The Ultimate Hard and Fast debt clearing mission

Tete_en_l'Air

Glad things are starting to look up for you Poolie

Morning everybody!

Birdie85

I'm so sorry to hear abut your auntie Dinah Hope her operation goes well.

I hope you're feeling better Archers, boo to having tonsillitis (that goes to Poolie too!)

Gosh Dinah, what did you sell for £350?! Well done! :T Sorry about your other money worries though, not really sure what to suggest. Does NIM have an interview today?! Hope it goes well!

Hope you managed to get the DLA form finished, will be great if you can get some help.

Congratulations on completing Sober September Shrimpy! I have no idea where September went! :eek: Did you manage to stay sober too Tete?!

Sorry you're having a hard time with your OH Ruby. I don't really want to advise you either way, although the whole monitoring thing sounds a little weird, I'd be tempted to change all of my passwords and to set up new e-mail and Twitter accounts that he doesn't know about! The doubts you're having now could just be down to getting used to living together, escpecially as you've moved away from your friends and family; OH and I fell out quite a bit in the early days and I found it pretty hard going, but it settled down after a while and I'm glad I didn't do anything rash! Maybe you should have a chat and see if things get better, but don't stay just because it's easier, and don't book anything for the wedding until you're sure it's what you want! We're here for you if you need to vent about anything!

Had a fantastic time in London! The Harry Potter tour was ace, really enjoyed it, got very excited as we were going round as we'll be at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter next month! :j Tete was right about the gift shop being expensive although it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. We got some Peppermint Toads and I was expecting them to be about £8-9 (considering they're something like $7.95 + tax in America) but they were 'only' £4.95. I loved looking at all the sets and the fantastic little details everywhere that they must have known would never be picked up on screen but included them anyway for authenticity, I suppose the set designers are delighted that everything's on display now so that their hard work can finally be admired in its entirety! :T

Sounds like you've got wonderful NY trips planned CMD and Tete! :j I know you say don't ask about the Brooklyn fire station... but why?! Isn't Brooklyn really far out of town too? Better be worth it! OH wants to go to Brooklyn but only so he can go through the tunnel and pretend he's in 'Daylight'!

Tete_en_l'Air

Eep forgot to mention your Aunt, Dinah but I did mean to say I'm SURE there must be some way of sending a carrot cake, although they are quite 'wet' cakes, it might turn to mush? Better to take one with you when you visit her, if at all possible?

Morning Birdie :hello: Yep I did 'manage' Sober September, although I didn't really feel it, I hardly drink these days. Going to see if I can extend it to the 20th of this month when I have a birthday party to go to as I've nothing on before then.

The fire station is a tiny bit of a pain TBH Friend's granddad cycled across America a few years ago to raise money for them after 9/11 (or something like that, details are hazy) and they all looked after him etc and have a plaque in his name. He wants his granddaughter to go and see it and meet them, he's emailed them and told them we're going. Friend has made it clear time is of the essence and we can only 'pop' in - we're going to get a photo etc, so hopefully it won't take toooo long. I'm trying to be relaxed about it and think at least we get to cross Brooklyn Bridge and meet some real NYers (not in the service industry) and really this is the only compromise we're having to make - the four of us are totally on the same page for everything else we want to do which is pretty rare for these sorts of things I reckon

Told you not to ask!!

Glad you enjoyed HP, I love love loved it - dying to go back! You're so right about all the details I didn't think the shop was as expensive as it could have been, what bothered us was the lack of anything very cheap to buy as a souvenir - like postcards or pens for £3 or something. That reminds me I haven't worn my Pygmy Puff t-shirt yet!

clearmydebts

So sorry to hear about your aunt Dinah. I really hope the op goes well. How is Grace today? Hope you don't mind but am copying and pasting an issue I have re: holidays. Haven't had any replies where I posted it, but would be grateful for opinions:

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice. We just came back from hols and booked an apartment last minute. We originally had another apartment booked, but it fell through, hence the kast minute booking. I paid €350 deposit as well as the cost of the apartment €1500.

On return you were supposed to have the deposit credited back into the account within 48 hours. We returned on the Sunday and when it hadn't been credited by the Thursday I emailed. They responded on Friday and said that the apartment had been left in such a state the couldn't even list all the things that were wrong, but that it needed 10 hours extra cleaning (6 hours cleaning at the cost of €100 was already included in the cleaning) and they needed a specialist to estimate how much the leather couch and rugs in the apartment would cost to clean.

I was baffled because, although it would have been messier than I would usually leave an apartment (there were 4 toddlers in our group) it was still hoovered and cleaned down. The only thing I wasn't happy with, was that the outside patio furniture cushion covers would have had some cordial stains, due to the kiddies dropping their drinks during the week. But I didn't want to start washing their cushion covers incase they shrunk.I thought they would clean them as part of the €100.

The company said there was food residue on the couch and wax marks (we didn't light a candle during the week due to having young children).

I emailed back and said that I accepted that the flat might have needed some extra cleaning beyond the 6 hours (although I think 10 extra hours is excessive IMO) but I wasn't willing to pay for the sofa and rugs as I rubbed the sofa before I left and it was fine and hoovered the rugs before I left and saw absolutely no stains on them, or if there were small ones, it could be wiped with a cloth.

