America, we have a problem.
Well, to be completely honest, we have more than one- but this is a really big problem that is affecting me in my life; so therefore it's the most important problem.
It's not the economy (although it could be better), it's not welfare (although it could use some reform as well). The problem which is paining me this evening is greed. Good ole' plain greed.
Now, I'm not talking about individual greed. No conspicuous consumption here, however if you're looking for an article that will completely disenchant you on the state of people, check that one out. What's even scarier is that it was written in 1902. I'm talking specifically about "big business" greed, and how it is affecting our nation.
Slowly over time we have allowed the nameless, faceless corporations, and even our own government, to anally rape us while we smile and pitifully ask for another like a bizarro Lifetime version of Oliver Twist. Gives a whole new meaning to the name Charles Dickens... heh.
But I digress...
It started rather simply, an energy rate hike here, an income tax increase there. Next thing you know everything is being dissipated by the powers that be.
Case in point: I went to Sam's Club last week to purchase insulin and other necessities for the home front. Insulin is tax exempt, so you will always pay a .99 on it. If you're buying from a smaller chain (Walgreens, USA Drug) you will pay around $34.99 for a bottle of Novelin R insulin. Sam's sells the same bottle for $19.99. At two bottles a month, these savings far outweighed any feelings of guilt from shopping at the mega-chain which is destroying our nation. Don't believe me? Check out "Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price." It will shock you.
Again, too much digressing....
Continuing on, I picked up the insulin, grabbed some toilet paper, and some cases of diet soda. I proceeded to the check out, showed my receipt to the door nazi, and headed out to the car. It wasn't until I got into the car and checked the receipt that I realized I had been had. Twice.
First of all, the purchases were rung up at the same time. Then a seven and some change percent sales tax was charged on the subtotal. Meaning the insulin was charged a sales tax. Big no-no. After that, another subtotal was rendered (adding in the seven percent sales tax) and then a smaller tax was charged again, on the second subtotal. A so-called "soda tax". This means, that I was taxed on a tax-free item, then taxed again on the tax I paid the first time.
It wasn't so much the out of pocket expense that pissed me off. It was the principle of the matter. How many people check their receipts for the tax information? Most people I know don't even bother checking their receipts to make sure they were charged the right amount at the store. I am not one of those people.
They did a "seven on your side" feature a few months ago on Kroger International foods. The investigative reporter went shopping, and then compared her receipt purchases to the ones advertised in the store. There were differences. Many differences. Close to ten dollars worth of differences. Although, for one person, ten dollars here and there doesn't add up to much, but think about how many people shop for groceries and purchase one brand over another because of the posted "sale price?" I have vivid memories of my mother staring at the register machine, noting each price as it was rung up and stopping the checker if something was different than what was posted. This in itself is a ridiculous hassle for the consumer and the cashier. The cashier then has to stop, get on her little mega-phone, call for a "price check," verify the price, then call the manager over to void/refund/adjust the price rung into the computer. Meanwhile, this drives the other people in line crazy while they impatiently wait for their turn to leave.
The bigger question here is this: do you really think the manager went back and fixed the posted price after my mother left? Hell no. She's probably more aggravated that someone noticed the difference. After all, she's thinking not of the consumer, but of the bottom line. Many of these stores either pay their managers on a scale basis, or judge the amount of their end of year bonuses based on the overall profit margin for their district. Loosely translated: the more their store sells, the more money goes into her pocket at the end of the year. Customer service is now a thing of the past.
These kinds of scams affected me in a very large way about six months ago. I lived in an apartment complex before Boyfriend and I moved into the home he was already renting. Upon first leasing my apartment, the office manager sat down with me and covered, in detail, the terms and conditions of my lease, including my thirty day notice, should I decide not to renew my lease. This thirty day notice does not cover intentional breaking of the lease, this is just for when your lease expires and you decide to vacate your apartment.
