Location: Tempe, Arizona

Hello,

I don’t post much, but I’m having an issue that I feel is illegal in some way but can’t prove it. My friend lives in the same building but has a stronger legal case as you’ll see below, advice for him is definitely encouraged as well.

The short story:

1. Building supplies wifi (does not allow us to get our own)

2. Wifi not working (cutting out entirely every 15-30 minutes)

3. Friend works from home, literally rents a 2 bedroom and uses one of them as an office, and has been requested to take unpaid time off due to wifi issues.

4. Leasing company will not recompense for losses incurred due to wifi outages, says to take it up with wifi provider

5. Provider will not recompense for losses incurred due to wifi outages, says to take it up with leasing company

The long story:

This has been happening for about a month. We pay $150 a month for wifi bundled with some other frankly useless services like a trash valet (net negative; stinks up the hallway and there are trash chutes everywhere anyway).

We are explicitly not allowed to have our own wifi provider (i’m a recent graduate, i normally wouldn’t care about that since it relieves some mental burden)

Download/Upload speed go to ZERO during outages, not just slow. We’re talking “Call Failed” immediate disconnects.

My friend contacted the leasing company asking them to immediately take whatever steps are necessary to solve the issue and provide a written record of the steps and status as it occurs. He notified them that he will be documenting his financial losses, and expects the right to be recompensed damages related to the landlords noncompliance to the agreement per Arizona law.

After which, they cited a clause in our lease which states that they will not be held responsible for any services provided by third parties, and that we must take it up with the network provider.

Calling the network provider resulted in them verbally stating something along the lines of “remediation would be handled exclusively between the renters and the leasing agent, as we [the provider] have no billing relationship with the customer.” During the conversation, he read it from the contract they have with our leasing company. When asked for that in writing, it was refused because he can’t disclose contract information since we aren’t a party privy to the contract. When asked to repeat what he said, he wouldn’t.

If you skipped the long story, here’s where the quick stuff resumes:

Since our leasing agent refuses to take responsibility, and the provider refuses to take responsibility, are we just screwed? What do we do?

Thank you so much for any help you can provide. This has gone on for far too long. Please let me know if you need more information to be of assistance.