In Praise of HH Gregg – Chapter 5

When last we checked in on our heroine, she was moving from the House of the Plants….LOL

Ok, We thought we had hit paydirt when we found the house we moved to. Nice neighborhood, out of Indy, good school district, close to friends, etc. And it was huge! 25600 sq. feet! What does a family of three need with 2600 sq feet? you ask. Well, somehow we have acquired a lot of “stuffs.” A lot. And you know, I’ve pared down with each move…

Oh wait – this is “In praise of HH Gregg” isn’t it? Remember I mentioned the dishwasher at the House of the Plants died..? Well after the first flood experience (I think we ended up with a total of 4 floods while there…) we decided that it would just be easier to use ours. It was new – well relatively new, we had bought it at the demon store (for you newcomers, that’s Best Buy) less than 2 months before we moved. So Hunny took the one that came with the house out to the huge shed, and put ours in. I was excited! I loaded ‘er up & turned ‘er on. 15 minutes later, I found water on the kitchen floor. A lot of it. (But not one of the aforementioned floods). The dishwasher was leaking. No biggie. Would be an inconvenience for a few days, maybe a week, but I had a warranty! 

I called the demon store, they referred me to the manufacturer. I called the manufacturer, they referred me to a repair company they use. I called the repair company & made a warranty appointment for someone to come look at/fix it. A week later the repair guy informs me the seal . is bad, no way to fix, will have to replace. Ok, so maybe it’ll be a little more inconvenient than I thought – but still not so bad…But here is where I had to go back to the demon store. I shouldn’t have had to, the repaid guy called his company, who called the manufacturer, who contacted the demon store to tell them to replace it. Per the manufacturer, all I had to do was call them to schedule a time for them to bring out & install the replacement. If only that had been the case.

Me: Hi, I was told by (mfg) to call and schedule a time for you to bring out a replacement dishwasher & hook it up.”
demon store employee:”Oh, ok, let me transfer you to the appliance dept. They would set that up.”
Me: “Ok.”

**sitting on ignore, listening to bad music & even worse ads.

Next demon store employee: “Appliance dept, can I help you?”
Me: Hi, I was told by (mfg) to call and schedule a time for you to bring out a replacement dishwasher & hook it up.”
Employee: ”Ok, I just need to look up your warranty info.”
Me: ? Ummmm, I don’t really need warranty service. I already had service, and it’s been determined that it needs replaced. By the manufacturer.”
Employee: “Well, store policy says I have to follow these steps…I need your name, the item in question and the date of purchase.”
Me: “Oooooookaaaay…” and gave the requested info.,
Employee: “I show that was a (mfg) dishwasher,(model), that was purchased at this store, on (date), and taken the same day. We didn’t deliver or install it.”
Me: “Yes…”
Employee: “When would you like to bring in the bad one and pick up the replacement?”
Me: “Ummmm, according to (mfg) you guys are supposed to be bringing me a new one and installing it…”
Employee: “Oh no, unless we delivered and installed the original, we don’t do that. You’ll have to bring us the other one & pick up the replacement here.”
Me: “But (mfg) has told me that they are replacing it, and told me to schedule a time for you to bring it & hook it up..”

Do you see where this is going..?

Employee: “I’m sorry if there was a misunderstanding…”
Me: “What misunderstanding? (Mfg) said to me - ‘Call the store where you purchased the dishwasher and schedule a time for them to bring you a new one & install it. We are truly sorry you’ve had an issue with this one, but our policy is to make it right :)’ I’m not sure which part of that was misunderstood by me..? It seems pretty straightforward..”
Employee: “We’ll be happy to bring it out and install it for you -
    Finally! Wait – that was too easy…
There is a $50 delivery/installation fee. Do you want to pay that now with a credit card?”
Me: “Ummm, is there a manager there?”
Employee: “I can check that for you..”

**Back on ignore for 10 minutes.

Demon store Manager: “Hi. My name is (name) and I’m a manager here at Best Buy (really?) I understand you have some questions about our warranty replacement policy?”
Me: “Ummm, no, I don’t have any questions. (Mfg) has determined that the dishwasher you sold me two months ago needs replaced. The seal around the door is bad and can’t be replaced. So they are replacing the whole unit. They have told me to call you & schedule the replacement. Delivery & install. Your employee wants me to pay for the delivery/install portion of that.”
Manager: “Hmmm,well let’s look at the original purchase…”

***clicking of computer keys
Manager: “Ok, I show that it was a (mfg) dishwasher,(model), that was purchased at this store, and taken the same day. We didn’t deliver or install it.”
Me: “Yes, we’ve already determined that…”
Manager: “ Oh well, I apologize, but our policy is unless we delivered and installed the original, we don’t do that. You’ll have to bring us the other one & pick up the replacement here.”
Me: “Ok, guess I’ll just go back to (mfg) and get this straightened out…”

I called the mfg back to clarify what I was contacting the demon store about. They said I needed to schedule delivery & installation, on them. I explained what I had been through. The little gal apologized profusely, and contacted the demon store while I held. She informed me it was “all straightened out” and I could schedule that service now.