One year later my lease expired and I was offered a renewal. I decided to renew my lease and continue living in my apartment for another year. Mind you, the renewing of my lease hiked my rent up over fifteen percent, but I didn't care at the time. Now, this is not the "scam" that affected me, but it is a rather shitty thing to do. It would have cost me less to give them notice and then sign an entirely new lease rather than to renew my lease for another year.
Just so you know, I called and spoke to the apartment manager, who informed me that my original rental price was a "move in special" and I would now be paying the actual price per month on my town-house. Whatever.
Regardless, I continued living there for another year. My lease expired in August, and just like clockwork my rental offer came at the end of June. I declined their offer (yet another price hike- by the way. This time up twenty-five percent from the already increased fifteen percent) and filled out my thirty day notice form, promptly turning it in on June 30, one month and a day before my lease expired (July 31).
Six months ago I received a letter and a bill from my ex-landlords. The bill was for a full months rent, and the letter enclosed stated that I had violated my lease agreement by not giving them a full sixty-day notice. Because I only gave them thirty days, I was required to pay them rent for the month of August. Even though I didn't live in the apartment in August.
I called and spoke to the apartment manager the next day. The conversation went something like this:
ME: I'm calling in regard to this bill for a full months rent?
HIM: Yes, you were required by your lease to give us a full sixty-day notice. Since you only gave us thirty days we are charging you another month's rent.
ME: I'm looking at my lease right now, and it doesn't say anything about a sixty day notice. It requires a thirty day notice.
HIM: You're looking at your original lease. Last year we changed it to sixty-days.
ME: Then why wasn't I given a copy of the new terms?
HIM: Because you renewed your lease, rather than sign another one.
ME: So then, wouldn't I still only be required to give a thirty day notice, as applicable under the terms of my original lease?
HIM: No, we changed the policy last year.
ME: Were you able to rent the apartment out?
HIM: Yes, the apartment was rented.
ME: So, you want double rent? You've got someone else paying rent on that apartment and you want me to pay rent as well? For a month that someone else lived there?
HIM: The policy was changed to sixty days. You only gave us thirty days, so you are required to pay another month's rent.
ME: But if the policy changed to sixty days, why wasn't I given my renewal notice sixty days before my lease was up? Why only thirty days?
HIM: That's not our policy.
At this point I hung up.
America, it's time we started paying attention to our receipts and reading the fine print. This has got to stop. Big business has enough money already, they don't have to cheat the little people out of what small amount they have left over at the end of the month.
I'm no radical, but sometimes I wonder if the revolutionaries aren't on to something...
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17 comments:
PLEASE tell me that you didn't pay those bastards. You are only bound by the lease that you signed and not liable for any "policy changes" that they may have made and not informed you of in writing. They're running a scam and I'm sure a small claims court would work it out in your favour. Probably not the first time they've done it, either.
No, I didn't pay them. And I don't figure I will.
<3
Jenn
I wonder what people did before the Internet(well I don't really, they just got screwed worse) Everytime I make a big purchase, I find myself doing all sorts of research on prices and such things.
My brother recently wanted a Beagle, and even though we don't usually agree with this, we went to a breeder and bought one for $600. Turns out he was allergic, and 2 days later we brought the dog back. This woman(the breeder) flipped out, literally snatched the dog out of my mother's hands, and made sure there was a giant dog with her at all times. She then refused to give us back any of the money.
My father called her a dozen times over the weekend, and she eventually relented to give back $400, which I still think is a scam, but my Mother doesn't want to push her anymore.
The worst part is, when my mother picked up the dog, the breeder already said that someone else was interested, and she chose us. So it's not like the puppy isn't going to get taken right away.
I agree that the landlord was quite shady but I have to ask.. How did you renew your lease without signing anything? Any time I have renewed a lease I have signed a new document and they have gone over any and all changes in the terms and conditions. As for the raise in rent, in most jurisdictions they have legislation governing rent increases so actually terminating the lease and resigning a new one would likely have given them the legal right to raise your rent a lot more than 15%..
