So this week has been stressful to say the least.
As you well know, Hubs and I are renting our home back in Virginia. Our Homeowners Association dues pay for cable and internet, so obviously those services are included in our rent. In other words, our tenant should have just plugged in her TV(s) and computer and gone to town with no intervention required from the cable company.
So imagine my surprise when I received several phone calls from the cable folks telling me I owed $35 for a disconnection fee. That I neither requested nor required. I called the company and spent about two hours on the phone with several of their departments explaining the situation and getting the fee waived. Then I called our property manager to let her know and to ensure our tenant was still receiving the services we'd promised in the lease. For some reason, my property manager had actually advised the tenant to call the company and place the account in her name vice mine. Totally not necessary, and caused more trouble than it was worth. An annoyance to say the least, but it didn't cost us any money, so I let it go.
Then a few days later, two weeks into July, Hubs mentions that we still haven't received the rent check. A few phone calls to the property manager later and we discover that our tenant had some sort of blond moment and forgot about the rent, missed the grace period due to the holiday weekend, blah blah blah, excuse after excuse, tears, and everything else. I tried to see both sides of the story, that people make mistakes and forget to pay their rent, but this woman is the Commanding Officer of a Coast Guard ship and out-ranks both Hubs and I, so I really don't have any sympathy since a woman in her position should certainly be able to pay rent on time. On the other side of the coin, I recognize that my property manager has lots of houses to take care of, but at the end of the day, she works for me and is supposed to have my best interests at heart. She's supposed to ensure Hubs and I receive our rent in a timely fashion, and at this point she's failing that mission.
So now we're up to Tuesday of this week. When I discover that our electrical bill covers not only our last month in the house, but also the tenant's first week in the house! I call the company and explain the situation and they tell me that she didn't call until June 23rd to begin her service (her lease began on the 15th). Do you think the tenant could have told them, "Hey, I didn't get a chance to call until now, but I am responsible for service beginning on the 15ht."? Of course not. She decided to steal from us! So I ask the company if they can amend the bill and refund us the last eight days included on the bill since we didn't live there at that time. They tell me that until they talk to the tenant they can't fix the issue since I am no longer on the account. So I email my property manager yet again, telling her what the issue is and what is required. And I'm starting to get angry, but since the problem is easily resolved, I'm keeping my temper in check.
Until Wednesday when I receive the gas bill and it also covers the tenant's first week in the house. So I call that company. And I discover that that account is in fact still in my name and the tenant has not called them at all! So at this point, I'm livid. I tell the company to shut off the gas and the tenant can just get a rude awakening when she no longer gets hot water. Then I get out my paperwork to make sure that the property manager was responsible for making sure the tenant put everything in her name after she moved in. There was so much going on at that time with the baby being born and our own move that I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight before I started telling people off. Sure enough, my instructions were to leave all utilities turned on and that the tenant would have instructions and phone numbers to call everyone to put things in her name. So I call the property manager again!
Apparently our idiot tenant just didn't realize she had gas, even though she has a gas fireplace and was told about the gas water heater, etc. After I let the property manager have it, and she called to tell the tenant, the story I heard is that the tenant started crying again (what a friggin' baby!) and wanted to call us herself to apologize and pay us interest and everything else and wanted to let us know how sorry she was and that she hoped she hadn't caused us too much stress. The property manager told her she couldn't give out our phone number, but that yes, she was causing us stress since we'd just moved from one coast to another with a brand new baby!
So, everything's taken care of now (at least I hope so!) and we'll get reimbursed by the tenant in the next week or two. But at the same time I was planning a phone call to this woman's boss to ask him why the commander of a ship (who outranks me and Hubs by two ranks each!) couldn't pay her rent on time or set up her utilities! And yes, I realize the embarrassment that would have caused...but by that point I couldn't care less!
No, I don't deal well with stupid...
Ugh. I rented a condo from a prop mgmt company, and everything was shut off when I moved in. You learn really quickly what you're paying for that way! Also, my company made us pay by ACH--if that's an option for you, I'd say do it (probably too late, but it's a thought). Sorry you're going through all this--but being on the other side of it--I HATED the landlord I dealt with at the prop mgmt company! She was a condescending jerk, and I ended up in tears talking to her a few times. So you never know.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this is a home that I own and my tenant wasn't paying the rent and didn't transfer the utilities into her name as she was instructed by the property manager. The property manager offered the tenant to pay by ACH and she refused....
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