Are people just DUMB nowadays? I called the Landscaping company that does the work for the neighborhood about leaving a mess of grass clipping on our driveways, etc when they are done and they never got back with me. An Email I sent afterward was never replied to. That was 4 1/2 months ago. NOW the lady with the Landscaping company emails me after all these time and she wants to make a big stink about it like it's our fault!

We cut our own grass. But there is a section of grass around the sidewalks and in front of everyone's home that is done by the HOA. They come out once a week: vrrr vrrrr, 10 min, done! They leave a mess of clippings and leaves and what have you, scattered all over people's driveways and lawns and even on any cars that are parked on the driveways. (Keep in mind that my and my neighbors' monthly HOA dues pay for their service so they should do a better job). I called the landscaping company (got the phone number off the side of their truck) and wanted to talk to the manager, they said she would call me back, she never did. I emailed them and never got a response. That was 4 1/2 months ago. I left it at that and never re-attempted to contact them after they didn't reply back to me. Now out of the blue, yesterday, she emails me and said I need to call her and it's urgent and then she wants to lecture me that I should had called the HOA and not her company. That all complaints with her company should go through the HOA and I had no rights to contact her and her company directly.

I just got off the phone with the HOA and they don't know why the lady at the landscaping company is contacting me directly after 4 1/2 months. They say they will call her and get back with me. Something she said in her email to me I didn't like: "It's a pressing urgent matter. I guess you will find out on your own!" That sounds like a threat to me.

Edited October 29, 201213 yr by J7Dadda

I just got home and I checked my email and that lady emailed me again: "you completely missed the point of me contacting you yesterday. The reason I contacted you yesterday after 4 month, which had nothing to do with your original complaint. I no longer feel an obligation to share with you my important information. You will find out on your own. " I just talk to the HOA and the HOA Manager said that they called her in after I complained to them about her emails and she is supposed to be at their office in 10 min. I asked him what's this IMPORTANT information she wanted to share with me and now she is not telling me and why did she email me after 4+ months of not hearing from her? He told me to not worry about it and to ignore her and that I did nothing wrong! Sounds to me like she maybe getting fired from the landscaping contract! What do you think?

She sounds like a complete loony

EVERYONE should know how to drive a MANUAL TRANSMISSION vehicle!

Who here Knows How and Can Still Get One Going On The Very First Attempt, Without Stalling IT?

I was at the full service car wash for over 45 min cause the first vehicle in the line to enter the wash was Manual Transmission and NONE of the People that worked there, from the youngest to the oldest, knew how to drive it!

This is not the first time something like this has happened to me.

I have also been at the Auto Dealership Service area waiting to move up and the line was being held up by a Manual Transmission vehicle and no one there knew how to drive it!

My brother being older started learning to drive in 1979.

The only car we had at the time was a 1978 Caprice Classic Automatic.

Dad went out and bought a Chevy Chevette 5 speed so he could teach my brother how to drive Manual.

He would not let my brother drive the Caprice Classic.

Then after that, Dad used that same car to teach me in 1982 and teach my sister in 1986.

That Chevette was my brother's first car until he bought a brand new car for the first time on his own in 1987.

Thinking back, I think none of us kids ever got to drive the Caprice Classic but only a handful of times and it was always with Mamma sitting next to us.

Knowing how to drive a MANUAL car may safe your life, the life of someone you love/know/care about or the life of a stranger one day!

Edited November 4, 201213 yr by J7Dadda

Well, I don't have my full licence, I'm still a learner. I have an auto because they're easier to use.

Don't you have to hold the clutch down and have it in neutral in a manual before you start the ignition?

Yeah i believe so Morph, otherwise the car won't start at all. But even i drive an auto transmission car.

Are you taking a test for your driver license

I took a written test when I was 16 for my Learner's permit, it's usually 120 hours of practice required before you can go for a full licence, but because I'm over 21 now I just have to wait until I feel confident enough to pass a driving test with an instructor. Once I pass that, I'll be on a Probationary permit for (I think) 6 months, then I can have my full licence.

Dumb Bastards!

If they are going to harass me at dinner time with annoying sales calls; at least have the bloody respect to learn to pronounce my last name correctly!!

I usually don't answer numbers I don't recognize.

The only reason I answered is because the number had one of the 3 local area codes in it.

Yes, I am on the do not call list and I check 2x a year to make sure all my numbers are still on there but people still call!

Edited November 6, 201213 yr by J7Dadda

I'm currently stuck in a two week course that teaches you how to write up a good resume and cover letter for potential employers. I'm learning a lot, sure, but being constantly hounded to get a job is not helping, it's just stressing me out.

