this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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I'm just a regular person making about $70K a year in a big city, and I've recently felt incredibly powerless dealing with private companies. For instance, my landlord’s auto-pay system had a glitch that excluded my pet rent and water bill. I ended up with over $1,000 in late fees. Despite hours on the phone, it turns out their system doesn’t really do auto-pay and requires a fixed amount instead of covering the full rent. It feels like a scam, and my options are to pay the fees or potentially spend a fortune on legal action.

Another frustrating experience was trying to cancel my pest control service. I had to endure a 40-minute call followed by 35 minutes of arguing, just to finally cancel. There’s no online cancellation option, and the process felt like a timeshare sales pitch.

Why do ordinary people seem so unprotected against these shady practices, and how can we change this? How does one person even start to address these issues?

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[–] fiend_unpleasant@piefed.social 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

everytime I start telling people how to make guillotines everyone gets upset and says that they really didn't solutions they meant.. like... bandaids

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 1 points 2 months ago

Have you seen the price of timber these days?

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 0 points 2 months ago

Join a radical militia or leave.

[–] Grayox@lemmy.ml -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

No that hasn't worked either. We need something new, not ideals from before the existence of the transistor.

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com -1 points 2 months ago (4 children)

The unfortunate fact is it is a dog eat dog world, and corporations can and will fuck you over. Maintain a budget, maintain an emergency fund of $10k or 6 months living expenses (whichever is bigger) and be prepared to be screwed over so that when it does happen you don't find yourself up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

On top of this, as an additional safety net, build a friend group and build a culture within your friend group of helping each other. One friend getting a surgery? Offer to cook for them, or bring them some precooked meals. A friend stuck on the side of the road, offer to come help, even if it's just as emotional support.

I started this process a few months ago so I'm in a better position now that my work has announced that they're relocating across the country and basically everyone is losing their jobs over the next 3-9 months. It would've been more convenient if this happened a year later, but it is what it is so now I have to shape my next steps and move forwards

[–] BallsandBayonets@lemmings.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A $10k emergency fund? Even banks don't carry enough cash these days for a working class person to be able to rob a bank to have that kind of money.

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[–] beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone -3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Personally I'd recommend focusing your time and energy on the things you can control. As an individual, there is nothing you can do alone about it. If you feel strongly enough about it you could join or start an advocacy organization about the part of the problem you find most galling. But the truth is unless enough people both want change and are motivated to take action to get it the world will continue its decline unchecked.

Volunteer if you can, but try not to let it get to you. The impersonal brutality of our world sucks butts. Some horny french guy would tell you that life is absurd. If everyone agreed we shouldn't burn fossil fuels, we wouldn't. But we can't ever all agree about anything. Most landlords aren't malicious, they just don't understand how their greed affects others and don't care enough to try. The horny french guy's drinking buddy and metamore would say you can only laugh at the absurdity of existing at all. If you look hard enough the entire universe seems in on how fucked we all. Do what you can, but find something else that makes it bother you less (like a hobby, not a meth habit). I like writing weird stuff and being the model maliciously compliant tenant.

You totally have a move with the landlord. Follow the rules of your lease chapter and verse. I bet there is a specific clause in there about you being responsible for any unreported maintenance issues. And there is also a clause saying something about the landlord's responsibility to perform maintenance. There is usually some wiggle room, but there is probably like a two week window in which the landlord is required to fix any issues with their building.

Report everything. Get on a first name basis with the maintenance folks and whoever answers the phone for your landlord. I had a roach problem because my next door neighbor was a hoarder and left my landlord voicemails every night updating them on all the new locations I have found roaches and my efforts to eradicate them myself. Once the roaches were dealt with my landlord was very willing to overlook those maintenance fees because it's cheaper than court.

Edit: and was probably grateful not to deal with that tenant.

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[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world -3 points 2 months ago
[–] ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works -4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Reading the comments here and it sounds like the only solution for people with first world problems who earn a good salary is violent revolution. Utterly deranged.

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