Do you see where this is going..? It took two more weeks and I-don’t-know-how-many more phone calls to get this accomplished. On one call, the mfg did a conference call, I heard them tell the demon store manager that they were  replacing the dishwasher, at their expense, including delivery of new unit, installation and removal of old unit, The manager “noted” it & referred me to the appliance dept to schedule. I had a repeat of the above conversation…Finally the mfg called and scheduled it, and about 4 weeks after it broke, I got my dishwasher replaced.

You see..? I always buy the warranty – and for good reason.

Damm! I’m outta time again, and haven’t even gotten moved yet…LOL. Oh well, such is life, and patience is a virtue! Gotta go get ready for work, again! So…to be continued!

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

         


  

In Praise of HH Gregg – Continuation

Wow! This is turning into a book…lol

Ok, the last post ended with us moving. We found a nice(we thought)house. It was quite a bit smaller, but it did have a garage (kinda – I could get my car in it, but could not get out of the car, no room to open the doors…) and a huge storage shed out back, along with a big back yard with a privacy fence around it. The yard needed some work, the grass being kinda scraggly, but no biggie. All the carpeting was different colors, but despite less room total, the rooms themselves (except kitchen & dining room) were larger. We moved in May 1st.

On May 10th, at 11:30pm, I had a flood. It was Saturday night, the boy visiting at Stacey’s for the night (Thank Goddess!) and Hunny was at the race track. And when I say flood, I mean FLOOD! One of the main water lines in the wall between the kitchen and laundry room (ok, laundry closet – room for washer, dryer, hot water heater. period) broke. I had 2” of water throughout the hallway, kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms, in a matter of about 3 minutes. I called the emergency number provided by the rental agency to get a recording directing me to call another number if I was calling about “an emergency.” I thought this qualified, so dialed the number. I was told by the nice lady(!) that answered that there wasn’t anyone available after 10 pm on weekends…

Me: “Ummm, I have a bit of a flood going on here.”
Her: “I’m sorry, we don’t have anyone available after 10pm on weekends.”  
Me: “Ummmm, when I called the maintenance line given to me by the rental agency, it referred me here for after hours emergencies. Was that not accurate?”
Her: “Who’s your rental company?”
Me: **gave company name**
Her: “Yes, we are the after hours emergency service for them.”
Me: “Well, I think this qualifies as an emergency! My house has 2” of water throughout it”
Her: “But we don’t have anyone after 10 pm on weekends.”
Me: “Are you kidding me..? My house has 2 inches of water in it already & guess what? It’s still pouring out of the wall, and I have no idea how to shut it off!”
Her: “Well, I can see where that would be a problem.”
Me: “!?” :Ya think..?”
Her: “But I don’t have anyone…”
Me: “Yes, yes – you don’t have anyone available after 10 on the weekend. Do you understand what I’m telling you? Do you realize that water is quickly filling this house? Carpet is being ruined, walls are being ruined. Are already ruined? And the water is still flowing rapidly into the house..?”
Her: “I’m sorry, I don’t…
Me: “Yanno what..? That’s ok, it’s not MY property that’s being destroyed, and it won’t be my expense to fix it. Anything of mine that IS ruined will be replaced by YOUR company. I suggest you find SOMEONE available after 10 pm on a weekend, or there will be some major expense incurred, and I’m fairly certain that not only your boss, but the rental agency will be extremely unhappy when they find –oh I dunno, by tomorrow..? A FOOT of water throughout this house, all of my personal possessions in need of replacement, and that I did call to report it & got a runaround. I understand that as a rule people calling with emergencies tend to be exaggerating a bit, and that you really don’t want to wake your boss at 11:30 at night just to find someone freaked out over nothing. That is not the situation here. I have water pouring out of my wall at a rate of about 2” every five minutes. It’s been doing it for approximately 20 minutes now, there is standing water in the rooms that have carpeting to absorb it – three bedrooms, the hallway, the dining area & working on the living room carpets are fully saturated! But that’s ok, you don’t have anyone available after 10 pm on a weekend night, and I’ll be sure to let everyone who needs to know just how diligent you were about performing your job & giving me that information!”
Her; *silence*
Me: “Thanks for nothing, have a great night.” and I hung up. What other option did I have..?

I knew the water meter outside could stop the water to the house, but it was 11:30 at night, and a new home. I had no idea where outside it might be, or even if I could get to it if I found it. Meanwhile, water was still pouring out of the wall. I called Hunny and wonder of wonders he was actually on his way home – only about 5 minutes out. HE got the water off & the flood stopped. I also got a phone call from the “no-one-available-after-10pm-on-a-weekend on call person. Although by the time he called Hunny had the water off & was shopvac-ing the house. They sent someone from a flood restoration company out the next morning, who set up these huge fans throughout the house. They ran 24/7 for about a week. Wanna talk about relaxing..? Not.

