Scumbag Landlords
Telus and Scumbag landlords on the same day.
My previous landlord, I'd had my reservations. He'd been a little odd, bought the house as an infill, let me stay on a month-to-month basis, but there was something dodgy about him....
Still, you shouldn't be judgmental, and so when the eviction notice came I moved out, all out, and called him on March 1st and left a message to advise him of my new address and let him know if there were any problems with the way the place was left he could call me and I'd fix them.
No returned call.
And so on March 19th, having checked the landlord-tenant act for Alberta and discovered I'm 9 days past due on my Damage Deposit I call and leave a message with a secretary, I explain I'm inquiring about the status of my damage deposit, leave my phone number and address again.
I've never had a problem getting a damage deposit before, but I'm having suspicions that this may be the first time. It's a cool $1000.00, which, while not the end of the world, is a little bit much to be thrown away for nothing. Or to be squandered on drugs by a sleazebag landlord.
Wednesday, March 24th, no returned call, no message on my machine, no cheque in the mail. I call the landlord again, he answers by accident. Curt, he tells me that he paid my electricity bill. This seems odd, why should he pay my bills? It was an old one he explains, he'll show me the receipt ... and then tells me about a mattress on the side of the house, I should have it moved.
It's not my mattress, I explain, It was left by the previous downstairs tenants.
His final argument?
"Are you sure you paid us the damage deposit...didn't you just get it back from the previous landlord?"
Now this is funny, because when I first met them, the first day they took over the property, in front of me they called their lawyer and demanded the damage deposit be transferred over to them. In front of me. They spoke to their lawyers, confirmed the word of the law, then threatened legal action if the damage deposit wasn't transferred over within 24 hours.
And now the halfwit is trying to make me doubt they even have my damage deposit.
He relents, he's a busy guy but he'll meet with me on Saturday to discuss it.
Now really, there's nothing to discuss. When I finish the conversation I call Enmax to check to see if there have been any inexplicable payments on my account, there are none. If there were it would by implication have him opening my mail, which would be a separate trial, but equally damning.
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- Category: Rants
Moving shit from one pile to another
Today was the deal-with-internet shit day.
I resolved to leave Shaw upon my eviction from the previous house. I'd had enough, would disconnect my service, went down and paid my bill and asked for a disconnect. They advised me they needed thirty days notice to disconnect me.
Now of course they don't. They can disconnect you in 30 seconds or less, if they're so inclined, but they weren't and so I was stuck for paying for thirty days service they knew I wasn't going to use.
They make a fortune off of unorganized schmucks like me. Inwardly fuming, but what can you do? And so I pay the bill and future date my disconnect.
After I moved it dawned on me that, still being a customer, I probably still qualified for their move program, and so called them and arranged for an installer to come out and reinstall Shaw at my new address.
Which they did, except there was a problem with the internet that day and so the installer told me to wait and eventually it would come on by itself.
As you'd expect it didn't, and a call back to Shaw revealed other issues and they promised to send another installer out to correct the issues.
Which he did the next day, and after an hour and a half of his troubleshooting and installing, and if I didn't mind the computer being hooked up in the bedroom I was all ready to go.
Which I did mind, but after an hour and a half, plans for the day and my daughter slowly being ruined, and the resolve to quit Shaw after my 30 days notice were up, I simply accepted.
SO I'm learning and I get the jump on my departure from Shaw by calling Telus and ordering their high speed internet. I'll overlap them, that way I won't be out of internet.
They have a great promotion, 6 months at $10.00 per month, $45.00 less than Shaw, no contracts or commitments, and it would seem they can get the setup done in my living room/office, which is, after all, far more convenient than having it in the bedroom. They book me a service call for Wednesday the 24th of March.
Now I've never had problems with Telus, really, although I know by reputation and from conversations with their brighter employees that really it's no different than Shaw. Same shit, different pile. But maybe I'll get lucky.
The modem arrives after a day, impressive.
But at 11:00 today, waiting for the installer to show, I get impatient and call to confirm that there is to be an installer to show up.
