Thanks so much. I relayed the advice and their landlady was contacted. I'm glad I could tell them to be sure to take photos of the mess.

Ugh, sounds like a disaster. I'm with Maven, definitely document what happened for legal and insurance reasons.

Thanks. I'm glad you told me that. I just called the guy and read him what you said. The other thing is that they have no heat, so either the water tripped the furnace or the furnace may have konked out, thus the frozen pipe bursting. It sounds like a mess and they don't really know what they're doing. They don't have a shop vac. either.  It's getting cold though so they decided to call a furnace repair co. Sounds like a hassle and wet and miserable. And their classes start tomorrow.

Actually, MWT would probably pass on the plumber and do a diy deal. But that's MWT.

I assume the guys turned off the water? Also, if they've since cleaned up the mess, I hope they took a bunch of pictures first. Renting and all, one never knows where the fingers will be pointing. Pics could come in handy in such circumstances. If it were me--turn off the water, call a plumber and while waiting for s/he to show up, fire up the shop vac. Yuck. BTW, wet drywall starts to mold quickly.