I also stated that the representative didn't turn up on the last day despite telling us that she would be there before 10am (we told her we had to leave at 10am) so we didn't have a proper handover.

Anyway, I am not sure what to do now, They didn't send me any photos of this pigsty, and as mentioned, I don't mind paying for a few hours extra cleaning, but I am not afraid I will get none of my deposit back.

Any advice welcomed.

Kepp

Hi CMD, did you take any photos yourself?

clearmydebts

beccie wrote: »

Hi CMD, did you take any photos yourself?

No - didn't think to take photos as we have never ever had this problem before. They didn't send me any photos of the 'supposed' mess we left it in either.

Birdie85

You're right about the lack of cheap little things Tete! It's the same at WWOHP though, we got quite annoyed at the Owl Post because they were selling postcards and paper sets to send home (that they 'postmarked' with a special stamp) but they only sold special HP picture stamps ($13 for a sheet of 12 stamps and we only discovered once we'd written about 5 letters that they needed 3 stamps each to get home to England, and space so was so short on the envelopes that we had to layer the stamps so you couldn't even see 2 of the pretty but overpriced stamps! :eek:) AND they only sold $10 quills to write with; we'd forgotten a pen but we refused to be ripped off (more than we had been already!) so we marched off to Suess Island to buy a $3 regular pen! They know exactly how to get money off people!!! This time we'll be prepared with pens and some regular stamps so each letter only gets 1 posh stamp and 2 cheap ones!

That's a nice reason you're going to the fire station! Would be good to see some 'real' NY too!

Gosh, don't really know what to say about that CMD, sounds like they're trying to pull a fast one. It really doesn't help that there wasn't a handover so it's your word against theirs... if you don't have photos of how you left it then I'd be asking to see their photos, surely if it was a 'state' then they should have taken pictures to prove it? 10 extra hours cleaning is insane, were you staying in a mansion?! I'd offer a little of the deposit as a good will gesture if you accept that that the patio cushions needed cleaning but £350 is excessive. Did you book the apartment through an agency? Maybe they can help.

Tete_en_l'Air

Exactly Birdie - and we're just Big Kids, can you imagine going in there with two or three ACTUAL kids, all wanting something, you'd spend £150 easily.

Augh CMD - I was about to say what B said - it's your word against theirs. I don't know what to say do you even have any during-holiday photos inside the apartment to prove it wasn't as bad as they say?

clearmydebts

Birdie85 wrote: »

You're right about the lack of cheap little things Tete! It's the same at WWOHP though, we got quite annoyed at the Owl Post because they were selling postcards and paper sets to send home (that they 'postmarked' with a special stamp) but they only sold special HP picture stamps ($13 for a sheet of 12 stamps and we only discovered once we'd written about 5 letters that they needed 3 stamps each to get home to England, and space so was so short on the envelopes that we had to layer the stamps so you couldn't even see 2 of the pretty but overpriced stamps! :eek:) AND they only sold $10 quills to write with; we'd forgotten a pen but we refused to be ripped off (more than we had been already!) so we marched off to Suess Island to buy a $3 regular pen! They know exactly how to get money off people!!! This time we'll be prepared with pens and some regular stamps so each letter only gets 1 posh stamp and 2 cheap ones!

That's a nice reason you're going to the fire station! Would be good to see some 'real' NY too!

Gosh, don't really know what to say about that CMD, sounds like they're trying to pull a fast one. It really doesn't help that there wasn't a handover so it's your word against theirs... if you don't have photos of how you left it then I'd be asking to see their photos, surely if it was a 'state' then they should have taken pictures to prove it? 10 extra hours cleaning is insane, were you staying in a mansion?! I'd offer a little of the deposit as a good will gesture if you accept that that the patio cushions needed cleaning but £350 is excessive. Did you book the apartment through an agency? Maybe they can help.

It is the agency that emailed this. I think I will ask for photos but I think it was very convenient that the girl didn't turn up. They are saying that the apartment couldn't be let out again that day because it was in such a state. I'm sorry, but do I strike you as the type to wreck a place. If I were, would I not just go to a bog standard resort?

It was a 4 bed apartment. 1 bedroom wasn't in use and I know for a fact that our bedroom was left spotless. The bathroom adjoining ours was were we bathed the kids so the bath would have needed to be cleaned out, but the bathroom itself was spotless. I used another bathroom to have a shower and that was clean as well. It seems they just have an issue with the sitting/dining room. But 16 hours to clean a place just seems crazy to me.

Birdie85

Can you do some research on the agency online to see if anyone has had similar problems with them fabricating issues that weren't there?!

This is why I don't like the idea of hiring holiday homes; I just want to go home without worrying about making sure everything is right before I leave! Surely they expect some wear and tear every time the place is rented out and even if you do leave the place clean I'd still expect them to clean it before handing it over to someone new! I'd be suggesting that their cleaning company is ripping them off if they're claiming it took 16 hours to clean, that's like 2 days work! To clean 1 apartment?! I don't think so!