Saturday 30 June 2007

long distance trouble

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Q is sitting at her desk looking quite distraught and sighing loudly, over and over with good cause. The apartment in NYC (the place where you just can’t get one!) is in danger as is the $2000.00 deposit that A had given “the landlady”. Q put up an ad on Craig’s List to sublet the apartment until her arrival in September, because in order to get it they had to pay July and August rents. The tale of how many and how quickly came the queries to that ad is another story all together. They had many possible takers lined up to see the apartment this morning at 1030 hours EST. Their good friend J. who lives in New York was going to show the apartment and screen the candidates for them. Housing is so tight many of these people sent Q their resumes, and some sent photographs! The apartment is unfurnished!

Last night her friend J called after we arrived home at 1900 hours. We had a splendid afternoon of gym, lunch at Paul’s and shopping in Agdal and were ready to sit down, relax, and enjoy our purchases from La Vie en Rose. J tells her she has been unable to contact the landlady – yes the one A gave a check to for $2000.00 of their limited budget. A was on his way into Ghana (the plane was late, duh). Finally late last night he arrives in Ghana, a bit stunned I’m sure, and Q told him the status and that he needed to put a hold on the checks on Monday if it turns out to be some horrid scam. Background: He left Boston to go to NYC and look at the apartments that Q had found through the paper, Craig’s list, and referrals, and sign the lease and put down the deposit. You have to admire a young couple that can work together while over 3000 miles apart. Then he went back to Boston, packed up and left for two months in Ghana for some study for Harvard.

Just before she got A on the telephone Q found their apartment listed on Craig’s list for rent. Da da da dum. However I suggested it could just be an ad still running out its time, the landlady could be out of town (A did NOT get a key. Don’t ask Me?), and it was still early in NYC when she last spoke to J….

Q left it very late last night our time with another call to the landlady saying if they do not hear from her by Monday they will put a hold on the check. It is such a no win situation. If the woman is just off doodling her thumbs somewhere they are still out money every day the apartment sits empty. The worse case scenario is it is some horrid scam, and she is out an apartment when she lands in NYC in September.

I have just sent her back up to bed. She had very little sleep last night, none of it good, and with the time difference there is nothing she can do. She has that horrid defeated look that you get when you know matters are beyond your control – in spite of all the effort you put in to do just that. Ah yes the mother-rage is building. Do you think that woman has ANY idea how fortunate (as in to keep breathing) she is that I am 3000 miles away!? Why do people behave in such fashion? Grrrr
It has fled my mind what ever I was going to write about today. I think it will be a good day for a boxing session at the gym. Uh huh.

18 comments:

Annie said...

I can feel my own tension rising just reading about this situation, how must it be for Q?

Hope it gets resolved soon!

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

Oh I do hope this all works out positively for Q and A. If not, have they considered Putnam, Rockland or Westchester counties or Long Island? Or somewhere else just a little bit outside NYC but within commuting distance? If it's a scam, the police will have to be involved, I should think. It must be easy to run such a scam.

lady macleod said...

WUASTC

Q will be attending graduate school at NYU so she is trying not to get too far out.
I am still hoping the woman is just difficult to reach (yes I know, the eternal optimist), but if it is a scam it is complex as they checked the realty company, faxed leases etc.

Keep hoping.. thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

annie

I think she is better after her nap, but still no word from NYC. Wait and see.
thank you for coming by.

Brillig said...

Oh my gosh, that's so horrid. I can only imagine how frustrating this is. I hope it turns out to be a simple misunderstanding and that everything gets resolved. But if not, DO take pictures of what you do to the landlady...

Anonymous said...

Thats terrible- it is not understandable why people behave so badly!

Morocco Time said...

Oh, the poor girl - I had to arrange for a sublet back home when I was in Morocco, too, so I know how one depends on finding that place to come home to. I hope everything works out - but just give the word, and I'll send some of my mob friends over to pay the landlady a friendly visit... :)

lady macleod said...

brillig

You are so bloodthirsty! I will.

thank you for coming by.


mutleythedog

true and true. thank you and thank you for coming by.


morocco time

Excellent offer, thank you and thank you for coming by.

dulwichmum said...

It all sounds so dreadfully stressful, please join me - would you like some Chablis?

lady macleod said...

dulwichmum

Yes! that would be lovely. I shall be right over.

Omega Mum said...

I remember all that landlord stuff. They were a loathsome crowd. Good luck to her. More wine over here (rioja, this time.....)

jmb said...

Gosh how awful, Lady M. I do hope everything works out all right. When my daughter and her husband went to New York they lived in White Plains which had great train service to NYC. However they did not have to go into town every day. Where she lives now, Croton-on-hudson, many people commute by train every day but it is a bit far out to my mind. It would be wonderful to live in NYC.
I do hope it is just a miscommunication problem and sorted out soon.

jenny said...

Oh oh oh! I DO hope Landlady's cell battery died and it isnt a case of Gone with the Wind... I'll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed!

Andres, JCT said...

punch 'em until you can't punch no more!

lady macleod said...

omega mum

I'm coming over and bringing dulwichmum with me. We will bring flowers to go with the wine..
thank you for coming by.


jmb

Thank you and so do I, the poor thing is understandably distraught. thank you for coming by.


jenny

thank you, and thank you for coming by.

andres carl sena

certainly a motto for hard times!
thank you for coming by.

I Beatrice said...

What a rotten experience for poor Q! I'm sure we all have a useful contact or two in NYC. My own daughter still has links with the corporate banking world there...

Shall we all call 'The Lads' in to go see that woman?

lady macleod said...

i beatrice

hold that thought.
thank you for coming by.

Kim said...

How terrible. I completely sympathize with the situation. Having been the victim of a less than honest landlady myself, I am also enraged for her. My daughter and her dad are in NYC right now. Send me an address and I'll have her taken care of!

Ok, I'm kidding. Kind of.