FUCK! (A rant.)

[missroserose]

Belated warning: The following entry may contain strong language.


We just got a call back from Olena, our former landlady, the same landlady to whom we paid a $1500 deposit two and a half years ago when we first moved in. She had warned us then that, because of our cats, she would get the carpets professionally cleaned when we moved out, as well as hiring a professional cleaning service to do anything we missed, which we agreed to as more than fair. Earlier this month, she had told us that assuming we did a thorough job cleaning the apartment, we could probably expect to get $800 or so back.

Fast forward to last Tuesday. I spent almost the entire day cleaning that apartment - scrubbing spots off the walls, cleaning the kitchen, refrigerator, bathroom, and closets all thoroughly, sweeping and mopping floors, dusting, vacuuming (including in all the little nooks and crannies and corners that generally get ignored), and generally working my ass off so that we'd get most of that deposit back.

Olena just got the bill from the carpet and cleaning services. Grand total of leftover deposit? $52.

Fifty two fucking dollars out of one thousand five hundred.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Even Olena was floored - the estimate they'd given her the previous day was significantly less. And as for me, I worked my fucking ASS off cleaning that place because we were, I don't know, sort of depending on the returned deposit to replenish our savings after shelling out for the new place? Not to mention the extra day of missed work Brian and I spent doing all this crap. And the service apparently felt it wasn't up to snuff. Either that or their employees decided to spend the day smoking pot and lie on their timecards.

No, I'm not sounding bitter about this at all, am I?

There are no words to describe how pissed off I am right now. If I'd known they were going to charge that much, I would've just gone to work Tuesday and not even bothered trying. At least I would've had another $120 or so this paycheck to go into our savings account.

All that said, we're not destitute (yet); it's just a very significant financial hit when we're already running low on reserves. We'll just put off any major spending plans for another few months, and cross our fingers that nothing expensive comes up in the meantime.

*sigh*

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

And I'm betting there's no way to contest that, is there?

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That's what's so frustrating about it - the cleaning service cleans, they send a bill, end of story. It's not at all unusual for services to cost more here in town than the do down south (limited competition = price gouging), but that's just above and beyond the call of duty. Olena's done what she can, asking for copies of their before and after pictures, but godDAMN they'd better be the difference between the Taj Mahal and a slum.

It's not the end of the world. It's just a very shitty end to what's been an increasingly shitty week.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

**hugs**
I will send you cake.
And books, I hope.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't recommend sending cake - it will likely end up as crumbs.

But books = very yes. And thank you for the hugs.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Nice little scam, ain't it? I remember working very, very hard to spruce up the places I left, and with absolutely minimal return if any. I'm just trying very hard to imagine how they figured they did $1448 of work over living spaces you literally toiled over.

Apparently we're in the wrong line of work.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Well, a significant portion of that was the carpet service, which came to roughly the amount expected ($500 or so). Still, though, that's bloody insane. The apartment wasn't even that big - 650 square feet or so. *sigh*

I distinctly remember my mother always hiring independent cleaning people for exactly that reason - they were much more reasonable. One of them once told her that she'd been offered a job with a service that charged $21 an hour and gave her $6.50 of that (this was a decade and a half ago, but still). She politely told them she felt she could do better on her own.

[moonwick.livejournal.com]

Good grief. It might be harder to find cheap labor up there than it is in the ol' 48, but that's insane.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

So, uh, threaten to sue them for gouging, perhaps?

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Well, first off it's not really worth the hassle (which is, of course, what the company's counting on). Secondly, I wasn't a participant in the transaction, since the landlady made all the arrangements, so if she doesn't want to sue then there's not much we can do. And she doesn't have any real reason to - it's no skin off her nose, and while she might not be happy with them it's not going to be worth the hassle for her. Especially since she didn't see the place beforehand and therefore has no real proof.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

I suppose so.

Drat.

Well, you could get the company's name and write an angry letter to the newspaper about them. The bad publicity might get their attention.