The money that I sent about two weeks ago came back without being credited to Sarah’s account. Sarah told me that the money was credited to her account. <<<
This email is two days old. I told him the money was credited because when I went and talked to my landlords last week, they said the money had been automatically withdrawn as it is every month so I need not worry about rent for this month. Today I came home to a nasty letter (as if it is a monthly occurrence that I don’t pay rent on time) and a fine on top of the rent. If I had known the day I talked to them that the money had not gone through as they claimed it had, I would have borrowed money and paid it to them right away.
I talked to them about this, but they are not budging. I think charging a surcharge is not fair in this situation because I am not convinced it is my fault. Even if it were, this is the first time this has happened in the three years I have been living here so surely that should count for something. On top of that, they won’t accept cash, they want a money order which I think will cost me as well.
They say I am welcome to appeal this, but how do I appeal this over the phone to the head office? I am too shy haha.
Unless there is nothing stipulated in your contract i am not sure they can legally say anything. My rent has been as late as 15 days and I never got any late fees. Have they done this to other people?
First thing first, did they get the rent? Can you confirm this? If so find out what day the rent was handed in.
They don't have the rent yet. They said they won't withdraw from my account again, even though the money is in my account now, and instead I have to wire them the money. I have three days to pay rent or I think I get taken to court.
Ok let me get this straight. The money comes into your account from your dad, where it is automatically transferred to the landlord correct? My question is how come they did not get the money....
I would suggest you wire the money. It is free in all banks. I am not sure why you let them withdraw it from your account. Transfer the money asap. The rent of the apartment only not the surcharge fee.
They did not get the money on the 1st (even though they told me they did) because my dad's money transfer had not gone through. They just told me today. My dad transfered money again a few days because he realized it hadn't gone through and it is there in my account now. They should not have told me I was fine in terms of rent, I could have paid them upfront then by borrowing money from a family member, and I would have avoided the surcharge. The rent is ridiculously high for my piece of **** apartment already.
I've learned the rentee issues the hard way. Have paid extra money 'cause of the minor voilations. What I have learned is that your management office/rental agency etc WILL NOT budge. They will try to get any extra money out of you if you miss your dates for anything be it rent or or lease related notices.
Very first thing you need to start doing from right now is that every time you have communication with anyone of the leasing agent, have a pen and paper ready in your hands and write down what they said with date and their names. Ask them to put their initials/signature on what they said. Trust me, it saved me the headache quite few times during my last rent term. Many times one leasing agent would say something that's different from the interpretation of the other. It comes very handy.
Secondly, EVERY SINGLE document/letter/statement you ever receive from your landlord/mgt office, keep it. Keep all the communication and information in one place. Never lose it until it's over 2-3 months since you have moved out of that place.
Thirdly, it gets very frustrating trying to follow up, convince or argue eventually. Your best bet is to pay the extra make sure it never happens again in the future. It's not worth it.
Last year when I went to Pak my bank bill pay as usual mailed the check on time to my management office since I had it set up the automatic payment. It just so happened that the mail got delayed for some reason. Technically, nobody's fault. It can happen. The office sent me a notice which I did not get on time since I was in Pak at that time. The office got the check about 10 days late and I had to pay the fine. After that I changed my rent pay date to 3 days before the 1st of the month (when rent was due). It's worth it. These guys won't budge.
Roman has great points. There are battles worth fighting and those that are not worth fighting, u dont want this thing to get out of hand and get a ding on yer credit report (landlords can do that)
while u can fight, and while there is a small chance u may even win. I would suggest that u use the same energy for something else.
Additionally, you may want to start looking at other apartments for future, if yer mgmt is being such hardass about this even at first late pmt wityh some confusiona round it, you really dont want to count on them if the place needs fixing or something.
First of all, pay them the monthly rent without any further delays. Write a long, strong letter explaining everything that happened with threats to report them to better business beaurue and going to small claims court if you value your hard earned money. I have done that once and it worked wonders for me. Sometimes, an appartment complex is a chain appartment and you are able to contact the main office, the people above the ones who sit in the local office. If thats the case, send a copy of the letter to them as well. I have noticed that writing a professional and reasonable letter sometimes works better than trying to convince someone face to face.
If it is automatically taken out from your account then you should check your bank statements and see what dates it is withdrawn. If it is being withdrawn on the supposed dates, then take your bank statements to your landlord and show him.
You can 'pay under protest'. Your paying to settle the account for now, but your not accepting your liability for it.
So pay now, write a stinging letter and see if they can deduct the fee from your next rent. A little bit of pressure, but guessing from what Romans saying about landlords in NA......they're harsh!!
Thank you everyone. They are pretty good in terms of other things, such as maintenance and their customer service is very good too (excluding the woman I talked to yesterday).
Roman I keep every correspondance with them. I learned the hard way to do that when living with a roommate. Now that you have a house, you are spared from this stuff huh?