As for the incident in Sam's Club, coming from someone with a relative in the grocery business you should look and see if you have something similar to Canada's "Scanner Price Acuracy Voluntary Code" ( http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/pics/ct/ct02381e.pdf )By law, in Canada, retailers have to have a sticker at _every_ till outlining the customers rights under the code. Retailers try to screw people all the time because someone was too lazy to enter something into the system correctly or they didn't key something in the way they should have. It is a pain in the ass but you need to always watch the till as things are being rung up and then double check the receipt to make sure that everything is right.
As a side note, it's good to have you back Jennifer. I look forward to more of your insights!
Dear Paper Monkey,
When they sent out the renewal form to your apartment (and by "sent out" I mean, placed it under your door), it had three boxes to check (year lease, six month lease, month by month lease) and a signature line. Then you dropped it off at the office and your lease was considered "renewed." This was to make the process "easier and more convenient" on everyone.
<3
Jenn
I have not even read the post yet, but you have totally hooked me with just the title of this blog. Well done, Jennifer.
Aww, I missed you guys!!!
<3
Man... I would hate to be a tennant their without your knowledge and determination. People roll over all to often about things like this and just pay to make it go away. I'm in awe that they would even contemplate changing the terms of your lease without telling you and then expect you to abide by the new terms. It's stuff like this that makes me glad that I'm a civil servant. I put up with a lot of abuse but it's worth it if I can help out even one person.
Yay, yay, yay. 1st - glad you are back. 2nd - what a bunch of Nazi assholes. They may not take you to court, but they may try to use that to affect your credit score. Don't let it happen.
WHOO HOO!
Withdrawl over.
Reminds me of an apartment I rented once. I got a on-campus apartment at a much cheaper rate, but they wouldn't let me out of the rent. So, I sucked it up and paid double rent for the summer because the difference was worth it in the long run ($500 vs. $280). In early May I moved out of the expensive one and left it perfect. However, the bastards were still charging me rent. I had to go to my hometown to defend my masters (i was enrolled in a phd program with an overlapping year) and was gone a month. When I came back, they had changed the locks on the older one.
I flipped out because I had wanted to leave it early, but they were sticking me with the rent and then changed the locks on me a month before the lease was up. They tried to weasel out of it by telling me they thought I had left even though I was up to date on my rent. I explained to them (politely) I was within my rights to have access until the last day of the lease and I could trash it and clean it up as much as I want as long as it was perfect when I left.
Then, they tried to stick me with the cost of replacing the carpet. Why? There was a square patch of bleached out carpet in the center of the living room. They tried to force me to pay damage because I *must* have tried to clean a spot with bleaching cleaner(with perfect right angles). Of course, I very.clearly. pointed out the spot to which they referred was the exact size of the skylight and the aforementioned carpet was directly beneath it.
I can only imagine how many students they try to stick wtih that silly bleaching farce. Since they had broken several local and state laws by preventing me access to an apartment I was fully paid up on, I did get a partial last month's rent back for the days I was locked out of it since it was cheaper to do that than change the locks again as I was demanding they do until the day my lease expired (which since I was already out of was more of a principle thing)
sigh.
I remember an incident that really hacked me off. I own my own home and have a mortgage. What mortgage companies will frequently do (when you buy a home) is that they will sell your mortgage to another company. They do this to simplify things for the consumer and then sell it to another mortgager for convienience.
My lender sold my mortgage to another company and then came back a few months later saying that I owed them a month's mortgage (the month that the new mortgager took over). I was indignant. I called the person back and got a voicemail. I told them succinctly that I was not going to give them a months mortgage as it went to the new mortgager as per thier request. I then said that I had not requested or gave them permission to sell my mortgage and if they didn't straighten it out with them, that was thier problem.
Never heard from them again.