20 minutes wait to speak to a person. 20 minutes. And when I do I ask him if he'll confirm that I have an appointment for an installer to show up today, but he hums and haws and wants to discuss the parcel that arrived for me in the mail, wants to know if want to try to set it up now, wants to know if I have multiple jacks in the house (shouldn't this be on their computers?), and after 10 minutes of discussing dollar store splitters and my limited technical knowledge I manage to get him to confirm that an installer will be showing up in the 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM timeslot.
I assure him that I'll be fine, that's all I wanted to know. I somehow got the times wrong, I was expecting the installer between 9:00 and 11:00.
I wait until 12:00, 12:15, still no installer.
I call Telus again, they're having a problem with their phone lines, they give me a number to call for internet assistance.
Promising.
I call the internet number and wait, again, after talking through their automated voice message machine, another 15 minutes to speak to a human.
I ask about the installer. Where could he be? Hopefully he hasn't been hurt, should I call 911? The agent puts me on hold for another 5 minutes. She comes back. She too wants to talk about my package from Telus, do I want to set up the package with her? I tell her no, I just want to confirm that an installer is coming out....hold again....back...yes, an installer should be coming out, there's an appointment booked....Is he coming out I ask her again, but she wants to talk about splitters and setting up my new modem....I ask the uncomfortable question again, is there an installer coming out, if so when, if not, why was I told there would be?
Hold again.
And it dawns on me, I've switched companies, but I've really just moved the same shit into a different pile.
When she comes back she informs me that no installer will be coming out.
I wonder how I got so confused. I confirm the appointment, yes, it's there, but no installer will be showing up.
I set it up myself. It's easy enough, there was a splitter in the package, as well as cable and all sorts of noise filters and Ethernet accessories. And the internet works fine, as good as Shaw's, certainly, and I'm on the bottom package of Telus and was previously on the Top package at Shaw and so far have noticed no difference whatsoever in speed. And as an added advantage, the Telus modem has a wireless router built in, so no messy cables or additional fiddling with connections, so, despite themselves, their incompetent customer service, inordinate wait times and their no-show installers I'm happy.
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- Category: Who's Your ISP?
Dork Vader
She's been watching the Star Wars Films. All 6 of them over the past few months, the last one on Friday night.
And she's been playing "Lego Star Wars" on the Gamecube, it's quite an impressive game, it was recommended to her by her brother.
She's only eight.
She's learned to play the "Imperial March" on the piano, when I'm over with her on Wednesday's she plays it for me. "Very good" I tell her. I loved Star Wars too when I was a kid.
SO I give her a gift card I won in an online contest, Toys R Us, $50.00. Enough for a DS game, but she sits on it for a few weeks and quietly makes other plans.
She shares them with me later - she wants to buy a Darth Vader Costume. It has lots of applications she persuades me, she can wear it for Halloween, of course, but she can also wear it to Brownies and sleepovers and all sorts of other events.
I bite my tongue. Maybe she'll forget. I gave her the gift card after all.
Today she comes over for a visit with her mother, she has something to show me and I've already guessed, they went to Toys R Us and sure enough she's wearing the mask and the cape when I answer the door and I'm appropriately scared, only partly acting...
On our walk she wears the cape, reluctantly leaving the mask in the car, I need to get a picture of her in the full outfit, she needs only a light saber and I've seen some good ones around, will have to keep my eyes peeled...
She's becoming Dork Vader.
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- Category: Miscellany
They find me...
So I'm sitting on the bus, on my way to work, minding my own business, when the bus stops and goes to discharge it's passenger a short black guy, cool looking, makes his way to the back of the bus where I'm sitting and gives me a torn sheet of newsprint.
He's made notes on the back of it. "Check it out" he tells me, then exits the bus.
I look at the newspaper. It's a torn square from one of the free downtown daily's, with a handwritten list of "links" I should visit.
They find me...
I'll share them with you:
Google.ca "YouTube"
- 1) Dr. Deefat
- 2) Dr. Zackir
- 3) Dr. Khalid Yasin
- 4) The Deen Show
- Try Zem & HNY 2090
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- Category: Miscellany
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