Our rented house had a spot on the carpet that kept coming back no matter how many times I cleaned it over a 2 week period. We called the landlord and he sent out a plumber who said that there was a leak in the walls that was expanding into the floor, and that is what caused the leak. They could not find the source. Next thing we knew, a contractor showed up and told me that insurance does not cover a slow leak, just a catastrophic event. He ripped out the tub in the main bathroom to “see what is happening” and when I came home from work there was a flood in my basement. He said that he had accidentally cut a pipe with his saw, so it created a flood in the basement. Next thing I know he has contacted the landlord (who called this contractor out in the first place) and we are told that we have to move out because they are going to recarpet the entire house. Then I came home and the kitchen had been torn apart. The entire house has now been gutted, and all supposedly because we caused a flood. There was no flood caused by us. They say that my kids held their hand over a faucet and stopped the flow of water, bursting a pipe and creating the catastrophic event. My kids hated that bathroom and never used it. But even so, the flood was caused by the saw of the contractor.
The contractor and landlord told us we had to move out because the house would be a construction site. They told us they would pack us up and move us to a storage unit which would be covered by insurance. We had 2 days to get out (except for the garage) and find a new place to live. Lucky for me, my company’s corporate condo was available, and though it did cost money, at least we were not homeless (except for 5 days when it was reserved for someone else).
The landlord refuses to give back our security deposit or last month’s rent. Also, we had paid rent for the entire month, and were moved out on the 17th of July.
I would like my security deposit back minus any damage made before the “flood” and feel I am due my rent from July 17 to July 31, as well as my last month’s rent which was given to the landlord when we moved into the property.
We did receive an eviction notice after we had been moved out. He sent it on July 29 and gave us 10 days to “vacate the property” due to “maintenance and Repair” rules, damage to premesis, and surrender of premesis. We cleared all remaining items out of the garage by the date on the notice.
This entire event has cost me a fortune in duplicate rent (had to pay for housing when I had already paid rent to landlord), new security deposit and rental fees, moving fees, etc. that were totally unanticipated. At the time of the “flood” our lease had expired and we were on a month to month tenancy.
He has $1000 in security deposit and $1400 in last month’s rent, plus a prorated July based on $1200 a month rent (rent had been negotiated down during the second lease term). It left us homeless for 5 nights when my condo had been reserved ahead of time and we had to move out. I have 4 children, and this has caused them great stress. As a matter of fact, it has caused so much stress that it was the last straw for an already stressed out husband, and now my husband has left us and we are now going to be divorcing.
I cannot afford an attorney at this point, due to all the money I have had to put out through this fiasco. So I am hoping someone can give me some advice that will help.
My pastor was at the house the entire time the contractors were there, as I did not want strangers in the home when my kids were there. He knows exactly what has happened and what was done. He would like to turn in the contractor and landlord for insurance fraud. The entire house is now being redone. Main floor, basement, upstairs (ABOVE the flood) and it even got a new deck on the back of the house. Any advice about turning in an insurance fraud would also be welcome.
Thank you so much for reading my long story.

(Sorry for the length, I felt that the details might be important)

I had a deferred interest Promotional Balance on a credit card for a year. Each month the statement came on the 8th (the 8th was the closing date for each billing cycle). The due date for each statement was always on the 4th of the following month. For example, the 6/8/10 statement had a due date of 7/4/10; the 7/8 statement had a due date of 8/4; and the 8/8 statement had a due date of 9/4.

The statement dated 7/8/10 was the very last statement I received before my Promotional Offer expired on 7/19/10. It had the following language front and center on the first page:

“You must pay your Promotional Balance in full by 7/19/10 OR the payment due date for the billing cycle in which the Promotion expires, whichever is later, to avoid paying deferred interest charges.”

Common sense dictates that the expiration date of 7/19/10 falls within the billing cycle of 7/9 to 8/8, making the due date 9/4 for that cycle. I ended up paying the entire promotional amount via online bank transfer on 8/9/10, thinking it was still nearly a month early. As I was paying online, I noticed the huge interest charge had posted to my account on 8/8. I called the company immediately, and they told me that the due date was 8/4 and gave no rational explanation for that (see above examples on billing cycles/due dates). I called again and again and was given 7/19/10 as the due date and 8/4/10 as the due date, each date twice over 4 calls, 4 different customer service reps including a supervisor on my last call. The supervisor was the rudest of all of them and flat out told me after 15 minutes of arguing “if you’re calling to have the interest charges dropped, that’s not going to happen.” So I stopped with the phone and wrote a letter.

I sent a letter certified mail explaining the situation. I promptly received a reply in the mail which was just a boilerplate response letter two sentences long. No details, no explanation; just “we are correct and you are wrong.”

So, to sum up, the company gave me two conflicting due dates: 7/19/10 (“original” due date) and 9/4/10 (“new” due date as referenced by the language on the 7/8/10 statement). This language was the most up-to-date instruction on due dates since it was the very last information I received prior to the expiration of the promotion. I considered the MOST CURRENT due date to be, well, the most valid (isn’t that how things usually work?). It was so clearly interpretable to me, that I felt no need to call and verify the dates. It was in writing, after all, and right there on my statement. 9/4/10.

So after I paid on 8/9/10 and noticed the interest was charged, in their phone explanations I was given yet another due date of 8/4/10. All of these differing dates are not only misleading, they are clearly CONFLICTING. To me, it’s not a case of misinterpretation, or confusion, or fuzzy language or anything else. It’s simply a case of CONFLICTING due dates, and they are obviously going to claim the earliest one(s) are the correct one(s) so that they get the interest charged for my payment being late. I’ve never dealt with anything so shady in the entire two decades I’ve been using credit. I’ve never even HEARD of anything like this. Just the fact that I’ve been given different answers over the phone makes their story wreak of foul play. Then the response letter which provides ZERO explanation to their side of the story. Something is fishy.

Obviously I’ve already learned my lesson: pay off deferred interest promotions before the EARLIEST provided due date, or even earlier to be safe; or better yet, don’t even sign up for these deals in the first place. However, before I just give in and pay these swindlers this lump of interest (about $500.00 worth), I want to know if I have any other recourse other than filing a half-dozen complaints with AGs, the FTC, OCC, BBB, and state representatives. It’s great to be able to whine and complain but in the end it doesn’t accomplish what I want to accomplish (not paying them what I strongly believe I do not owe). Digging back through all of the documents I saved, I’ve learned that the original card agreement calls for mandatory binding arbitration to solve disputes. But upon researching this subject quite extensively online, it’s clear that arbitration is likely rigged to favor credit card companies (arbitration firms & cc companies have been under fire recently for this adultery). A private attorney is out of the question (if for nothing else but cost feasibility sake), and arbitration is untrustworthy.

Should I continue to send letters to the company threatening to report the matter to every regulatory office and agency I can think of? Also, what will most likely happen if I don’t pay this — interest will keep accruing, late charges…then eventually a collection agency and even higher costs and penalties?

Man if I could just go back and pay this offer prior to 7/19/10 and avoid all of this BS. Of course, if that happened I wouldn’t have learned much…how corrupt this whole business is from every aspect. But I guess I should have already known that much.

Thanks in advance for your time and input. It would be much appreciated.