Another incident. A deer ran into my car (yes, you heard me right, i didn't hit it, it hit me). My insurance company came out to inspect the damage and sent me to the body shop to have it repaired. Meanwhile they got me a rental car. and I was supposed to take about a week to repair. A week later the insurance company calls me to tell me that they repairs are going to take longer and that I would be responsible for paying for the rental for the "extended" time. I was livid. We went back and forth for 10 minutes with me yelling at them about how is it my responsibility that they repair shop is taking longer. I finally refused and hung up. About 10 minutes later they called back and told me not to worry about it.
I am the type of person that always says tio "pay the 2 dollars" because of the old latin saying "the cheap comes out expensive". How many people out there let themselves be bullied into paying for stuff they are not responsible for?
Thanks to Bush, this country has become obsessed about putting money above responsibility and we are going to pay for that attitude.
Sorry for the rant, I just hate it when companies think they can push around people because they are individuals.
Well, it's stories like this that I appreciate certain provincial laws in Canada - like how our rent cannot go up more than 3% per year and if our landlord wishes to raise the rent he has to give us three months notice (before our lease expires) and we have every right to refuse it and he must prove why he is raising it if we feel it is unwarranted. (i.e., if he does renovations, he has every right - but if he does squat we can fight it, and usually win)
It's things like this that make me appreciate certain laws Quebec has and certain Canadian laws. Landlords must give you three months notice if they are raising the rent and they by law can't raise the rent any more than 3 or so percent. Also a tenant has every right to refuse a rental increase and if the tenant does that, the landlord must prove what renovations he or she did to warrant a lease agmuntation and if the landlord can't prove that then the tenant keeps paying the same rent...we have our own little rental governing board....and 9 times out of ten if a tenant fights an increase they usually win. I lived 7 years in a one bedroom apartment that was raise a total of $20.00 in the entire 7 years!
I had a similar issue with a shitty apartment complex as well. We never got along from the beginning as our dryer (came with the apartment) broke about a month into our lease. They came our, turned it on, claimed it still worked and left. They didn't take into account that it took three hours to dry a load of laundry and deemed it useable because it turned on. I filed a work-order a week, but nothing was done. In addition, when we had moved in to our furnished apartment, most of the furniture was broken. When we went to the complex that very same day, they told us that we must have broken the furniture during move-in and to deal with it. We did.
Everything was exacerbated by the fact, seven months later, the complex was hit by a tornado. By my sheer lack of luck, my apartment was one of the most badly damaged. They refused to give me a new place to live, even though water dripped from about eight points in the ceiling, my bedroom ceiling went straight through to the attic and most of the windows were broken. They then refused to let me out of my lease, because some shitty (I'm sure paid-off handsomely) inspection agent for the city walked through a deemed the hellhole livable. This was all, of course, a week before finals and the emotional toll it caused made me bomb my finals. Wish I could pin that on the assholes.
Anyways, I moved back in with my parents about two hours away and visited the apartment about once a week. After a month and a half the place had no repairs done to it, other then nailing garbage bags to the roof which did nothing to protect it from the rain. All while they demanded rent from me, which when I refused to pay, they threatened to take me to court that day and sue me for everything I had. I still didn't pay them, but I was stuck with half a month of rent that I lost since I couldn't live in an apartment since the 14th of the month. After a month and a half, they finally let me out of my lease because my carpet turned green under the leaks. No, leaky roofs, complete holes, and broken windows didn't faze them, but green carpet? I signed the out to my lease that afternoon. I was promised an itemized statement of money I still owed them (water and such for the usage I used after the tornado hit) and the money they owed me for back rent and the deposits. They told me by law I would have this in thirty days. HAHAHA. I keep calling them, but they claim they've mailed it every time and since there's damage to the apartment that they can't prove that the tornado did (wtf? Are these people on crack? YES) they want me to pay $500 in damages and if I don't pay up in thirty days (now that I've been notified by phone, without any writing) they'll take me to court.
Oh, I'm just waiting for them to do that at this point. I know I'd win hands down and probably would walk away with a considerable more with all the negligence claims I have on them.
sooo.... you started a new blog and haven't been back.... wassup?
are you in michigan??
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