We ended up having several more floods, mold growing in one of the closets & behind the formica in the kitchen, the kitchen center area broken & the counter pulled away from the wall. Mold under the sink. And I can’t prove it, but I’d almost guarantee mold under the carpets. Yeah, they never replaced them after all the flooding. At least not while we were there. IN addition to that, the wiring was all jacked up. If you ran the microwave & dishwasher at the same time, it flipped the breaker every time. Oh yeah, and their dishwasher died about a week after moving in so we had to use ours. Trying to get stuff fixed was a nightmare.

Now I’m sure many of you are familiar with my propensity to go on, and occasionally exaggerate a bit (what? I’m human – mostly) So, here are some visual props, to lessen your understandable doubts…

The hallway

My computer room – luckily I had that plastic floor/chair mat I could put everything on to get it out of the wet

    

Laundry area & Closet

The kitchen wall the formica & behind it on the wall

The kitchen island area

And this, my friends, was the final straw – this picture was taken in our bedroom when we moved out – yes, you’re seeing properly – that plant was growing out from between the wall & the baseboard…

So you see, no exaggeration this time! And did I mention the air conditioner that froze up in mid-July 100 degree heat..? And that we got all of this for the low, low cost of $850 a month..? Oh yeah – one more pic, our breaker box…

                 

Well, it’s outta time I am again. The old demon work calls, and I must answer.

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!

           

In Praise of HH Gregg - Continuation

Alrighty then We’ve gotten through the cars. Now I will move on to get you closer to where I was going with this. Closer – not necessarily there. I was going on about my luck with thing electronic & mechanical…while we’re on the subject, let’s not forget to include Sprint & the cell phone, ‘cuz, yanno, it’s electronical. . .I won’t go back over all the ugly details again, if you didn’t get em the first time, just click the links, they’ll take you to relevant posts.

So…last year, we moved right about tax time. Now I know houses aren’t mechanical, or electronic, but my “luck” apparently runs to them, too. I don’t think I’ve touched too much on that before, so I will do so now.

We lived in the same house for almost 7 years. We initially got it on a “rent-to-buy” type set up – the payments came outta Hunny’s check each week and were split between “principle” & “interest”. It was set up as a series of 6, five years leases, at the end of which we would “purchase” the home for $1. We also had the option to purchase at any point if finances allowed. After about 5 years, they did, so we went the mortgage route. Life was good. Our payment went from about $700 a month to about $500 a month. It was a fixed 30 year term. That’s supposed to mean your payment doesn’t change. Note I said supposed to.

But apparently, somewhere along the line, the taxes weren’t figured properly, so the amount we escrowed for them wasn’t right. By a whole bunch. On top of that, our mortgage was “sold” by the initial issuer – you know the one with human employees? That you could actually talk to..?It was bought by the Demon Store’s (Best Buy for you late-comers) big brother – The Demon Lender aka Wells Fargo.

I received a notice saying our payment was increasing by approximately (‘cuz I don’t remember the exact amount – I’ve slept since then) $200 a month. $200 a month! That’s a big jump on a “fixed rate mortgage.” I did what I could, and actually managed for a few months, but then I made a payment late. I freely fess up – I made the payment late. About 3 weeks so. And because I had jumped into that vicious cycle, each payment after that was about 3 weeks late. And the phone calls started. I tried to make arrangements with them, to send an initial amount, by a certain date,then add to each following payment, and I did so. But they claimed the payment arrived about four days later than it needed to, and hence, I “broke the agreement.” More phone calls.

I created a new agreement with “Haji” over the phone, and sent off more money on the date I agreed to. Again, it “arrived” late. WTF? I knew damn good & well I had sent it correctly. I‘m sure you can see the vicious cycle beginning here…? By this point, they want me to send them $800 “now” and $1000 a month to catch up. You see, every time I “broke” the agreement, there were additional fees…big surprise there, huh? For a minute, they almost convinced me I was the one fuc*ing up. Almost. I was very stressed, to say the least. But this time, I got smart. Rather than having my bank send it (something I rarely do, but it gave me an uninterested third party verification of when it was sent, so I had gone that way…) I decided I would send it Priority Mail, Signature Required. I got my receipt – with signature – back, and had verification that my payment had arrived two days before it needed to. But wonder of wonders, it didn’t post to my account until 5 days later. See where this is going..? Yep! Broke the agreement (and added hefty fees) again.This time they wanted another $1500  and $1200 a month…Not happening. My signature receipt..? Useless. As far as they were concerned, didn’t mean a thing. By this point, the combination of this & the fact that my car had burned to the ground was just too much for me. The stress was making me physically ill. Hunny and I decided we were done with them. But they had us screwed royally.

