Action Line #91202 -- Housing Maintenance

  • Published
  • By 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Complaint:

I have lived on Incirlik since August 27, 2009. Upon arrival our sponsor picked us up from the terminal and brought us to our house. He proceeded to tell us that the A/C was broken. First let me say that we had reservations at billeting and had not planned on bringing our family to our house. The whole ordeal was overwhelming. We were dropped off in a 90 degree house and told there was a call in but that the next day was a down day. We waited 3 hours, exhausted from traveling, hungry and hot. We left and went to billeting. The following Monday the Maintenance group called and came to fix the A/C they asked why we did not wait in the house for them to show up?

They also asked why we had frozen the unit. It took until the late afternoon on Tuesday for the house to cool down to 80 degrees. Needless to say this was not the way we wanted to start this tour but we pushed through it. Two days later the dishwasher broke, again I was told it was fixed. The next week the A/C froze up again and we were told it was our fault. It took 24 hours for the repair to happen. Meanwhile the house reached temperatures of 85 and 90 degrees. A week later my washing machine broke, followed by the dishwasher again, and then the oven, the upstairs sink has been repaired three times, and our bathtub had to have a new drain installed which required drilling a hole in the downstairs bathroom ceiling.

Finally, last week I called to report that my stove does not work properly and that my dryer does not work on the automatic dry settings. I realized this after starting the dryer before bed on night and waking up the next morning to the dryer still running. In response to this problem we were told to not use the two settings and use no heat settings. The dryer was broke, but that we just need to use alternate settings. The washer has ruined several pairs of my daughter's clothes and I am told it is my fault. This washer is an old commercial washer with one setting and it does not work properly; it doesn't rinse. Our kitchen sink has also leaked twice. We had to have the faucet repaired and the hot and cold knobs were switched.

I am usually not a complainer and I usually try and make the best of any situation. However, I feel that since moving to Turkey I have been treading water in our home. I spend more time waiting on repairs to be fixed and therefore I am stuck waiting at home. When I call in a problem, I am told someone will call when they can come and to wait. I love to cook but my oven and stove do not work properly; but I am told that yes they do.

I am becoming increasingly irritated in the service and the amount of repairs that we have had to call in our first eight weeks. Most of all, I am concerned as to why there is such a focus on energy consumption, when our houses have outdated, ill working appliances that suck electricity.

Please understand that I usually do not like to complain about things and usually roll with the punches. I just feel that the quality of appliances is greatly affecting our quality of life.

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to concerns about your living quarters. It is unfortunate that you had these problems, and I assure you this is not normal. Our Housing Maintenance section generally does a very good job in responding to calls as they come in, keeping utilities and appliances working as well as possible. While we cannot guarantee you won't have any future problems, be assured that CE will aggressively respond to all calls as they are reported.

If you are still having problems with your quarters, please do not hesitate to inform CE through the Service Call Desk and they will respond appropriately. If you are experiencing substandard service, please contact our Civil Engineer quality assurance inspector at 676-6020.

Additionally, CE will be happy to arrange an appointment with you to walk through your quarters to identify and repair/replace anything that you are currently having a problem with. If the systems are beyond repair, you will be moved to another quarters at government expense.

I also appreciate your discussion about your initial arrival on base. We have made a concerted push through our commanders and first sergeants not to rush newcomers into their permanent quarters upon arrival, in part for the very reasons you state. While it sounds like a great idea, people need to have access to telephones, the internet, and other conveniences available at the Hodja Inn that simply are not awaiting new arrivals in military family housing.

Again, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that you and your family have endured.