5 On your Side: Tenants in Weslaco apartments face AC issues through summer heat
No air conditioning in triple digit heat is the reality for some people living at an apartment complex in Weslaco.
The tenants say their AC hasn't been working for months now. Though fixes to the AC is underway, three tenants at the Santa Anna Apartment Homes say their AC was not cooling until it eventually went out.
When repair crews came to fix the issue, the tenants said units were still not working or cooling like they had been before the issues began, and two families say they had to stay in a hotel to escape the heat inside their apartment. Others were forced to buy window units.
"We've tried everything, we're just getting the run around," tenant Christine Gonzalez said.
AC issues have been plaguing Gonzalez for months now. She says the AC in her apartment first started having issues back in April.
"Since then, we've been having issues, but the beginning of this month was unbearable," Gonzalez said.
On Thursday, the temperature in her unit measured close to 90 degrees.
"It completely broke down, and we had to get out of here, take our kids go stay at a hotel with family, hoping that they would fix it," Gonzalez said.
But after several calls, emails, maintenance visits and an expensive hotel bill, Gonzalez still had no luck getting the AC completely fixed.
"We called corporate and he [said] he was told it was working fine, but at that point it wasn't working at all. He said if he sends someone else he would charge us, he was completely rude and unprofessional," Gonzalez said.
She isn't the only one dealing with broken AC. Shaddy Will says his AC went out too and maintenance couldn't seem to figure out the issue.
"We had the maintenance guy [come over] probably like five times every day, and he'd say 'hey I don't know what's going on' or 'Oh, I did this, well let's wait til tomorrow' and I'm like well hey it's 86 in my apartment, my wife is pregnant, this isn't safe for her or our baby," Will said.
Will ended up spending over $500 on window units and fans.
The owner of the apartment complex, John Federer, says the previous onsite manager didn't do a great job handling tenants maintenance requests, but he assures the residents the new management team will handle their AC issues.
"I can sense their frustration and I can relate. I was a resident too, so we want them to be happy, and we want to take care of it, and we're very happy with our new team," Federer said.
Federer said he wasn't aware people were still without working AC.
"We want everybody to be happy. If they are patient, we should have everything taken care of here definitely in the next couple of days," Federer said.
Shortly after, Gonzalez said a maintenance crew got in contact with her, and she says the AC is working better. She also says the owner will be taking $200 off from her July rent for all the trouble.