You see, they were reporting us 60 days out on the mortgage (we weren’t) and refused to revise it. On top of that, they were also the finance company on the Impala. The one that was now a burned out shell..? Now I know large companies tend to have large numbers of incompetent employees and poor communication, but what happened with the Impala borders on asinine. They were repoting us 90 days out on that car. The same car that my insurance company, and my GAP company had sent them payment in full for a month prior. (It gets better – a month after that they sent someone to our house to repo it!) Really!

What I was getting to was that not only were we screwed by them on our mortgage, we couldn’t refinance because we were screwed by them credit wise. Never mind every other account was reporting on time, consistent payments. Between the mortgage & car loan they were mis-reporting, no one would even look at a refinance…so we moved.

And I’m outta time :( So…..To Be Continued *grin*
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!         

New Laptop! ! ! !

Woohoooooo! Welcome to the first post from my new laptop! Yep, that’s right, Mama got the lion’s share of the tax check this year, and I got a laptop for my birthday, which is kinda fitting, since I haven’t really gotten a birthday present in years. Well, that’s not wholly true…last year, I got a Superbowl party at my house in my birthday. And the year before that I got to go to a hockey game…Have I mentioned that I’m sports challenged? By choice..? For those who aren’t good at reading between the lines – NOT A SPORTS FAN!

Anyways, this makes up for those birthdays. Just wanted to share…hopefully I’ll now be able to post more. At least that’s the plan…ok, gonna go play, see ya soon!

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

My Christmas Post *grin* (only 4 days later…)

Well, Christmas has been and gone. I think it was a success here in Camby, IN. The boy cleaned up on gifts, even though he wasn’t the epitome of good. Matter-of-fact, he wasn’t even really close…but such is life with a six year old :)
I love Christmas! It’s my favorite time of year. I mean c’mon, my blog has a Christmas theme all year long – when it co-operates…But it’s over too soon. Not two days after, people are taking down decorations like they can’t wait to get on to the next big thing…*sigh* such a let down. You get this three month build-up, inundated with Christmassy stuffs,  then BOOM day after,  there’s Valentine’s Day stuff in the stores. . .Hell, I saw it in some stores even before Christmas. . .

Anyways, here’s some pics of our Christmas. . .  Here’s the boy checking on the milk & cookies left for Santa

 
The mostly empty milk glass

 
The “present” Santa left on my carpet…nothing like cleaning up a dirty, ashy boot print first thing in the morning *grin*

The haul…
  

The only non-toy in the bunch

You can’t tell from the pic (my timing isn’t the best…) but he really did like this

Pokemon – Always a winner!

Apparently the hit of the day…

And let’s not forget the “Demon Digger” aka remote controlled Grave Digger monster truck…”Why do you call it “Demon Digger”? you ask. “I’m getting there!” I say. This was ostensibly the boy’s present, but (of course) Dad had to “try it out” first…and the poor cats were his unwilling victims>>

If you look really close, you’ll see Hunny at the controls – the Demon Digger is coming out from under the coffee table at this point.

Here’s Bel hiding from said Demon Digger

Follow the arrow, Bel is hiding on the bottom of the table

Jingles is actually jumping backwards in this pic

Can you see him? Hiding under the table, as the Demon Digger approaches in a full out frontal assault..?

The only black spot on an otherwise wonderful holiday was the IM I found waiting for me on my computer when I got back from the in-laws and finished getting everything ready (for the folks who ended up unable to make it). That message was from my best friend D. My younger than me, stay at home mom best friend. We had made plans for Shayne & I to go over to her house Tuesday, when I’m off. My boy LOVES her house :). The message said

We’re going to have to cancel Tuesday’s play date. I had a heart attack last night & I’m in the hospital…etc., etc., etc.”

Needless to say, at 6:30 Christmas Day night I was flying to the hospital. Turns out she actually had several heart attacks, and had a stent inserted in her heart. She’s home now, but still….

Okay, I’m pretty much outta time, gotta go get ready for work – nose to the grindstone and all :) All in all, we had a good Christmas. I have more pics – will I get them up on here..? That’s a big, definite MAYBE…I hope all of you (all three regular readers *grin* and any first time visitors as well) had as good a holiday as we did. (Minus the whole best-friend-having-a-heart-attack thing)

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! ! ! !
 

