was not an issue, so I asked if he spoke English.  They said that he did.

 

I later get an email with the name of Eli Weinberger along with his photo.  Good grief!  I already got that seeing my last name they decided to give me a man near my age and Jewish after realizing what my last name is (which is not my pen name). At that point I already concluded that he would play the “Jewish card”.  

I had asked my friend, Juan, to come over so that he could go upstairs with him since the replacement windows are for that area and I’m not really able to climb the steps.  After coming downstairs we went into my area of the house.  I asked for the pricing.  He started telling me about his father being a kosher butcher.  He first wanted me to look at some video of the history of Sears and Roebuck. I told him that I wasn’t interested.  I had the feeling that this was going to be worse that looking at timeshare and it was.

He gave an explanation of the three options.  I felt that the one with the 20 year warranty one was just fine (I’m over 65 and who knows if I’ll be alive considering that I could get killed by a car while sitting in a restaurant, accidently passing through gunfire, or having my rollator swiped while hobbling in Manhattan).  It was the least of the three.  However, he decided to talk about the middle one saying that I would be more interested in that.  The fact was that his demo windows were the middle prices and upper priced.  I don’t know what he said but then added, “That’s Jewish humor”.  It wouldn’t have bothered me as much until he later said the same thing, but to Juan.  I know Juan was holding back or he would have asked him to leave, immediately. I was quite offended already.   I just wanted to get a pricing to give me more of an idea of the cost of this project.  

At two points during this absurd presentation he showed me id working for Anderson Windows.  Why twice? He forget that he already showed me. 

He did not care.  He just kept saying, “Just give me 20 minutes of your time” and continued with everything but the pricing, comments about his growing up “poor”, and something about the Catskills.  He finally came up with a price of about $1000 per window to include the installation. Are they kidding?  We are looking at the bottom line of the three.  How much do these windows “especially made for Sears” actually cost and how much are they charging for the installation considering that he is telling me that it can be done in one day?

Now, I waited for the next thing that I expected him to say.  There was an offer of a 10% discount and….you guessed it…if I decide right now, I get an extra $400ish off.  If I decided to think about it, I would not get this discount.  I said, “You mean to tell me that I couldn’t have a day to think about it?”  I told him that I was willing to forgo this discount so I can think it over.   He left with an angry Juan (I spoke with Juan the next day).

The appointment was for 7pm and it is now almost 9pm.  I get a phone call from him later in the evening.  I am screening my calls these days and not necessarily near my phone.  His message is that his manager said that he could extend it until 11 a.m. the next day.  His manager said?  More lies. 

I did not call him back but knew that he would call me anyway….yes, he did.  I was kind and just said that I was not interested and that he wasted my time. 

I called to lodge a complaint.  Who am I complaining to?  The guy said that he’ll put it on his record but I don’t get that they really care.  No matter what phone number I called I was unable to talk with someone from the corporate office, who might have actually cared.  They may never know or perhaps with enough negative feedback they will at least find out.   

INTO THEIR POCKETS

Ed is the Account Executive for a company known as in2mobility LLC, located at 1360 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.  Mr. Daniel Lamar is the CEO of the corporation.  According to the Better Business Bureau of New York City, they are not listed. Their philosophy as stated on their website is “providing the best quality and customer care service!”

Fairview Nursing Care Center, located at 69-70 has been using Ed's services to purchase or assist in purchasing Home Health Care Products.  Having used the facilities of the center, the social worker services along with the rehab facility decide and/or recommend products needed for the home so that the patient can return and make the home safe.   Products include:  3-in-one portable toilet, rollaider, walker, and shower chairs. 

Having been admitted for issues regarding my knee, I was in need of a chairlift in order to enter and exit my basement stairs, which leads to the bathroom and bedroom.  My leaving Fairview was contingent on my being able to purchase a stairlift. Ed was aware of this as well as viewing my situation having visited my room and rehab area.   When it was clear that I would be returning home, with a date of a little over two weeks, I requested information and costs from Ed.  Having given the date of May 15^th, 2015 being my release, I chose in2mobility. 

Ed did go to my home to take measurements, at which time,  Juan , a neighbor, was present to let him in. Juan was a bit concerned about the stairlift’s fit.  When speaking with Ed about this he told me that he would take care of all costs to include the installation, use of electrical outlet and if anything had to be “cut”.  

