Notifications

Middel Realty has Begun Charging for After Hour Service Calls

Visit our Emergency Repair section for information on how to get by for a few hours until Middel Realty can respond to your rental maintenance needs. We have upgraded our repair system to include the Property Meld Portal. Here, you can report all of your repairs, and find helpful troubleshooting advice. Property Meld

Due to several customers Middel Realty currently and previously has served, we have begun charging for non-emergency services for after-hours calls. Before we list the price structure of non-emergency calls, please read the reason behind our rationale.

Over the last several years, Matt, Mike, Emily, and Erin have noticed a slight increase in calls for after-hour service calls. Approximately 90 percent of them are emergencies. Middel Realty defines emergency services as any call related to:

  • -Water damage (i.e. running water from a hot water heater, toilet, broken faucet with a continual leak, dishwasher, etc.).
  • -Water that just won’t stop and is damaging the home.
  • -Furnace or heating issues (i.e. the home is without heat).
  • -Fire or electrical issue relating to the furnace.
  • -Refrigerator not working.

In the end, if common sense dictates a call to us, please do. We DO NOT want to charge for service calls, but we have been experiencing some odd after-hours calls lately that require a fee for service based on customer rationale. For example:

  • “Matt, my front door lock doesn’t work, let me in please.”

This call was at 3:00am to open a door for a customer who thought that the door was broken. In fact, the door was functioning fine. This customer was wearing fuzzy gloves and couldn’t grip the door properly. They didn’t considered taking off their gloves, but called Middel Realty instead. Also:

  • “Matt, what is your opinion about a crayon drawing I just found in my garage that looks like it was left by a gang?”

This call was at 1:00am and the customer didn’t want to wait until the morning for a response. There’s more:

  • “Emily, this is____________, I left my key inside the house and need to be let in.”

This call was at 11:00pm. When Emily arrived at the house to let the teenager into the home, it turned out that she didn’t want to wake her parents up. Additionally:

  • “Erin, my refrigerator just stopped working.”
  • Erin’s response was, “Okay, what time did you notice it?”
  • Customer said, “Around 2:00pm, but I just remembered to call you. Could you bring over a new fridge right now?”

This call was at 10:00pm and Erin had a great suggestion: keep the door closed and we will bring over a fridge first thing in the morning. When we arrived at 8:00am with a new fridge, the customer was upset that we woke them up.

At the end of the day, Middel Realty cares for your well-being and we want to do everything we can to make your rental experience with us a positive one. However, we ask that you please respect our employees’ personal time when it is after normal business hours.

We are the only company in town that answers the phone no matter what, so if common sense tells you to call us at 8:30pm to report an emergency repair, please do. If you are locked out, it is WAY after hours, and it is an emergency or you just don’t know who else to call, by all means, call us. Keep in mind, however, that you MAY and MOST LIKELY will be charged for the service. As a general rule, expect to pay at the time of service. The service charge and payment due date are always at the discretion of the employee responding.

As always, if you have any questions feel free call us at 970-221-2300 or email us at info@middelrealty.com

Sincerely,

Matthew Middel