Unexpected Day Off

Guess I spoke too soon about being on a roll…thanks for not pointing out my shortfall :) But here I am. I now have a clean, perfectly shiny kitchen/downstairs bathroom/laundry room/pantry! Well ok, perfectly shiny as long as you overlook the cat paw & butt prints…

What am I doing mopping my floor on a not-my-Tuesday-off you ask? Funny you should mention it. You see, it’s like this….
I got up & functional just like normal for a late Tuesday today. The boy had his breakfast, and spent a peaceful morning watching Sponge Bob. I actually had a bit of peace…got dressed, got the boy dressed, told him to gather up some toys to take out to Uncle Mike’s, and he did it the first time I told him…He asked me to make the label for his DVD, which he’s been asking me to do for several days, so I sat down to do that, just to find that apparently the part of my PictureIt! program required to make labels is yet another victim of the cable installer. And if that wasn’t bas enough, I apparently have every software disc for Works! that came with my computer, except the one that program is on. Yep, that’s right! I have 1, 2, 4 &5, but no 3. Go figger *sigh* I’ll hafta to go to the Microsoft website later to see if I can get it there, without having to pay an arm & a leg…Needless to say, the labels still haven’t gotten made :(

So, off we go, over the river & through the woods to Uncle Mike’s we go, the horse knows the way…ahem, but we do go over a river & through a woods….I dropped the boy and headed to the nail place to get my nails repolished – no I’m not that lazy, just that unskilled. Besides, in my defense, it is an unusual polish job, see..?

Wow! They say you can tell a person’s age by their hands…I must be about 80….

Anyways, as I was driving to the nail place, I was talking to Hunny, as usual. Mind you it’s a dreary gloomy day in Indiana today, cloudy, and it was just starting to rain – or so I thought. My first stop, as always, was Speedway, to get some iced coffee. (They have the best french vanilla iced latte! Starbucks..? What’s Starbucks..? You mean that over-priced, bitter after-taste stuff that advertises itself as coffee..? Ewww – Speedway’s is much better – and cheaper!)
***Background note – Hunny replaced my front rotors & brake pads back in July because every time I hit the breaks it was like being on one of those old exercise belt machines – are you old enough to remember these..?

My point is, the brakes were just replaced in July. By August, I had the same damn vibration when I hit them. About a week ago, they started grinding. When I told Hunny, he said there’s no way. Be that as it may, they are grinding.
So, as I’m crossing over the interstate on my way to Speedway, the light turned red. I hit the brakes. My car kept going. Oh Shit! It did finally stop 1/2 way through the intersection. Luckily there weren’t any cars coming off 70. Ok, I think, it’s a little slick. I hit the gas, I went fine. Traction control didn’t come on. But at the next light, we again barely stopped.
Me: “Oh great! I have no brakes.”
Hunny: “What..?!?”
Me: “I…have…no…brakes!”
Hunny:”Are you sure..?”
Me: “Well, since I pressed on the brake pedal and the car didn’t stop, it’s a safe bet…”
Hunny: “Are you sure it’s not the roads?”
Me: “I guess it could be, but I can take off fine, and my traction control hasn’t kicked in.”
Hinny: ”Is the button turned on?”
Me: “I don’t think it has a button, I think it’s automatic..”
Hunny: “It has a button…” *it does, he was right*
Me: “Well, it came on the other night when it was snowing, and I haven’t changed anything, so I would say it’s still activated.”

Turns out it was indeed the roads. Although my warranty expired a week ago, so….I limped on into Speedway, then on to the nail place. At about 25 mph. I still had plenty of time to get to work, as it was only about 12:45 at this point – though it is a good distance…see..?

  

I got in, got done & left. It was about 2:00 or so when I left. I was calling work to tell them I was driving on a sheet of ice and might very well be late when Hunny called to say he hadn’t heard from me & was worried. (side note – any time I am driving & on the phone, I use a bluetooth device, so I don’ wanna hear bout no “hang up the phone & drive” comments from the peanut gallery…) I got voicemail at both numbers I tried, so called Hunny back to let him know I was fine & on my way, and why I didn’t answer. At this point, traffic was moving at about – oh, I dunno, 10 mph..? He said 36 was at a crawl, too. It took me about 15 minutes to get to my turn, but I caught a break and hit it on green – although that’s not really that exciting when you’re going 5 mph…So, I barely hit the break, start to turn right, and my car turns for 1/2 second, then goes straight – straight at the median, and the mini-van just on the other side of it…Of course, I was saying “Shit, shit, shit…” the whole time, and Hunny is on the line going “What?!? What?!?!” then a big thud. I thought sure she was gonna jump the median – it’s just one of those little ones, maybe 2, possibly 3 foot across, and about 8 inches high? – and plow into the mini-van, but she was looking out for me, I guess. We hit the median and stopped. Whew. About that time Hunny’s asking “Did you wreck? You okay? Didja total it?” “Nope, just hit the median while turning at 5 mph…” “Call into work, I don’t want you driving across town on these roads.” I told him I’d be fine if I could make it to the interstate, but he said they were just as bad, apparently 74 was shut down for a 15 car pile up.

