Roommate Trouble, 2011 Edition.

[Jester]

Motherfucker.

The bitch has not responded to either my polite text message or my polite voice mail requesting the money she owes for utilities for her one month staying here. What a crock of shit. It's one thing to dick us over and give us almost no notice, but fucking pay your bills like the responsible adult you are.

I do not know her new address, but a little googling has told me that if I simply stamp and address an envelope to her at this address with the words "address service requested" the post office will provide me with her new address. I have no idea if this is true or not.

I have considered taking her to small claims court as well, if she doesn't pony up the dough she owes me. A little research has told me that the court fee for such a move would be $80, about half of what she owes me, which seems a bit steep. I want to go to the court tomorrow before work and find out if, if I win the case, she can be forced to pay that fee as well as paying what she owes me.

Amusingly, I can use one of her earlier ploys against her. She claimed that I could not force her to leave as this was her legal address, as proven by the fact that she changed her address and was receiving mail here. Well, she has still received some mail here, has made no attempt to collect it from me, and clearly has her name and this address on it. Making her the legal resident for the month she was here....and thus subject to owing 1/3 of the bills as we agreed on. I have no doubt she will try to come up with some reason to not pay this, either to me or to the judge, but we'll see where this goes.

Any advice would be welcome here.

In other news, thought I had found a great new roommate, but like many, he has fallen off the face of the earth, and has not returned my last call to him, which I find odd. What the fuck is going on here?

I put up a new ad online today, and have already received a call from one young lady who wants to come look at the room later today. We'll see how that goes.

Add to all this the fact that I need to get shit done for my upcoming vacation, and I am fucking stressing.

Now I need lunch. Meh.

[lupo pazzesco]

From what I understand, in small claims court (though of course, it may differ from state to state) if the judge finds in your favor then yes, she will be on the hook for court costs. And yes, I believe she did bite herself in the ass legally, by fighting you and saying she lived there legally, so you can use it against her, I believe.

Unfortunately, I haven't got much else to say to that, other than nail her proverbial ass to the wall, and if you do send the address service letter, send it certified, so you KNOW she got it and she can't claim it was lost. Certified means she signs for it, and you've got proof you politely requested payment of moneys owed to you.

ETA: keep the texts and call times from your phone bill, too. She may try to claim she never heard from you/you never contacted her so she owes you nothing/you never mentioned it to her.

[Sapphire Silk]

Lupo's got the nail on the head.

If she updates her address with the post office, then an "address service request" will get your mail to her. Certified mail definately the way to go. Ditto on keeping all other communications.

Court will be a pain, but if you win (and it sounds like you have a good case) then you can get court costs out of her. Don't know if you can get punitive damages for this. Since she didn't pay a deposit, you might be able to force that out of her to cover cleaning costs for the new roomie. Maybe.

But you'll feel better for holding her feet to the fire. That would make it worth it to me

[Jester]

...if you do send the address service letter, send it certified, so you KNOW she got it and she can't claim it was lost.

Okay, I'm confused. I thought if I sent the empty envelope with this address and "address service requested" it would just come back to me, no? My goal is to get her address, not merely to send her a letter requesting payment, but so *I* have the address, for such things as serving her a summons, etc. Am I misunderstanding the process? And is there a way simply to find out her new address via the post office?

Certified means she signs for it, and you've got proof you politely requested payment of moneys owed to you.

I don't need the address service to send her a certified letter...I can just send it to this address and allow the post office to forward it to her new address, no?

I am considering calling or texting her to again ask for payment of bills, and again do it politely.

ETA: keep the texts and call times from your phone bill, too.

Impossible, as I don't get an itemized bill, having an all-inclusive plan. But I can "lock" text messages so they don't get automatically deleted after a certain time period, and am currently going through my phone and locking every text between us dating back to the day she first started this ball rolling. Sadly, this does not include her argument about her being a legal resident due to the address change, but since any judge should know that law, and since I have mail addressed to her that was clearly forwarded by a change of address, I am not too worried about it.

[Aethian]

I do not know her new address, but a little googling has told me that if I simply stamp and address an envelope to her at this address with the words "address service requested" the post office will provide me with her new address. I have no idea if this is true or not.

This is true and will cost you the stamp and .50 when you get a POSTCARD showing the empty letter with the forwarding request. Have you gotten a forwarding confirmation letter? It would have her name or current occupant on it.

So I would send your nicely worded letter certified return receipt, with the words "Address Service Requested" UNDER your return address. Not only will you get the green card but you'll also get the postcard. But only if she has changed her address.

Edited to remove the paragraph this has replaced.

[charred]

Undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail is forwarded, returned to sender, or treated as dead mail as authorized for the particular mail class. An mailer endorsement is used to instruct the Postal Service regarding the mailpiece's appropriate disposition upon determining that it is UAA. On First-Class Mail® service, the following endorsements may be used as an updating method to meet the move update standard:

Return Service Requested. If UAA, the mailpiece is returned with the new address or reason for nondelivery; no charge.

Temp-Return Service Requested. If UAA and a temporary change-of-address has been filed, the mailpiece is forwarded at no charge. No separate notice of a new temporary change-of-address is provided.

Address Service Requested.

