CLEARWATER, Fla. — Jean Wigand, 88, says she's sick and tired of having to carry her 10-year-old dog up and down several flights of stairs because the elevator at her Clearwater condo keeps breaking down.
"My dog has short legs," she said. "And a long body, and she won't walk, she's a stubborn Yorkie."
Resident Millie Grandinetti, 81, says she feels like a prisoner.
"You feel like you're in prison because you can't go out and do what you want to do," said Grandinetti.
She says she's too scared to go to the grocery store because she doesn't know if the elevator will be working when she returns with all the groceries.
"I have to walk down with the cane," she said.
Grandinetti said she usually would use a walker, but she can't get it up and down the three flights of stairs.
The Clearwater woman is just one of a half-dozen senior citizens reaching out to ABC Action News for help because the elevator in their building at On Top of The World, Clearwater, keeps breaking down.
The people who live in building 22 sent us this picture of the 'out of service' elevator sign that was posted over the weekend. You can see people who live in the community have had enough. Saying, "this is bull ****" and demanding someone "fixes" it.
Residents tell us that when it breaks down, a maintenance worker will come 'reset' the elevator, but then it breaks down again.
Wigand said she's been stuck on the elevator a number of different times, "I just push the buttons until it opens again."
ABC Action News rode the elevator with Wigand, and when we reached the first floor to get it out, we were trapped as the electronic board flashed the initials "ND" with an up arrow. The door would open and close, several times before taking us up to the third floor.
Florida's Department of Business & Professional Regulation monitors elevators for businesses, including hotels and condos.
They tell us they have received two complaints about elevators in 2017 in a different building and received one complaint this past week.
The complaint reads, "Caller stated that the elevator in their community is not working. Caller stated they have had to call the fire department a few times to help people get out of the elevator who are stuck in it. Caller stated they are not taking the appropriate actions to fix the elevator."
We're told an inspector is expected to follow up on the complaint in the coming days.
"I hope you can get someone to fix it, that's all we want, just fix the elevator," said Grandinetti.
ABC Action News reached out to the corporate management team in Ocala for On Top of the World, Clearwater, but we have not heard back yet.
