As originally reported by Sydsvenskan, a student got shocked three times by an electrified shower in his apartment at Delphi.
Last December, due to plumbing work being carried out in their former accommodation, Måns Hemberg and everyone else in his corridor moved to another house in the Delphi compound.
Delphi, along with several other student accommodations in Lund, is owned by AF Bostäder. Måns Hemberg’s new apartment was freshly renovated, including a brand-new bathroom. After a tiring day of moving in, he decided to take a shower.
However, it ended up being anything but relaxing; instead, after coming in contact with the shower hose he got his first of three electric shocks. While attempting to turn off the shower he received two more, one from the hose and one from the faucet itself. “I got an extreme shock. I could feel it in my whole body” he tells Sydsvenskan.
According to Sydsvenskan, Måns Hemberg reported the issue to the building’s caretaker the next day. The caretaker offered to replace the hose with one encased in rubber and gifted him six pizza coupons as an apology. As it was not only the hose that was conductive but the faucet as well, this didn’t seem like a good enough solution to Måns Hemberg, so he called in an electrician.
The electrician measured a charge of 220 volts in the water main. If Måns Hemberg had been standing on the metal gutter in his shower his situation could have been far more dire.
Later, the origin of the charge was traced back to a screw two floors down that had gone through a wire carrying an electrical current. Thus, every time Måns Hemberg’s downstairs neighbour turned on their lights, Måns Hemberg’s shower became conductive.
Despite the problem having found its solution, Måns Hemberg is deeply bothered by the poor response from AF Bostäder. All Måns Hemberg received in terms of apology was the six pizza coupons that his building’s caretaker gave him. His girlfriend, Astrid Christiansson, is equally outraged and feels that in a normal rental apartment this incident would have never been handled in this manner: “It feels like they aren’t taking us seriously because we’re young.” she tells Sydsvenskan.
AF Bostäder’s CEO, Henrik Krantz, told Sydsvenskan that he was outraged that this incident occurred and laments the lack of compensation that Måns Hemberg has received. Henrik Krantz added that the property manager have tried to contact Måns Hemberg but that this effort has thus far been unsuccessful.
Update (1 april): Astrid Christiansson has contacted Lundagård, stating that Måns Hemberg has answered every call he’s gotten from AF Bostäder. Their experience is that Af Bostäder has avoided the subject of compensation. The statement from Henrik Krantz in Sydsvenskan where he says that he’s tried to contact them with no luck is a way of passing the blame according to Astrid Christiansson.
Update (4 april): Astrid Christiansson writes to Lundagård that the couple has received compensation for the issue.
Lundagård has previously reported on students being forced to move due to the renovations at Delphi. Read the article here (in Swedish).
