The Morgan At Provost Square – Scheduled elevator repairs 3/21/2019

pleasenomorganLeave a comment
From: B A (Manager)
Date: March 20, 2019, 7:16 pm
Subject: Scheduled elevator repairs 3/21/2019

Good evening valued residents of The Morgan,

I wanted to inform you all that the elevator repairs will begin tomorrow starting at 8 AM and will continue in to Friday, March 22nd.

During the repairs tomorrow, please expect that two elevators will be down intermittently throughout the day for safety reasons.

On Friday only one elevator should be down and repaired by the end of the day.

Thank you for your patience and understanding over the past several weeks as the team and I have been working on the rope repairs to the down elevator.

Kind regards,
B A

Do you ever get the sense that B— is not the best planner or communicator?  Let’s go over the problems with this notice:

  • Sent approximately 12 hours in advance
  • Maintenance starts at 8am on a weekday
  • No end time given
  • “Safety reasons” – Go on…  Are you saying our safety has been at risk with the recent rash of elevator failures?  Why are we just finding out about this now?

So, exactly 6 months on the job and B— has already regressed to: tardy communication, lack of information, and making excuses.  What is it about working at Toll Brothers that crushes people’s souls and cultivates incompetence?

The Morgan At Provost Square – Elevator Maintenance 3/1/19

pleasenomorganLeave a comment
From: B A (Manager)
Date: February 28, 2019, 9:14 pm
Subject: Elevator Maintenance 3/1/19

Dear Valued Residents of The Morgan,
I have just been informed that the 2 elevators going from the 1st to PH1 floors will be down from 10:30 AM for maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience and will work hard to put the elevators back in service as soon as possible. If you are on floors 2-12 please only use the designated elevator to help alleviate wait times for your neighbors.

Thank you for your patience and understanding,
B A

Oh please, stop making excuses.  No one finds out at 9pm that double elevator maintenance is scheduled the following day.  We all know Toll Brothers didn’t spring for the 24/7 support plan from Otis; non-emergency maintenance is scheduled well in advance.

B—, how about we give you a menu of choices and you point to the one that accurately describes what’s happening here:

  • The maintenance from two weeks ago was incomplete or rescheduled and you forgot to tell us about it (poor communication)
  • Whomever schedules elevator maintenance didn’t communicate to the property manager (incompetence/bad management)
  • The elevators are on the brink of failure or have already failed, and this is emergency maintenance (lack of candor)

You might have to use multiple fingers.

The Morgan At Provost Square – March’s Pet of the Month

pleasenomorganLeave a comment
From: B A (Manager)
Date: February 27, 2019, 9:17 am
Subject: March’s Pet of the Month

Happy Wednesday Valued Residents of The Morgan,
Send us pictures of your four legged friends for a chance to win March Pet of the Month!!!

Thanks,
The Morgan Management Team

Pet of the Month is great and all, but how about an update on the elevator maintenance that you promised to send?  Jane was everyone’s favorite punching bag, but at least she stepped up to let residents know what was going on (until she gave up caring after poomageddon 2018).

The Morgan At Provost Square – Caution Due to High Winds

pleasenomorganLeave a comment
From: B A (Manager)
Date: February 25, 2019, 11:11 am
Subject: Caution Due to High Winds

Dear Valued Residents of The Morgan,

With the high winds in Jersey City today, some of the signage and the lighting around the building is being blown off. We want to advise you to use caution when walking down the street to avoid any possible accidents.

Thank you,
B A

Stay safe out there everyone, the wind is crazy today.  With all of the construction around the neighborhood, there is a lot of debris that could get picked up and cause serious injury.

The Morgan At Provost Square – Elevator Maintenance

pleasenomorganLeave a comment
From: B A (Manager)
Date: February 13, 2019, 4:31 pm
Subject: Elevator Maintenance

Good Evening Valued Residents of The Morgan,
Tomorrow, February 14, 2019 we will begin elevator maintenance. Expect one elevator to be down starting at 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM. There will be no scheduled moves during this time and we will not be shutting down elevators for deliveries. We ask that if you are on floors 1-12 you use P1 elevator to alleviate the waiting time from your neighbors on the floors above. Elevator maintenance may continue into next week and we will make sure to keep you all informed regarding down elevators.
I appreciate your understanding as we try to make the elevators easier for us all.
Thank you,
The Morgan Team

A few good things here:

  • B— actually communicated this in advance (barely)
  • Commitment not to shut down multiple elevators at the same time
  • Limiting maintenance to lower traffic hours (avoiding the morning and evening rush)
  • Toll Brothers is actually doing maintenance on the elevators for a change

The elevator situation definitely improved in the fall after B— came on board, but multiple failures the past few weeks have residents wondering if the honeymoon period is over.  Let’s hope this maintenance leads to actual improved reliability.

Resident Report: Elevator PE4 Out of Service

pleasenomorganLeave a comment

It’s Saturday, so why is PE4 flashing the dreaded “IS” indicator at 10:30 AM?  The possibilities are endless:

  • Someone forgot to put it back in service from Friday’s moves
  • An unauthorized Saturday move
  • Maintenance decided to take it out of service instead of waiting like everyone else
  • The wind is keeping the door from closing
  • It’s broken again
  • Blame Otis
  • A super critical part is on order that can only be found growing wild in the Amazon (the rainforest, not the retailer)
  • “IS” means Incredibly Speedy, so speedy you can’t even get in!
  • TAKE THE STAIRS, PEASANT!

The Morgan At Provost Square – Elevator down

pleasenomorganLeave a comment
From: B A (Manager)
Date: February 7, 2019, 11:00 am
Subject: Elevator down

Dear Valued Residents of The Morgan,

Unfortunately elevator PE 4 is down at this moment and the team and I have been working on getting the elevator up and working as soon as possible. Otis should be here shortly to work on repairing the elevator. Meanwhile, the service elevator is being used for a move-in from 9am-12pm and it will be available for use after 12pm. We kindly ask residents on floors 2-12 to use their elevator. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly at 201.433.7000 or email me at [email protected].

Thank you,
B A
Property Manager

Well… PE4 is the “service elevator”, so this basically means PE3 is now out of service and residents of floors 14 through PH get one elevator for the day.  Lovely.

Toll Brothers really designed themselves into a corner on this one.  4 elevators total – one of which is limited to floors 1-12.  No freight elevator, so moves take one elevator out during pretty much every weekday.  That leaves two elevators serving 27 floors on weekdays, which is barely passable when everything is working ok.

So when a problem takes out a single elevator (which happens frequently), Toll Brothers gets to choose between delaying the moves by not dedicating an elevator, or delaying the existing residents who have to pack into a single car to get to their floor.  So new revenue tenants vs. existing tenants locked into leases – guess who always gets the shaft?

Hey Toll Brothers – how about you take the hit for once and stop taking a second elevator out of service for moves if one is already out of service due to your poor maintenance?  The movers can wait for an elevator like everyone else, and you can eat the mover’s increased cost and loss of new resident goodwill.