I was going to go get the boy, but he had a friend there today so wanted to stay “until Daddy comes”. SO, I am at home, no husband, no kiddo, and taking advantage of it to mop the kitchen/downstairs bathroom/laundry/room/pantry. And so we go full circle & I’m back where I started *grin* I keep telling you there is a method to my madness…LOL

Ok, gotta go, stuffs to do.
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Update

Still alive & kicking, not necessarily happy, but here. Too much shit left at other house, and no time to get it moved...when you work 6 days a week it makes it a bit hard. Hunny & I both ended up taking a day off - well he did, I had to trade my Tues off to get Sat off & eat 2 hours, and on top of it, I had to call in on Wed to take my boy to the doctor - beginning stages of bronchitis(sp?). But I couldn't MOVE anything unless I wanted to haul a sick child back & forth in the cold... *sigh*
And Goddess only knows when I'll get my cable/phone/internet transfered. Apparently, in order for the person who "does" employee service requests/changes to even PLACE THE REQUEST, HR has to confirm that the address I've given is actually my address per the new website-update-information-place. Mind you, I changed it there last Thursday or Friday. Yeah, that's a week. Note the NEW - translation, still probably has bugs...AND apparently, HR only deigns to "update" that info when we get paid. Every two weeks. A week from now. So in a week, if she feels like it, our liason will contact the person at the other cable company in the area (because of course I don't live in OUR service area, instead I live in theirs...not that that is necessarily bad...) and request my service be scheduled to be moved. Then we get to try to find a date someone can be there, because despite I spend all day every day troubleshooting & fixin people's CABLE SERVICE, I'm not capable of hooking up my own equipment....
AND, IPL (our electric company) has decided that November is when we have to "even up" our budget billing (voluntary, I like paying the same amount every month & prior to this it has always worked out well). When we moved into the house we're moving out of, we went from about 1200 sq feet to about 2300. But according to the woman I spoke with to do the transfer, the budget amount was the same. Huh? 1200 & 2300 sq feet of space use the same amopunts of electricity..? In what parallel universe..? But, realisticly, the bigger house was much newer, and I let her convince it was due to it being much more energy efficient... I questioned this statement repeatedly, but she assured me it was so. Now I have a $450 deficit I have to pay up by Dec 11...
So, shall we just say I'm not exactly the happiest - or nicest for that matter - person on the planet at this point in time..? So, it'll be a while before this is regular again...(ahem, that sounded suspiciously like a fiber commercial...). Well, as regular as it gets *grin*
Gotta go work - ewwwwwwww
See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! ! !

WE GOT IT

WE GOT IT! WE GOT IT! WE GOT

IT! ! ! ! !

Now when's the other shoe going to fall.....? And from what direction this time..?

The Latest Word...

Here I am. So far, still kicking, haven't killed anyone yet, although the urge has made itself felt a time or two in the last few days...I'm hesitant to write this, for fear of jinxing it, but I'm pretty sure we  found a house. Right down the street. There are good and bad points...

Good:

• I don't have to change my boy's school.
• We only have to move ALL OUR SHIT (and it's a bunch, I swear! I have no idea how it happened that we can fill a 50 foot car hauler TWICE and still not get it all...For most of my life, everything fit in my car, with room for a passenger...) about two blocks.
• The last tenants were there 4 years with no rent increase (don't get me wrong, I it's not the increase by itself I have issues with, rather the increase combined with lack of, well, everything a landlord should do.)
• Our newest family member is welcome
• There aren't any holes in any walls or doors
• There (why can't I start a sentence properly, with a capital letter, with the second letter being capitalized, too..? Grrrrrrrr my typing is pathetic!) is already a garage door opener. Yes, I know that sounds petty & lazy but look at it from my side...at $925 a month for rent, don't you think I should be able to open the garage without getting rained or snowed on? And they aren't cheap. And why should I invest the time, money & effort to install one when the property owner isn't willing to invest any of the above..?
• The driveway is almost level - again, seemingly petty, but yanno, repairs on brakes & transmissions are costly...
• It has a gas/wood combination fireplace
• The rent is only $875, and he is amenable to weekly deposits from Hunny's employer, so we never have to jack with making sure rent is paid (what happens is this***Listen up Landlords, this is actually a plan that is VERY BENEFICIAL for YOU****we fill out the direct deposit form from his work to have $201.14 deposited into the property owner's designated account, and the balance deposited into ours. The amount is determined by taking the monthly rent ($875) and multiplying it by 12 (months in a year, obviously) and then dividing it by 52 (pay periods in a year). Having it done this way means we never see it, so don't really miss it, I know rent is always paid, I don't have to worry about getting it to him, the property owner knows his money is always going to be there, he'll never hear "The check is in the mail." And I assure you, even thought the base amount stays the same, $201 a week is easier to work around than $875 a month - If it's in my account, waiting to be paid out, it's too much of a temptation to say "I'll just use a little here & put it back" resulting in having to give up basically a whole paycheck one week, and being flat-assed broke for the rest of that week.
• I don't have to change my boy's school.

