If it's too good to be true it probably is - AKA I'm 10k poorer today

"E90M3" (e90m3) 04/19/2019 at 08:18 • Filed to: Life lessons with E90M3

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When I first moved into my apartment in Greenville I wrote a check for the first month’s rent, which was a partial month. They had also offered me a $2k as an incentive to lease the apartment; this would cover one full month and then most of the next month. As a result, I didn’t bother checking my account until either later May or early June. When I checked it, I noticed that I still had a negative balance, since apparently they never had added rent onto my bill. I did have line items, but not one for rent. This is when I was faced with the dilemma do I tell them now or do I just hope they never notice and maybe get away with it. So what did I do? Obviously I went with the second option.

Well, after a year of not paying rent, I got a call from my complex on Wednesday . The woman on the other end was saying they were looking into making an offer for me to renew my lease and they realized rent was never on my bill to begin; I guess they never added it after I paid the partial month of March. I asked about having to pay it back and she said that she didn’t think so. Well, I got another call yesterday. She had spoken to her boss and they were going to have me make a back payment . Great.

Since I figured this was the most likely outcome, I didn’t spend that money I wasn’t spending on rent, I saved it all. I could have probably fought this, but I figured I wasn’t very likely to win. Could’ve gotten a lawyer but I didn’t really think, even if I won, it would be worth it. Plus I signed a contract saying I was going to pay them that money. At that point I would have to move, because I assume they wouldn’t renew my lease. As well if I lost I was on the hook for more than rent. So yesterday, I went online, moved 10k to my checking account, and then paid a years worth of rent in one sitting. Fun it was not. 

Oh well, I was really hoping to keep that money. Just remember if things are too good to be true, they probably are.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:24

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Hopefully that money was sitting in the bank, earning you interest! If it was then congrats, you made (a little) money!

E90M3 > Snuze: Needs another Swede 04/19/2019 at 08:26

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That’s one way to look at it! I also did save more than I needed to as well, so I guess that’s a plus. 

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:27

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I had to read this three times to figure out what the the heck was going on, I couldn't believe it. Mercy.

Good thing you didn’t trade in the 3 for a C-class though, right? There goes the 10Gs you were worried about losing...

E90M3 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 04/19/2019 at 08:28

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The money was always earmarked for this, at least until I had moved out and it was a while down the road. So this is more of a disappointment more than anything.

pip bip - choose Corrour > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:31

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should’ve kept quiet, agreed to lease renewal and seen what happened

E90M3 > pip bip - choose Corrour 04/19/2019 at 08:32

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That wasn’t an option because they discovered it on their end. My plan was to never bring it up. 

Tripper > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:35

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Maybe move, and tell them to get fucked?

I’ve done similar things particularly when it’s been a property management company as opposed to an individual landlord. They sued.  W e settled for 1/8th of the money they were trying to get.

pip bip - choose Corrour > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:38

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oh well.

E90M3 > Tripper 04/19/2019 at 08:38

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Yeah maybe that’s what I should’ve done, but after moving every year since 2012, I’m kind of over it. For some reason, I figured a bigger company would be like no fuck you, especially since I did have the money to pay. I didn’t want to deal with the headache and wanted it to just behind me. Plus, now I shouldn’t have to deal with any legal issues. Going forward, probably going to renew my lease for one more year and then buy a house in 2020. 

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:40

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Oh boy I'm looking forward to adulting...oh boy indeed...

Tripper > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:41

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That’s fair/mature way to handle it. 

E90M3 > HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute 04/19/2019 at 08:42

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Eh, it’s really not bad. College was a lot more hellacious than this. 

E90M3 > Tripper 04/19/2019 at 08:44

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The way I think is also “worst case scenario,” which in this case was 100% back payment plus any legal fees. 

Nibby > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:45

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RIP Ford Tempo funds

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:47

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Was that supposed to make me feel better

TechJunky > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 08:52

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There is no such thing as free money. Anytime something like this happens to me, I take the effort to fix it. Perfect example just happened yesterday. Bought a table from a big box retailer two months ago. Yesterday, get an email saying my refund is complete. Check my account online, and it shows the table was returned a few days ago. The table is still sitting in my dining room, used almost every night. So we reached out to the retailer, and sure enough, the delivery company messed up and marked the item as refused. But they also noted that, after the item didn’t actually come back, they would have re-billed us all the same.

Whether or not I may have been able to get away with it doesn’t matter.  It’s not worth it to me.  We budgeted for the table, we paid for the table, and we use the table.  I’d rather address it directly and get it resolved, as we did, rather than hope they just ignore it and I get to keep money that isn’t really mine.  Eventually, they’ll realize their mistake, and you’ll be accountable.  I’d prefer that to be done up front instead of catching me by surprise down the road.

