Saigon Pearl power problem

Last activity 15 December 2010 by xpression

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xpressionActive member14 December 2010 05:24:00

hey everyone
i'd like to bring to ur notice a serious issue in the apartment complex Saigon Pearl, where i have been living for the last 7 months. basically, on sunday night, at around 11pm, we lost electricty. it seems to be a power supply issue for saigon pearl only. we did not get power until nearly 10pm on monday night. thats 23 hours. saigon pearl does not provide backup generators for all apartments: just the lobby, lift lobby on each floor, and the elvators have backup power. this by itself i find unacceptable, at an 'A Grade condo' as housing agents call it. 23 hours without electricity, in a condo right in the middle of the city is outrageous.

as if that wasnt bad enough, listen to this: for over 2 hours, from 11am til past 1pm on monday, the backup generators powering the lobby lighting and elevators crashed, meaning that i was stuck in my apartment on the 31st floor with no way but the stairs, if i wanted to get out of the house. this is a safety issue, and the biggest problem i had with the entire incident. wat would have happened if someone living on a high floor was seriously ill during this period and needed immediate medical help? would they have to carry themselves down 30 flights of stairs first? compared to this issue, i'd say that the initial power failure for 23 hours is at least acceptable: the backup generators failing, not for 15min or so, but for 2 hours, is not.

having said that, taking 23 hours to repair any sort of problem also shows problems in the management of this place.

i write this post simply to make people aware that saigon pearl, being one of the premier condos in saigon isnt as great as it appears to look from the outside, and in the advertisements. especially to those of u looking at saigon pearl as a future home, please note this. i had no idea of this sort of problem when i first moved here. if any of u already live there, u'd understand wat an absurd situation we found ourselves at the time.

mikeinvietnamMember14 December 2010 07:16:13

Thanks for the heads-up. I will surely make note of this when anyone asks me about renting or I see an agent promoting space at Saigon Pearl.

tmt4788Active member14 December 2010 15:16:40

@xpression: thats impossible for u to be stucked in ur arpartment coz u dont need elevator to go out.. u know u could fly outside lol.. jk :p hope u dont stuck at that bad situation again
btw u should print ur comment on this page and give it to ur friend - the manager he can complain with his boss for u :">

kenneth.thaiMember15 December 2010 10:08:11

Has the property managers communicated to the tenants on the root cause and their plan to rectify the problem? If fixing the problem takes a long time (i.e. waiting for new parts or the repair needs a specialist), then that is a different issue.

However, I do agree that if it is an "A grade apartment", then there should be minimal/no interruption to the tenat's accessibility to power and comfort. Property managers should see what these cops has planned for the neighbor, then get the money returned.

xpressionActive member15 December 2010 23:32:00

no, there has been no communication as yet, by management, on the reasons of the power outage yet. i think there was a notice apologizing for the inconvenience, but no actual information on the cause has been given to us. i also thought that during the 23 hours where power was out, they could have informed us, or tried to keep us updated. we have a security system, with a console in each unit which is audio/video capable. im sure they couldve broadcast a message using this system to all units to keep us updated. nothing of the sort was done. even when i called, i was hardly able to get any info, in english.

and like i said, the time they took to rectify the situation was not my primary complaint, although that was shocking too. but the backup power failing, causing the lifts to crash, was really poor. also, there seems to be no plan for generators to power each apartment in the case of another problem like this. i know that the Manor (across the street from Saigon Pearl) and a couple of other "A Grade" condos have generators powering each apartment, in the event of any power cut.

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