Bad:

• We're losing about 600 sq. feet
• Uhhhhhhhh...that's really the only bad....unless you consider living within walking distance of the house you moved out of on bad terms bad. (I would truly not be surprised to see them (the new owners) move into the house...that could be awkward, or even possibly cause jail time to become a factor, NO, NO, NO
•   *breathe...breathe* "I will not physically assault anyone else, no matter how badly they deserve it...I will not physically assault anyone else no matter how badly they deserve it...I will not kick the living shit outta that lying bitch...oh, ahem...I will not physically assault anyone else no matter how badly they deserve it *breathe...breathe*)
• Theoretically, neither Christmas nor birthdays (Shayne will be 6 December 13, my older boy Tony will be 23 on December 27) will be ruined again

Ok, that's pretty much it for today. Hunny is meeting him this afternoon to sign papers & give him money. Until then, please keep all fingers & toes crossed that nothing unforeseen interferes... meanwhile, here are the pics from the flyer. Sorry about the poor quality, but they were printed onto regular paper by the property owner, then scanned onto my computer from there...

    

Ok, gotta get ready for work.

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! ! ! !

Pity Party - Sorry

Could someone please tell me what we're doing wrong..? I mean in general...Hunny and I both bend over backwards to be good people. I admit I haven't always been the best person, but I'm aware, and attempt to not only atone, but go above and beyond. I'm not looking for any rewards, or awards, beyond being allowed to live a calm, productive life, raise my child in peace and love my Hunny. I don't steal, I don't lie - ever to anyone - so why is it, every time I think maybe we're "getting there" we get slapped in the face, so to speak... I'm so tired. And if there weren't enough shit already, apparently fibromyalgia is aggravated by stress, so I get increased physical pain on top of everything else...

Ok, pity party over...sorry to subject you to that, but I told myself when I started this, if I didn't post what I write, regardless of how pathetic it might be down the road, I wasn't being honest, so there ya go.

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzz!   

The last few days....

In my continuing effort to keep those who have faith in me (ha-ha) from looking bad, here I am again. Although it's pretty bad that the only way to get me to post is psychological blackmail, so to speak...but hey, whatever it takes, I guess.

I have been riding a roller coaster stress-wise the past few days. as I said earlier, we have to move. We thought for minit yesterday that maybe we wouldn't have too, but speaking for myself, not really. My Hunny is a bit more of a trusting soul than I am, sweet man that he is. You see, we met with the folks that we are currently renting from, in an effort to come to an agreement we could all live with. A little background...

When we found this house we were very excited. It has the potential to be a very nice house. Mind you, I said potential...It is relatively new, built in the last ten years, I'd say. But it's has also been "rode hard and put away wet" if you know what I mean. Apparently the first owners were unable to keep it. Because they allowed themselves to get into a situation they were unable to maintain, they felt compelled to cause as much damage as possible before they left...The folks we got it from had done quite a bit of fix-it-up, but there's a whole bunch left to be done. Bad carpet. Damn near every interior door has a hole in it. A whole bunch of the shelving has been torn down - mind you, I didn't say taken down I said torn down as in there are big holes in many walls where shelves originally lived. There are also just holes in the walls for no apparent reason. One bedroom has had the window painted black with something that I can't seem to get off of it...well, here, look at a few pics...

  

This is the door to my closet. As you can see, the hole goes all the way through the door....

This is the door to my boy's bedroom...

The "painted" window. A side note here - my boy HATES this room. If the door is left even slightly ajar, he will pull it closed. Also the doorknob is "backwards," the lock is on the outside of the door. It's kinda creepy that not only was the window painted black, but the room was also set up to keep someone IN...

This is the floor around our water heater. We think it broke & flooded at some point, and the floor was left as it was. The kitchen light, directly below it was fixed, kinda...

I mean technically, it was fixed, but I'm not sure for how long....

 

And finally, our stained & "bubbled up" carpet - have you ever tried to vacuum carpet that isn't securely attached to the floor underneath it..? It's a bitch, lemme tell ya...

In addition to all this, we have had to repair the toilets - at our cost - three times, there is no water pressure in the downstairs of the home,

This is my kitchen faucet ON HIGH...

no screens on any of the windows, there isn't even a garage door opener installed...Now, understand, these things aren't in themselves our complaint. It was like this when we moved in, and we felt none of it made the house unlivable, and we were willing to deal with it for the reduced rent we were paying (although I really have trouble calling $800 a month reduced...). We were told if we made repairs, we could take it off the rent, as long as it wasn't a whole bunch all at once. Also good with that. Then it sold. The buyers assured us, sitting in our living room, while looking us in the eye, that they knew we wanted to stay here indefinitely - with purchase by us as the eventuality, they weren't going to raise the rent, we could make repairs & deduct from rent, and everything would stay the same. This is the delusion we've been living under...

