Today started off with me feeling extremely refreshed and relaxed… and then I looked at my clock and realized it was three hours past when I’d planned to wake-up. I set the time but forgot to turn the dang alarm on.
It’s not too bad, breakfast became brunch and lunch will be mid-afternoon. I was working away at my to do list and feeling pretty good when I decided I’d better print off the new lease for my house, sign it and get it sent to the property management company.
Start Rant Here
The agent had sent the lease as a PDF, but only page 1 and 3 came through. I sent a polite email back asking for the missing pages, one of which was the page I needed to sign and date. In reply, I receive a snarky response stating that he’d sent it as a 2-sided document.
So…. he means I should have looked at the back of my monitor to see the other pages… and how exactly would I sign that.
Normally I’m quite forgiving and let this sort of gaffe go by. But this guy is unreal. I love the management company that looks after the house we rent. We’ve have two other agents over the years and they’ve been wonderful. So I’m not going to name the company, because they don’t deserve to have their rep damaged.
But this Guy, holy crap. He’s in a customer service position which I can assume from his attitude that he considers it far beneath him.
When it’s time for him to do a house inspection (part of our lease to make sure we’re not operating a grow op), he complains that we live too far away… ummm it’s their house I’m renting, apparently his boss didn’t think it’s too far when he signed the contract with the owners to represent them.
I know I’m bubbly and cheerful (err well most of the time) but that doesn’t mean I’m not intelligent and have a decent amount of life experience to use as a knowledge base. I do resent being treated like a bimbo.
For example – last fall, a tree fell on our property onto one of the sheds. I let him know because with winter coming the weight of any snow on the fallen tree would cause damage to the shed. He argued with me for 10 minutes telling me that I had to contact the neighbour to get them to remove the tree. He refused to believe that the tree was on our lot, even after I sent him pictures… clearly labeled. I’ve owned property, I understand about property lines and I told him so.
Finally he came out to the house to see it for himself. He was poised to tell me I was wrong and seemed upset that I wasn’t.
It still took him a month to get the tree cutter guys out and that was a fiasco all in itself. They came unannounced when I wasn’t home and didn’t cut down the ‘still-falling’ tree that also needed to be removed. When I mentioned this, he said it must not be in bad enough shape… if there wasn’t an electrical wire in the way, I’d push it down myself!
Then, when I requested to have another 12 month lease, he scoffed and said the owner would never go for it. That landlords hated 12-month leases. (Seriously? I was a landlord back East and I loved the idea of a 12 month lease when I had good tenants) Then, in the same breath, he asked me if I’d mind a rent increase if the landlord agreed. WTH? Since when is it his job to pimp a rent increase to the tenants AND the landlord.
I was amused that he was so shocked and disappointed when the owner jumped at the chance to have us sign another year lease, with no rent increase… just like she did last year. Why? Because, we’re good tenants, we look after the house and the property for the owner. We let them know about problems when they’re small instead of waiting for them to become big and expensive (the house is 40 years old so there is a bit of work to be done now and again)
All I can hope is that this fellow finds a new job and we get another agent – preferably one with people skills.
Thus endeth the rant
The good news is that I’m off to Blenz to hang out and write – whee – my day is finally getting better.