Lodger underpaying by 31p, would you make a fuss?

carolt

Snooze wrote: »

:rolleyes:

So if you were in the OPs position and I was your lodger, I guess you'd be quite happy for me to underpay by 31p one month, £1 the next, £5 the next, £25 the next etc, up to the point of not paying at all because it's not worth arguing over, right?

It seems that half of the people replying on this thread have scoffed at how pathetic the OP is (in their opinion) but yet when previously asked by someone else to state what amount would break the p!ss-taking threshold they all suddenly went very quiet. :rolleyes:

You 'antis' seem to have all the answers, so let's hear it : what amounts should be ignored and what amounts should you address?

Rob

Hello Snooze!

I certainly don't have 'all the answers' - just my own opinions.

If it were me, I'd make a judgement based on the amount of time it would take me to quibble it versus the amount of money to be got out of it.

If I was earning less than the minimum wage quibbling it, I wouldn't bother.

I did, for example, bother to spend probably half an hour crafting a letter to a credit card company that had messed up my direct debit and incurred me charges of £50 - because I felt that £50 for a half hour's return was worth my time.

I didn't do it because they were in the wrong - they were, but being technically in the right if all I'd received for my pains had been a letter of computer-generated apology plus a cheque for 31p - let's say, just for example - would have been a waste of my time. In my opinion.

Principles are important - but when it's only 31p that's involved, I'd drop it.

I mean - if I was at a check-out and I counted my change there and then and found I was 31p short, I might (possibly) bother to query it, because it would take seconds to fix.

But if I'd already left the shop, there's no way I'd go back over it.

It just seems such a phenomenal waste of time.

That's what I don't get over all these people crying 'Ah, but the principle!' - who really cares?

Even if it was deliberate - and it may well have been in this case, though we can't know as we have only 1 side of the story - who sits and dwells over 31p?

I just don't get it.

cardsharps

This whole discussion has got to have been fishing. I think we've all been had. Well done athina. You can tell us all now that it's been one big leg-pull.

Snooze

carolt wrote: »

Hello Snooze!

I certainly don't have 'all the answers' - just my own opinions.

If it were me, I'd make a judgement based on the amount of time it would take me to quibble it versus the amount of money to be got out of it.

If I was earning less than the minimum wage quibbling it, I wouldn't bother.

I did, for example, bother to spend probably half an hour crafting a letter to a credit card company that had messed up my direct debit and incurred me charges of £50 - because I felt that £50 for a half hour's return was worth my time.

I didn't do it because they were in the wrong - they were, but being technically in the right if all I'd received for my pains had been a letter of computer-generated apology plus a cheque for 31p - let's say, just for example - would have been a waste of my time. In my opinion.

Principles are important - but when it's only 31p that's involved, I'd drop it.

I mean - if I was at a check-out and I counted my change there and then and found I was 31p short, I might (possibly) bother to query it, because it would take seconds to fix.

But if I'd already left the shop, there's no way I'd go back over it.

It just seems such a phenomenal waste of time.

That's what I don't get over all these people crying 'Ah, but the principle!' - who really cares?

Even if it was deliberate - and it may well have been in this case, though we can't know as we have only 1 side of the story - who sits and dwells over 31p?

I just don't get it.

Thanks for the life story Carol but you still haven't answered the question. What amount is acceptable to underpay and what isn't ? How much simpler does this have to be?

If I, as your lodger, underpaid you by £1 every month would you ignore it?
If I, as your lodger, underpaid you by £5 every month would you ignore it?
If I, as your lodger, underpaid you by £25 every month would you ignore it?

You're all so quick to scoff at 31p so let's see the same quickness for other amounts.

I'll tell you why none of you are prepared to answer it - it's because you will say 31p is okay but £5 isn't, and then when questioned why one is okay and the other is not, you won't have anything to back up your argument hence making you look incredibly stupid. :rolleyes:

Rob

lostinrates

Snooze wrote: »

I'll tell you why none of you are prepared to answer it

Rob

I thought I had answered it, or attempted to, from my perspective?

bandraoi

Snooze wrote: »

Thanks for the life story Carol but you still haven't answered the question. What amount is acceptable to underpay and what isn't ? How much simpler does this have to be?

If I, as your lodger, underpaid you by £1 every month would you ignore it?
If I, as your lodger, underpaid you by £5 every month would you ignore it?
If I, as your lodger, underpaid you by £25 every month would you ignore it?

You're all so quick to scoff at 31p so let's see the same quickness for other amounts.

I'll tell you why none of you are prepared to answer it - it's because you will say 31p is okay but £5 isn't, and then when questioned why one is okay and the other is not, you won't have anything to back up your argument hence making you look incredibly stupid. :rolleyes:

Rob

I will say that 31p is ok and £5 is not.
It's not difficult to justify, it's that it's insignificant as a proportion of the transaction.
On any transaction I'm unlikely to quibble on any error below 0.5%.

On a bar of chocolate I won't quibble about a penny
On a weekly shop I won't quibble about ten pence
On a house purchase I probably wouldn't quibble if the seller demanded an extra £500 at the last minute.

bristol_pilot

She is taking the pi$$ and needs to go. Simple as.

System

its got to be a joke this as who cares that much about 31p its just ridiculous. I've had lodgers for years and i split the bills evenly and would never dream of splitting it to the exact pence. In fact my last tenant after rent and splitting bills 50% owed me £362 a month and i just rounded it down to £360 as it seemed petty to bring up the £2!

I understand what people are saying about what amount is acceptable but at the end of the day its just down to common sense, if you get stopped in the street by a tramp who asks for 31p if you've got it you will probably give it him, if he asks for a fiver you probably won't! 31p is not enough to complain about and makes the OP seem ridiculously petty, I imagine the first underpayment was just a mistake, but the OP brought it up with the lodger and i can quite understand the lodger just thinking it was a joke!

I would say that it sounds like you may not be well suited to being a landlord as this lodger appears to be quiet and very tidy and the only thing wrong with her is she is underpaying by 31p! There must be other reasons why you are annoyed with her and this is just the target issue!

1echidna

This discussion must just about be the ultimate in strongly held just about diametrically opposed views, and split just about 50:50 at that.

Nixxx

This has been an interesting read.

My two pence worth:

The first time the lodger underpaid by 31p was probably a mistake. But the fact that the landlord made a point of it (especially via email) is what made the lodger do it again.

I must say I might have done the same. The landlord should have "let it go" when it first happened. I think the point has been made by both sides and you'll probably find that the payments get back to normal in June.

Snooze

bandraoi wrote: »

I will say that 31p is ok and £5 is not.
It's not difficult to justify, it's that it's insignificant as a proportion of the transaction.
On any transaction I'm unlikely to quibble on any error below 0.5%.

On a bar of chocolate I won't quibble about a penny
On a weekly shop I won't quibble about ten pence
On a house purchase I probably wouldn't quibble if the seller demanded an extra £500 at the last minute.

I see. So if I was renting a house from you at £500 per month and underpaid by £2.50 each and every month then you wouldn't "quibble" at it and just let it go? :rolleyes: I find that very hard to believe, personally...

Rob