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Is it common practice to provide the Supt w/ a cellphone or pay for a portion of his bill since many calls are work related?
The sponsor of the building that I am in has sold quite a few units in the past year so more and more sh seem to be calling the supt's cellphone.
I resisted to this idea, but had to cave in.
Reason: Today there is no perfect technology. Beepers or cell phones are all wireless these days and you need to go to more expensive beeper service, i.e., two-way and/or with text-messaging services to have a good coverage for your emergencies.
1. Beepers need to be two-way so that there is memory in the event that the super is beeped and he/she is in a "dead zone." Not like the golden era of beepers when they used to retain the numbers. The cost for two-way beeper is approx. $14 a month.
2, Cell phones also have "dead zones" and super may be out of touch with the building emergency because the ringtone is not available; however, there is phone mail to the rescue.
My thnking (not necessarily your own or anyone else's):
1.It is best to have the co-op pay for the equipment and service. Tell the super that the phone must remain for the replacement when on vacation and in this way your co=op does not have to suffer interruptions in the event of emergencies.
2. Have a written document that super is responsible for misuse and loss of equipment and charges resulting from such problems.
3. If you pay a stipend for the use of the super's phone, still make a written document as to what you expect by way of services and what the calls should cover.
4. Make sure that the cell phone provider you use have the widest coverage possible in your city and within the building. If there are "dead zones", you should know what are these are how long is the super supposed to spend in those area, i.e., boiler room, some dark storage area in basement or even elevators and hallways.
Whatever decision you make, it should make sense by way of service and cost.
AdC
Adc while I agree with most of your opinions/responses it sounds like we are waiting here for the superintendent to miss a call and jump on him/her. Of course there are dead zones etc. What you need in a situation like that is to have a back up plan, ie, call the handyman, have the concierge call the plumber etc and get the ball rolling so to speak.
Come to think of it now, I had a manageing agent whome for some reason when I called after hours seemed to be always in The Holland tunnell (or dead zone as he used call it). Not sure if he eventually came out of that tunnell.
FN
Good news (maybe not for the agent though) Holland Tunnel and the others are no longer dead zones.
PG
Well, perhaps it is a punishing mentality, but some supers need to be waken up by some sort of corrective dose.
I'm sure you got your managing agent out of the tunnel after being too fat, i.e., the same excuse became overused to fit in the tunnel. This is what it sounds like, too.
My issue is not cell phones, but costs and if you have been served well with a service, why pay more just because it talks?
IN fact, my credo is there are very, but very few things in life that I consider emergency. So, those things have to be pretty critical.
AdC
I pay all of my supers cell phones. What i did, is switch my spers to nextel, with free incoming, then just pay the $59 monthly fee and he is responsible for any overages. Since incoming is free, the bills are always at a minimum anyway (and if i cant get him on the phone, theres always the two way built in radio!)
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This appears to be a no brainer (forgive me). If the building requires the super to be available for emergencies etc how are you going to reach him/her? Surely you do not expect the super to pay out of his/her own pocket when you are the ones calling him/her. So what if the super makes a few calls to friends. Are you going to be penny wise and pound foolish? I guess it is OK for large corporations to have huge expense accounts and we turn around and question a few dollars on a cell phone. Finally when I go on vacation I bring my cell phone and make several calls (roaming charges/international) work related which the Coop pay as I am addressing their needs.
fn
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