Friday, October 12, 2007

Broken Window

We have new double paned storm windows. Today the plumber came in to do our gas line and he opened two windows and broke the latches on both. He muscled the windows opened and I now noticed that the windows are unable to latch.

I am not sure how to bring up that he broke both latches. They were working fine because I've opened and closed both windows recently.

Should I let it go or tell him about it?

8 comments:

Sick of Debt said...

It matters on how far you want it to go. At a bare minimum I would suggest talking to the plumber suggesting that the next time he needs a customer's windows opened to ask the homeowner to open them. It's one thing for him to work on a sink or gas line, it's another for him to be working on windows. I go into people's homes in the evening and rule # 1 is to not touch anything you were not hired to touch unless you speak to the homeowner.

Living Almost Large said...

He wasn't working on the windows. He just opened them so that the smell of gas would leave the room. Hence I don't think he was paying attention.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but you had better call ASAP. so there will be no doubt that he broke the windows. Then call and get an estimate on a repair, if they can be repaired. Sometimes, you have to replace the whole window. Then, what will you do???

Living Almost Large said...

I have to call him tomorrow about the gas. But I'm unsure about how to do it politely, or if it's rude to tell him.

Anonymous said...

I totally understand your dilemma. I had to have the refrigerator replaced in my new condo and when they were done, I realized that my wood floor had been scratched realy badly and would take a lot to fix it. I wish I had some advice for you, let us know how it goes.

Anonymous said...

It's not rude -- call and complain and demand that he pay for the repairs.

frugal zeitgeist said...

Yuck. I hate those conversations. I think you're likely to get more flies with sugar than with vinegar, though, so I agree with taking a polite approach. I would probably start with something like "After you left the other day, I went to close the windows and noticed that the latches no longer work. They were fine before the panes were replaced, so I can only conclude that something happened during the replacement."

Etc. If you can get an estimate for repair in advance, that would probably be helpful. I don't think you should wait until you get the estimate before you call, though.

Living Almost Large said...

Nope he was working on something else and I politely mentioned that it was broken. Explaining that he had opened the windows and they could be sticky. Any definitely catch more flies with honey. He offered to pay to repair the latches.