E90M3 > HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute 04/19/2019 at 08:53

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It eventually gets better. Even if college was tortuous at times, I still found time to enjoy parts of it. Life is easy at times and impossible at others. You have to take the good with the bad and try to focus on the  positives. 

E90M3 > TechJunky 04/19/2019 at 08:56

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I can appreciate that point of view. I was thinking about going that route, but I figured there was also a non-zero chance they said whoops our bad. The reason I didn’t put up resistance and just paid was because I have lived here for a year and I said I was going pay rent. 

jimz > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 09:01

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I didn’t spend that money I wasn’t spending on rent, I saved it all.

consider how many other people out there wouldn’t have. . .

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > jimz 04/19/2019 at 09:07

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You mean ALL the people? 

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 09:08

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“I’m $10k poorer today”

Don’t you say this to yourself every time you get a CEL?

E90M3 > jimz 04/19/2019 at 09:09

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When I figured this out, I also thought the same thing. I assume quite a lot of people would have just spent. The body language of the leasing agent suggested she thought I wasn’t going to be able to immediately come up with the money. I asked how much it was and she said it was going to be over 10k and made a mention of a payment plan. I then said I needed some time, she then asked the first of the month or when. I countered with, I just need time for the money to clear from my savings into my checking. I basically told her I thought this was going to happen, so I just saved it. 

E90M3 > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo 04/19/2019 at 09:09

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Nah, you’re forgetting I don’t own a VW.  

jimz > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 09:11

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confused about one thing- what “bill” did you have that they didn’t attach rent to?  any time I’ve rented, I’ve only cut them a single check every month. 

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 09:11

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That was a clean and effective kill. Much like that rent deduction to your bank account.

Well done.

E90M3 > jimz 04/19/2019 at 09:13

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I had rent on my garage, I was ironically paying rent for my M3 but not for me, water, and something else. They just didn’t add the actual rent part onto my bill. 

functionoverfashion > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 09:17

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In college I lived in a house with a very absent landlord. I think he came by once, and when he saw that we had built a wall to make another room, he just said something like “Nice wall.” Which, in fairness to us, was actually a nice wall, the few of us who put it together really knew what we were doing. Still.

I’m pretty sure none of us ever paid for the “Spring” half of our rent, though. Like, we paid in the fall and thought, OK this is for the full year and when we heard something about “Spring Rent” we basically ignored it, and never heard from him again.

This is a house where a friend of mine was tripping one time, sitting on a couch, when he suddenly got up, said something alarming, and ran through a window. He came out the other side completely unscathed like some kind of action hero. The window...  less OK.

We had a guns n roses cover band play in the backyard at a party in the spring that probably attracted 500 people. RIP the back lawn.

Ah, college.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 09:25

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Soooo had you just decided to move before they even reconsidered renewing your lease, wonder if you could have gotten away with it...

E90M3 > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 04/19/2019 at 09:28

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I didn’t do anything on my end, they were going to try and get my to renew my lease when they noticed. I did consider moving if all of this had gone unnoticed. 

E90M3 > functionoverfashion 04/19/2019 at 09:29

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That sounds about right for college. 

E90M3 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 04/19/2019 at 09:31

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Pretty sure I’m in the minority on saving it. 

Goggles Pizzano > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 12:08

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A million years ago I moved into a new place. It was perfect and I paid no attention to the details of the lease. Didn’t care. A ‘ b ills come, and I pay them ’ , attitude.

After living there for 4 years I get an automated call that says I need to call the power company asap or my power will be turned off.

I call and am told I owe thousands of dollars for electricity over the last 4 years. I’m also told I should have called them and told them I moved in. Nope, and nope .

I was surprised how easy it was to get them to scrap my bill. The real kicker though, when the bills finally started to arrive they contained checks . S eems I’d used such a small amount of electricity over the 4 year period (in the system, none) I’ d accumulated credits. This lasted for 3 months and the next 9 or so were zero.

#winning

# ignorance is bliss

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3 04/19/2019 at 12:17

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You did the right thing. 10K can be  enough money to be worth fighting over, so you might well have gotten some legal correspondence requiring your response over it at some point even if you had been fine with moving out and burning the bridge. They would also be likely to report the unpaid debt to the credit bureaus.

E90M3 > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 04/19/2019 at 14:53

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I figured this was the cleanest way to resolve it. I actually hadn't considered the possible effect on my credit. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > E90M3 04/22/2019 at 15:47

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That’s hilarious. 

E90M3 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 04/22/2019 at 15:51

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That it is.