<human>: The air conditioning has not been working in my sister's apartment for 8 days now.  The issue was reported and supposedly repaired on the first day.  The air worked through the night but quit again the next day.  We are now a week later and still waiting on the issue to be resolved.

The apartment maintenance guys are the ones working to repair the unit.  They refuse to call a professional A/C repair company to get the unit fixed. It has supposedly taken so long because they had to order a replacement part (a part that an A/C repair shop would have readily available).

My sister has escalated the issue to the apartment company's corporate office and they informed her that it would be fixed by the end of the day.  A little while after making the call, the local manager called and stated that they were "causing trouble" by calling the corporate office (apparently an attempt to intimidate my sister).  This manager also balked at the idea that my sister's rent should be discounted due to all of the trouble.  She offered the excuse that she "Knows somebody in a $200,000 house that has been without air for a few weeks".  I think this is bogus, because when you own your own home, you can chose another A/C repair company if you are not satisfied with the level of service you receive.  As a tennant in an apartment, you do not get this choice.  Also, most customer oriented A/C repair companies would have the part overnighted to get the repair done as quickly as possible.

The apartment also provided a portable A/C unit after 4 days of no A/C.  The manager claims that they work fine, but it is severely under sized for the apartment (loft) and does not cool very well at all.

The situation is getting rediculously out of hand.  what are your suggestions on recourse that is available?  Withold rent? Self discount and take it before a judge if they try to evict?  What can they do?

Can you summarize the given text in a few sentences?
<bot>: Apartment A/C not working for over a week.  Apartment is taking their time making the repair.  Need to know what kind of recourse is available.