Hello /r/personalfinance
Today one of my old roommates received notice from a collections agency that we owed 1547.XX for carpet damage and replacement in our previous dwelling. In calling our old apartment complex he was told the following:
- They no longer have any information on the matter aside from the bill (which they've sent us).
- The bill contains one charge for carpeting for the aforementioned value, with a prepared by date of two months before we moved out, and a printed date of 5 days post moveout.
- The bill was not sent to my roommates provided forwarding address (new apt), but to the address of his parents, which is what was provided when he signed the lease.
This all seemed pretty skeezy, and this being my first time hearing of it, I re-asked the above and received similar answers (except that they'd only sent this bill to him, and not the other two of us on the lease).
We contacted the debt collection agency who sent the notice, and they provided pictures of the carpet (which do not show any damage that exceeds normal wear and tear) and a walkout checklist which only notes "matting" in the two locations. Additionally, they provided us with a document we signed when we originally moved in, which states : "Normal wear and tear is to be expected... and that the carpet was replaced the week before we moved in, and the total cost of carpet replacement is 1477.xx, and that there is a lifespan of 5 years, meaning they could only charge for the remaining 4 years of use, accounting for 1181.XX.
I'd like to dispute the entire sum on the following basis:
- The " heavy traffic matting" referenced in the bill represents "normal wear and tear."
- Even if someone was completely blind, and determined it was beyond, "normal wear and tear" then the sections of carpet deemed "matted" and requiring replacement was far smaller than the amount replaced, and we should only be responsible for the portion of carpet which they considered "damaged beyond repair"
- That even if someone was not only completely blind, but they also were experiencing severe mental handicaps, and determined the entire carpet of the apartment needed replacement, that the only allowable portion of the debt based off of the previous documentation is the 1181.xx.
How should I approach this?
Additionally, the pictures of the "damage" are dated 6 days after the letter was "printed", and 9 days after the initial inspection. See the "damage" attached : https://imgur.com/a/qsVYx48
Nothing has appeared to my mail/credit as of yet, but I'd like to nip this in the bud.
Edit- Country of Origin is USA
Submitted March 08, 2021 at 06:10PM by AtomicArchitecht https://ift.tt/3rtuoEp