On top of that, the landlords of this house keep saying that there is nothing wrong with the air conditioner, when it clearly isn't pumping any water -- they're just being tight asses! I went into the real estate office last Thursday and filed a maintenance report stating that it is not pumping water and as a result it's blowing hot air. The heater turns itself off, it was freezing last week and it took eight attempts to get it to stay on. We've also requested a rear security door three times, once when we moved in, once last month, and again on the maintenance form. The only reply we ever get about that is "when I have some money", when you have some money!? Sir, we are paying you $1,400 a month to live here, you can certainly afford a $150 door!

Two weeks ago the hot water service was leaving condensation on the walls, and we found a bird was building a nest in the flue. I called the real estate and let them know, then I got a call from someone to come and fix it asking if he could come the next day! No, you come now! Blocked hot water services leak carbon monoxide and that's lethal!

Now I'm trying to get help with the housing commission, the government has changed payments and it comes into effect next year, so people are going to lose money, and we probably won't be able to afford the rent any more. I feel like a bit like a stressed and nervous mess at the moment.

Do you have a written contract between you and the landlord/management company?

What does it say regarding repairs and rent increase?

Yes, we have a residential tenancy agreement.

Section 28: Landlord may increase rent by giving the tenant at least 60 days notice of the increase (under specific terms).

"The Landlord authorises the Agent to undertake urgent repairs up to $1,800.00"

Now I'm not sure on this, I'll have to find out, but I believe heating and air conditioning are classified under the Victorian housing law as emergency repairs. I've also heard that properties must be secure, so we have no back security door and a few windows don't lock properly.

Some good news now though, I had an interview today and was accepted there and then and even got put to a Diploma instead of a Cert IV, which really quite shocked me -- I am now, officially, a student of graphic arts and illustration.

Congratulations on being accepted as a student.

As far as your lease contract, I guess they do things differently there.

Here once you and the landlord/management company has signed a rental contract for 6 months or 9 months or 1 year, your rent can't be increased during that period of time.

Yes, an AC or Heating is an emergency especially when it's not working and there is only one unit.

It's the same principle as having a toilet that broke and there is only one in the residence, then that's an emergency. If you had 2 toilets in the residence and one of them is broken, then that's not considered an emergency.

Any repairs is also considered an emergency if by the landlord/management company not repairing it, it's detrimental and harmful to the tenant's health.

For instance, if it's winter and it's cold and the heat is not working and the landlord/management company doesn't repair it, that's a health issue.

Other health issues are not having hot water or a working refrigerator (if it belongs to the landlord and it's being provided for the use of the tenant as part of the lease agreement) or A/C during the summer if there is an A/C unit and it's broken, etc etc

Also, if any doors and windows are not locking or closing property and by not being repaired, it allows access into the property by anyone, then that's also not only an emergency, it is also the landlord/management company to make sure those doors and windows are secured.

Finally, in a standard lease contract here regardless of whether it's an apartment or a house or a condo, landlord/management company shall make sure all repairs requests are handled within 24 hrs from the time they have received a written request by the tenant - exception to that if they are waiting for a part to complete the repair.

But of course, like I said at the beginning of this, they must do things differently in Australia.

Thank You James. It's been a week and we haven't heard anything, and the rest of the week is going to be a hot one. I don't care if they're busy before Christmas or not, there are things that are prioritised in their line of work, and taking care of tenants is top -- I think I'll call the Housing Association and have a chat to them about it.

I would definitely call the Housing Association and I would even call the Health Department if the AC/Heating is not working and it's Hot or Cold outside.

I would document everything.

Show them that you have contacted the management company in writing several times about the needed repairs and they have had more than enough ample times to get the work done.

Also, by not doing the repairs in a timely manner, go back to the lease contract and read the part about repairs; see if they are in violation of the lease contract (if you were in Texas and you had a standard TAA/Realtor contract, they would already be).

Them in being a violation of the lease contract gives you the right to legally break the lease if they don't correct the issue.

I spoke to the property manager today -- I had to call him because we had a huge power surge in town, and it's blown out my light/ceiling fan. I asked if he'd gotten the maintenance request form I filed last week, he said he had, and had forwarded it to the owners for their approval and they're not said anything. So it's the owners being tight asses, just like I thought.

I remembered there was a book the real estate has to give tenants and I had a read through it, they are in violation of not repairing heating and air conditioning urgently. I'm emailing the details to the property manager, and he can forward it to the owners. If they so no, I'm opening a case.

Edited December 12, 201213 yr by Morph

Oh one more thing:

what ever happens, even if they are in violation of the lease contract by not performing the repairs in a timely manner, do not with-hold your rent payment.

Not unless VCAT gives a do not pay order until repairs are complete.

Thanks again James. I'll be getting to the bottom of all this as soon as I can.

I was watching SEINFELD earlier and I finally realize who did KRAMER reminded me.

He reminded me of a neighbor I once had.

