Due Dates and Late Charges

If this topic was on a map it would be labeled 'here be dragons'.

People will always protest  due dates and late charges. Even if it is something as simple as $10 after the 11th of the month per each month, you would think that with 10 days to pay that it wouldn't be that hard. Right? Yeah, keep believing that and I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

People will protest them and some people will flat out lie about having to pay them. Others have claimed that we must have recently changed the rule because this wasn't like this last month. Or possibly last year. It is hilarious when they try this after only having had the unit for a month or so.

The company I work for used to wave this fee all the time until one of the customers flaunted it to my boss that they always had the fee waved. She had been a customer for some time and claimed that the late fees were new. They did end up waving her fee but told her that we could not do that again for some time. From that point we started waving only one late fee per calender year.

We also had a customer con her way into not paying for two units for three months. In the start her reason for getting him to not charge her? She was planing on moving out and had been there oh so long but couldn't he please just wave this one late fee? She then came in when she couldn't get in due to non-payment and said that he had said she didn't have to pay the full month. He's a nice guy and just agreed. This happened twice more before I finally told him the amount that she had gotten for free and he finally put his foot down. She was not happy with me when he informed her of this when next she came in.

Another time a gentleman came in and said he had paid one unit up and only owed for one. Again my boss gave him the benefit of the doubt. I asked the mentioned coworker and he said that it never happened. The following month he tried it again and I  informed him that he would need to bring in the receipt in order for me to proses that request. He paid up. He is still renting with us and still tries the same thing.

Another gentleman claimed that he was very busy and that he couldn't be bothered with keeping track of due dates. He claimed that he was never told that we didn't send out bills and he was getting bills. Also that it was a ridiculous & other companies sent out bills. I made the mistake of pointing out that what he was getting were notices of non-payment(that said so at the top) and that I was the one that signed up his unit(I actually had to tell him several times and that we could not make an exception). He then demanded that we pay him back his $30 in late fees. He had only paid $20 and when I tried to explain this he started demanding to talk to a manage. Sadly they were out and he had to wait for a call back that he didn't pick up. My boss said to wave this months fee but charge any others that he earns. I can't wait to deal with that call.

And to think so much of this truble is over $10. I feel for the other companies that these people deal with.