There were three accent walls painted in my old apartment before I moved in and I made absolutely, positively sure that this was documented every possible way imaginable so that I wouldn't get charged for it at move out.
Then I moved out and received my final statement in the mail from the old apartment. They were charging me $150 for full paint. I was steaming!
First, because it was Sunday and their leasing office wasn't open, I left a "feisty" voicemail for them. I "requested" that they review the records and get back to me as soon as possible. Meanwhile I prepared for a fight, pulling out all of the documentation that I had collected over the year; move-in statements; pictures; etc.
When they didn't call Monday, I was livid. I got myself worked up for a letter writing campaign, legal battle and the whole nine yards! Not only was I ready for a fight, I WANTED a fight!
And then on Tuesday they apologized. They would be issuing me a check within 30 days.
Pocket Susan Advice: At the end of the day, it's just as well that I didn't have to fight, but I could have won because I had documented everything. This is a habit that I picked up from my last roommate. Any time we had to have a major repair done or had to dispute a bill, etc., we would write a letter explaining what had happen and sign and date it. We would give one copy to the leasing office and then make them sign and date a copy for our own records. They thought we were crazy, but it was helpful on more than one occasion.
Then I moved out and received my final statement in the mail from the old apartment. They were charging me $150 for full paint. I was steaming!
First, because it was Sunday and their leasing office wasn't open, I left a "feisty" voicemail for them. I "requested" that they review the records and get back to me as soon as possible. Meanwhile I prepared for a fight, pulling out all of the documentation that I had collected over the year; move-in statements; pictures; etc.
When they didn't call Monday, I was livid. I got myself worked up for a letter writing campaign, legal battle and the whole nine yards! Not only was I ready for a fight, I WANTED a fight!
And then on Tuesday they apologized. They would be issuing me a check within 30 days.
Pocket Susan Advice: At the end of the day, it's just as well that I didn't have to fight, but I could have won because I had documented everything. This is a habit that I picked up from my last roommate. Any time we had to have a major repair done or had to dispute a bill, etc., we would write a letter explaining what had happen and sign and date it. We would give one copy to the leasing office and then make them sign and date a copy for our own records. They thought we were crazy, but it was helpful on more than one occasion.
No comments:
Post a Comment