Back then in the late 90's I would work late til 2 a.m.

By the time I walked into my apartment, it was 3 a.m.

My neighbor downstairs, a loser who didn't work and was living on the $ his Mommy left him, would come knock on my door as soon as I walked into my apartment.

Yes, at 3 a.m. he would come knock on my door.

I literally didn't have time to put my keys down and kick my shoes off.

He would come day and night, wanting to see if I want to go eat and I told him NO and he would insist until I slammed the door in his face.

Then he would stand outside the door and whine and talk to himself and cry.

There was no other way to make him go away.

You could had raised your voice at him and said:

"NO JOE! I DON'T WANT TO GO EAT WITH YOU! GO AWAY!"

and he would still not get the message and he would not leave your front door.

Therefore, the only way to make him go away was just that: to slam the door on his face.

It got to the point that I and several other neighbors in the same building had to complain against him with the Apartment Management Company.

We even had to call the PD on him a few times.

I don't know what the F was his problem!

He just didn't understand that other people don't get to sit at home and sleep til noon and watch TV and not have to go to work.

He also liked to go around and tell everyone he was a U.S. Marshal or that he was out of town working for the C.I.A. and stuff.

Seriously, if a person was really all that, I don't think they would go around bragging about it.

One time he even followed me in his car.

I got a phone call from work on my day off, it was an emergency, so I got into my car to leave.

He was standing outside and he asked me where I was going.

I said to work, there is an emergency.

I am driving down the street and I look in my rearview mirror and he was following me in his car.

I pulled over and got out of my car and went up to his car and told him to not follow me.

He said: "I thought maybe if once you take care of what you have to at work, we can go eat or go to a movie"

He did the same thing to other people in the apartment complex and also, he was very very nosy.

He always wanted to know your business!

He also did strange things like during the winter when it's 20-30 outside, at night, he would run a long extension cord from his apartment to the parking lot and he would be working on his car.

Yes, working on his car in the dark and the cold and here we were, trying to sleep, and he is outside making all kind of noise and cursing to himself because he couldn't see or he couldn't get a bolt to come loose.

He finally was evicted but he is still around.

If I went to the Harris County Voter's Registration website and put in his name, it will show him still living in this same city at another apartment complex.

I feel sorry for the people in that complex that have to be around him.

Wow, that's scary. Real stalker material. I'd be seriously freaked out if someone was doing that to me.

Stay away from stores and shopping malls and strip centers and anything resembling a building with merchandise for sales in them. Also stay away from any streets, roads, alleys, trails, back roads, mud roads, boulevards, drives, secret passages, hidden tunnels that leads to any of those stores and shopping malls and strip centers. People are out in force and acting nuts! I went up the street to the Wendy's in the Home Depot shopping center and I saw people running the stop signs in the parking lot. I also saw people just rudely cutting other drivers off so they can get that parking space first. It also seems there are more people out on the roads and out and about than usual even for the last weekend before Christmas. Maybe it's because the World didn't end yesterday so everyone is celebrating by being out of their houses, apartments, condominiums, caves, rocks, huts, shacks, tents, etc etc

Crazy drivers huh. I tell you what i see it all too often. I can be driving home on a main road, not on the interstate, I don't really drive over the speed limit and i have no reason to be in a hurry I see cars come out of nowhere, and i know they aren't doing the speed limit. I've had drivers pass me, only to make a turn just ahead and i have to put on my brakes when they turn. I also remember driving to my best friends house about a week or so ago, i was coming out of Kings Mountain on the highway to Clover, SC. A lady in a white Mercedes was behind me, she stayed behind me for like over a mile. I watched as she got up to my back bumper, she would slow down and then do it again. Finally she passed me and once she got around she had to be doing at least 80 and the speed limit was 55 on the road. By the time i saw that car again it had turned off into a driveway, all that just to get home. People got no patience at all, no wonder there's so many accidents on the roads.

To put it bluntly -- most people are idiots. They're not going to get anywhere faster by lane hopping, speeding and cutting people off. This is why so many people die on the roads, especially around the holidays.

I've gotten all of my Christmas shopping done and out of the way -- that includes presents, food, drinks and everything else there is, just so I don't have to go out in to that madness.

To put it bluntly -- most people are idiots. They're not going to get anywhere faster by lane hopping, speeding and cutting people off. This is why so many people die on the roads, especially around the holidays.

I've gotten all of my Christmas shopping done and out of the way -- that includes presents, food, drinks and everything else there is, just so I don't have to go out in to that madness.

Ditto!

Tomorrow is the final shopping day before Christmas and I have to work!

It's like Black Friday but with more desperate people!

I went by Central Market yesterday and they'd already put out the Valentine's Day stuff.

This American Commercialism is getting of hand!

They couldn't give us a couple of weeks to catch our breath and recover from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's?