Months 1 - 12: the mailpiece is forwarded; no charge; a separate notice of the new address is provided; an address correction fee is charged.
Months 13 - 18: the mailpiece is returned with the new address attached; no charge.
After month 18 or if undeliverable: the mailpiece is returned with reason for nondelivery attached; no charge.


http://www.usps.com/ncsc/addressservices/moveupdate/ace.htm

[Android Kaeli]

While doing certified letters is a great way to cover one's behind, the person recieving the letter can also refuse to sign for it as I've refused to sign for a certified letter before without any problems. I don't know how it works on the other end or if the post office keeps records of it being refused.

Again, if I weren't in certain circumstances and didn't have my cat [of whom probably has two to three years more], I'd put in my application to move on down.

[Jester]

Certified letter or not, this is a small island. This is a small town. I'll find her, sooner or later. And while a couple of my coworkers think I should just "let this go" and eat the money, I've done that too many times in my life, been taken advantage of by shit balls too many time in my life, and I'm just not going to do that if I have any say in the matter. The bitch is going to pay me the money she fucking owes me.

Said to me by many friends on many occasions: "Jester, remind me not to ever piss you off." She's pissed me off. Bad idea.

[Sapphire Silk]

While doing certified letters is a great way to cover one's behind, the person recieving the letter can also refuse to sign for it as I've refused to sign for a certified letter before without any problems. I don't know how it works on the other end or if the post office keeps records of it being refused.

Again, if I weren't in certain circumstances and didn't have my cat [of whom probably has two to three years more], I'd put in my application to move on down.

But if Jester can get an address, a process server can fix that problem. They just put the papers in your lap and say, "you're served."

[spark]

The system is very much skewed towards those who want to take somebody to court. Which in this case is a good thing. I actually had papers served to me by a COP. Which is why I opened the door to him, I knew they were coming, and I was trying to avoid it, but... cop, I dunno, I felt like it might be something important. They pulled some really cute tricks to get my address too, and harassed my parents about half to death over it.

In this case a little harassment would be pretty well deserved, though.

[Thatgirl71]

Jester, I totally understand what you are going through. My ex-room mate blew off her half of the bills when we both moved out of our apartment last year. I am trying to move into my own apartment and as we all know, most places do credit checks, I get a call from apartment manager stating that an unpaid bill for National Grid (electric company) came up on my credit check/report. Well wouldn't you know ex-room mate that was supposed go and pay her half of the electric bill didnt. If I could kick her ass or take the bitch to court I would. Unfortunately, I trusted the wrong person and I put the electricity in my name and I am stuck for it. I have to go and pay on something I can't afford right now or I won't get the apartment. I really hate liars and users.

I say do what you have to do and go after the bitch for the $$ she owes you.

[Lyse]

Jester, she is probably counting on the fact that you find it more trouble than it's worth and just suck it up. Get her!

[Jester]

Today I sent her a third text, which, as I noted in the text, was my fourth attempt to contact her, with no response from her in the previous three. Much to my surprise, she texted me back. She said she's "busy" today (no idea with what, she doesn't work), but will come by tomorrow to pay me. Of course, she asked to see the bills. Naturally, knowing what a manipulator and con artist she is, I expected that. The most untrustworthy people are generally the least trusting, after all. So I have copies of all the bills, with the account numbers blacked out. Yeah, you might say I don't trust her one damn bit.

I also typed up a handy dandy little sheet detailing and itemizing the bills, breaking it all down and doing the math for her pointy little head. I have no doubt she will double check my math.

I also expect her to bring along some burly guy to act as an Intimidator, probably just with his presence. Since I am not the type to be intimidated, she is going to be very disappointed. I also will not be allowing either of them into the apartment (she will never come in my front door again as long as I draw breath, and probably beyond that time as well), and plan on meeting them in the parking lot, whether they like it or not. I have no doubt that she will bitch about the heat, the sun, the stray cats making her sneeze, the grass, the sky, the world in general, her aches and pains, and probably whatever I am wearing as well, just to be annoying. Whatever. Fuck her.

I texted her back letting her know I would of course have copies of the bills for her, and that we needed to do this in the morning. I did not mention to her that I am going on vacation--that would be all she would need to hear to blow me off in the morning and make me chase her some more when I get back. Which she may well be planning on doing, despite not knowing that I am leaving town for a week.

But even if she blows me off, I will continue to chase her from up north via my phone. If she finally shows up with the money, I will have Mr. Anti-Social provide her with the documents and take the money, and then have him deposit it in my bank. Him I trust to follow my instructions, and to get me that money. I'll merely tell her I'm unavailable for the time she suggests if it happens while I'm away.

I do hope that she actually comes by in the morning, as I am so fed up with this shit.

To add to it, I booked a show for June that will pay me nicely, and the woman had said she would like to get together with me before I leave to both go over the details and pay me in advance, which would really help out my vacation budget! Sadly, I have not heard back from said woman in a couple days. I've known her for years, so I'm not too worried about her backing out on the deal, but I just really want to get my hands on that cash before I leave town.

Before I met the ex-roommate, I never got tension headaches. Now they seem to be a regular thing with me. Grrrr...

[Akasa]

*pours Jester a shot of his favorite rum*

Here you go. To help you relax.

[Jester]

*pours Jester a shot of his favorite rum*

Here you go. To help you relax.

I am very relaxed. Which is what makes me that much more dangerous as far as she is concerned. I am far scarier when I am calm and thinking things through carefully. [insert soft, creepy, evil laughter here]

And I appreciate the thought, but my favorite rum is not cheap. Actually, it's $50 a shot.

That being said, you are brilliant. I think I shall pour myself highball of my favorite rum that I can afford. (Same distillery, different level and age.)