In order to have the chairlift installed, it was necessary to have someone present.  There was much procrastination on Ed's part.  A week prior, he then told me that I would have to put a 50% down payment of $1325 and did so.  I had to request an invoice showing the payment.  Ed was not able to furnish me with a hard copy invoice but did send it via my email.  The invoice does not reflect the address of the company other than “Brooklyn, NY”.  To contact the company one must either use their contact form on their website or call a phone number that seems to only allow one to leave a message.  Ed gave me an address of 1415 Avenue R, saying that that was where the accountant is located. 

Although he had first told me that they could install the stairlift on Monday, the 11^th, he kept putting it off until Thursday, the 14^th. 

Jo, the co-owner of my home  was present, along with the installer.  I had asked Ed to be there when the installer arrived and/or before he left.  He first agreed, but did not make an attempt to go there, saying that he had other things that he had to do.  The issue involved a part of a door frame that may have had to be removed in order for my legs to fit going in from the top and exiting from the top.  The installer convinced Jo that it was not necessary. 

I returned home on the 15^th and Ed soon showed up to check on the stairlift as well as all the devices being used.  I was unable to use the stairlift, first without removing the bannister located on the opposite side of the chair.  I had to have two people remove it.  I could not swivel on the chair as my knees did not fit past the door frame on the side of the bannister.  In order for me to use the chairlift, I have to place it in the position facing the “bannister” and step onto the foot rest, hang onto the wall and make my way onto the chair.  The opposite was true for when I came up the stairs. 

It was Ed  who instructed me to use the foot rest as a step.  However, it came clear days later that the foot rest is not to be stood on as the weight could break it.  At one point, a friend pointed out that the foot rest was beginning to give way. 

Mr. Lee Michaels, the name of which he gave me, and the customer service person from in2mobility, called me on Monday, May 18^th asking about the chairlift.  I told him what occurred and his only concern was about how he was not making money on the cost, due to other issues involving the installation.  I told him that I would stop the check.  He said, “Don’t do that. I want to make you happy and take care of what we need to do”.  He again made it a point to talk about his not making a profit.  He then told me that he would call me the next day, Tuesday, May 19.  This did not happen.  I emailed Ed on Wednesday and he said that Mr. Michaels would be calling my today. This did not happen.

Mr. Michaels did finally call saying that he was unable to assist as his wife was having emergency surgery. Mr. Michaels tells me that nothing can be done until Tuesday, May 26^th, more than a week after the installation.  He keeps saying that he wants to “make me happy”.  

Mr. Michaels, who appears to have another last name when calling his phone number first said that he would call an installer today, Thursday, May 21 and get back with me.  I waited for his phone call and then called him.  He simply said that he would take care of it Tuesday, and did not acknowledge his agreement to call me today. When I commented that I would be seeking a law suit, he said, “Enjoy”.  

Mr. Michaels called me on Friday saying that he would send someone over to work on the frame piece for the price of $300.  I turned it down and told him that the check had been stopped.  I also told him that initially, Ed had said that he would take care of this matter during the sales agreement. 

There is only one bathroom in the apartment and it is located in the basement, along with my bedroom and clothing.  

Owner of the company calls me on Wednesday, May 27th.  He says that I asked to speak with him.  He mentions this twice in the conversation.  I never asked to speak with him.   I relate story.  He says that he has to retrain customer service.  Tries to get my trust by giving me his cell phone number saying that he doesn't give it out to everyone.  He thinks he is doing a "make her feel special" line.  Sets it up to come to my home next Wednesday with an installer.   Has every intention of charging me for any construction work.  Then he hears how much I was paying and does this big surprise of no one gets that stairlift for that price.  

I am having so much difficulty with it.  My knee is beginning to hurt again and putting weight on that ankle is doing a number.   It is quite difficult to get off the stairlift when returning upstairs.  Here is how I see it.  Ed gave me an oral contract of what would be included.  Otherwise there is no written contract.  I paid half the price and have no intention on paying the other half.  Stairlift is no totally functional for me.  I'm going to hire someone to do a bit of construction and allow them to take me to small claims court if they so choose.