France, morning
I have internet at home. This is a good news. But I woke up very nervous and sad.
Yesterday I got to the office and I immediately had to run downtown again. As soon as I opened my emails at work, I found an email from the internet company. They said that because of a fusion of the company, they sent me a new modem and they wanted the old modem and the tv decoder (I never even used it, I don't have a tv) back within 7 days. If they wouldn't receive them within 7 days, they would withdraw 400 euros from my bank account. They also added that the old service at my old apartment stopped on the 15 of May. Which means that if the counted 7 days from the 15 then, they have to get this stuff back by tomorrow.
I tried to call the company. No chance to find anyone. So, my last option was to send everything as soon as possible and go to the bank to ask how I can eventually block such a payment. My boss in all this was keeping telling me "this is France, you always have to think that here everyone is a thief, that they will try to get your money as soon as they can and that because you are a foreigner, you are an even easier prey". This made me feel awful.
So, I went to the post office and the guy who helped me to send this stuff told me almost the same thing. Don't trust these companies. It is not a matter of trust, it is a matter that if you want internet, there is not too much space for trusting or not one company or the other.
Then I went to the bank and I spoke to a very nice woman, who told me that what happened to me with the agency is normal here, that they try to keep the money from the deposit and they share it with the owner of the apartment and there is very little one can do, because they are very smart in doing this. And that internet company are hell. They don't know anything, if you call and have a problem, there is none with a clue on the problem able to talk with.
I got to the end of the day feeling miserable. I love here, I like very much living here. But these things are awful. I hate injustices. So, last night I had a lot of nightmares. I have to get at least the money back for the month of rent that I already paid full (and I lived in the old apartment only for 18 days). The agency told me that they will give me the check. First, I have no idea how they counted the days, because the amount that they told me they would give me back is less than what I should have, so we have to discuss this too. Second, the other day "they forgot the check and they can't prepare it before next week".
How can people acting like that not feeling awful?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
That is so gross! I wouldn't sleep either. How can people act like that? :(
I think that here they are so used to this way of acting that they don't even see where is the problem and the injustice in what they do. It looks like everything is normal. For sure, it is not normal to me. And I have been living in a lot of place and I never experienced anything like this before....
Wow, this is terrible!! I just went through the whole ordeal of dealing with a management company to get my deposit back and I made sure that they knew that I took pictures of everything and had written all the little issues that were wrong when I moved in. Out of $400 they took $70 for some blinds that I broke, which was ok, but I am sure if I hadn't carefully documented everything, they would have tried to take more. My new apartment is so much better and the owner is so nice and he is a lawyer. He required no deposit! Can you believe that?? He told me that it is too much of a hassel to deal with deposits, so he just charges a $200 turnover fee, which is standard and most places charge a deposit plus a turnover fee. So, I am glad that I don't have to worry about that. My former manager raised the rent by a substancial amount so, I moved out a month later. I think it's poor timing on their part to raise my rent when they have an abundance of vacancies because of the economy, so now they have one more! They have not been able to rent my former apartment. I am going to write on the blog soon about my new place. I love it here!
It's terrible that they can take 400 euros from you! I hope it all works out for you. That would make me really angry! I have a legal insurance plan for these sorts of things. I just call the lawyers and let them handle it.
Hi Piccola, you and MissB are my lifting up mood web friends :-)
At the bank yesterday they told me about the insurance like the one you mentioned. But they also told me that for someone like me, who keeps moving all the time etc, it may have not been a good investment. Anyway, too late now. I hope that I will got at least part of the deposit back and that they will not withdraw the 400 euros of my account (but if this happens, I will block it). I guess I learned a lesson from this very bad story. I don't want to be mean, but I hope that they will not able to rent that apartment for a while and that it will fall apart.
Post a Comment