When I took the rent check to their home, I included a letter requesting the lease renewal be done early so we didn't have to mess with it during the holidays, and requesting it be an extended lease, with our preference being a five year term. I my head, there should have been no problem, based on the conversation we had with them prior to this....Silly me.

Here's the response I got:  

i just wanted to let you know we recieved the payment and note from the mail box, Thank you.  We are in the process of working up a new lease, unfortunatly we cannot go into a 5 yr lease.  Also i need to put out there to you that the new monthly lease will be increasing from 800/mo to 925/mo.  While we appriciate you living there as the tenants and we can count on you to take care of the dwelling, we did buy this to be an investment property and we have checked around and rent is going for 300-400 more than what your paying now.  We were actually getting ready to contact you about the new lease info when we read your note.  We should have the new lease agreement typed up and ready for you to look over by this Sunday Nov 9, i can either drop it off or attach it to an email.  once you look it over, if you could just let us know what you decide by Nov 30.

(the spelling errors are theirs, I just copy/pasted it.)

Now, does that sound to you like someone who meant any of the statements made above...? Bearing in mind they haven't done anything to the house. Which is actually fine, I can live in it the way it is, but I'll be DAMNED if I'm paying MORE for it...What this email told me was:

a) Keeping us as tenants (never late on rent, making repairs at our own expense, etc.) wasn't even worth a phone call.
b) They are consummate liars, as we believed what they said
c) They really aren't concerned with keeping us as tenants at all, nor do they intend to sell us the house in the future as they had said they would, or why would there be a problem with an extended lease..?
d) We have to move, again. In December, again. No birthday party for my boy, again. Jacked up Christmas, again.

I stopped payment on the rent check. My self-preservation instincts are dominant in a situation like this...Apparently I need that money to move. And based on all the lies we had been told in the past, it was a safe bet we'd never get our deposit back (this has been since somewhat proven, as you'll see).

Yesterday, we contacted them to meet and see if we could come to terms. I had the money for the rent in my pocket, in cash. What it came to was they offered us $850 a month (I'm willing to do that). We asked for something in writing, (protecting us from him saying one thing & doing something else, again). He assured us he was going home to prepare the new lease. He would then email it to us, last night. We would sign it & I would bring a copy to them, along with the rent & the $10 fee their bank charged them for the stop payment. Good deal, we don't have to move! Silly me...

We hadn't been home half an hour when Hunny's phone rang. He couldn't get the agreement done as the Colts were coming on, and he didn't have time (?) But he'd have it done "sometime next week." Also, there was an NSF fee of $60 (again, huh?) that he wanted us to pay. Oh yeah, and we were supposed to either pay the rent then, without any form of surety, or we could pay $40 a day late fee until he completed the paperwork...

My Hunny had asked during that meeting if he was a man of his word, was his handshake good? and this man AGAIN looked us in the eye and lied to us. I told him I was willing to pay the rent, the $10 fee, and half of the NSF. I think that's fair. He was very adamant that they had no intention of making us feel that we were being forced to up the rent or get out. My opinion..? If that's true then you own equal responsibility for the fruits of your acts, and you can pay half your fee. I was willing to do that if he kept his word & provided us a new lease that evening. He called it blackmail, I called it keeping your word. Needless to say, it didn't go well. He proceeded to tell me he couldn't pay half the fee as he didn't have the $30 dollars....

Now that opens up a whole new world in my head...How come you didn't have the amount of a month's mortgage payment put back in that account, in case something happened..? Renters default on rent all the time. I sure as Hell would have - had the payment put back, not defaulted *grin*. And where's the money you're supposed to be returning to me as my deposit..? Shouldn't that be put in an untouched account, so it can be returned..? And once you found rent wasn't being paid you could use that to cover yourself if you didn't have the brains to have a payment at hand at all times...This is not the only rental property they have, and she works at a BANK  so they don't even have inexperience as an excuse for any of that.

And really, if I didn't have $30 dollars to pay half of an NSF fee, that I have to pay either way...and someone was offering me not only the other half of it, but another $810, why wouldn't someone with fully functioning brain cells accept it..? Hello..? You don't have $30, how are you going to make your house payment..? And if I choose to keep possession of the property until you evict me, how are you going to pay the next one, and the one after, not to mention pay for the eviction proceedings..?

Can I just say AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH !?!?!?!?

Anywho, ok, I've posted. LOL now I have to go get ready for work, going on very little sleep (I can't shut my brain down easily in normal conditions, the last few days, if the slightest thing wakes me in the night - and something always does - I'm awake for an hour with all this crap swirling around in my head...)

Ok gotta go,

See ya laterzzzzzzzzzzzz!