02 July 2001
Incompetence and Accountability
I hate incompetence. I hate having to threaten, beg, and cajole people to do their jobs. I hate giving people every opportunity to achieve some level of mediocrity only for them to fail miserably. But that's what I've been up to today. Specifically, I've been trying to resolve the following problems:
1) The USPS has yet to forward ANY of my mail
2) The real estate firm that manages the old apartment has yet to refund my security deposit
3) My insurance company has yet to cut me a check to repair my flood-damaged truck
In the first instance, I have made two phone calls to the postal service, and two complaints online. The postal service assures me that my change of address is "in the system." I have indeed received my "welcome packet" at the new address. Just no forwarded mail! I did change over all of my critical mail (credit cards, bills, etc), but I am certain that I have not managed to change every single address that anyone anywhere has for me! Yet the postal service cannot seem to tell my why I am not getting my mail. Dumbasses.
In the second instance, under Texas law a landlord must refund a security deposit within 30 days of a property being surrendered and terms of the lease being satisfied, or give notice within the same time why security deposit is being withheld. The incompetent real estate firm that managed my old place has done neither, so I've sent them a letter and filed a Better Business Bureau complaint. Interestingly, I can take them to Justice of the Peace court and recover up to three times the deposit plus court fees. I would prefer, however, that they just send the deposit and not waste my time that way. Dumbasses.
In the third instance, the insurance adjuster finally took the time to return my calls tonight, after I finally had the national office page the bastard. He lied and told me he tried to call my cell phone earlier today, then he lied and told me he had not received the damage estimate from my mechanic (sent a week ago, and the reason I have been calling and leaving messages for the bastard to call me and verify he had received it). I know my mechanic sent the thing, but I'll have him fax the bastard about 10 copies tomorrow. Meanwhile, my truck will continue to sit in front of the apartment. It makes a lovely street ornament. Dumbasses.
The problem in all of the cases but the second is I have no remedy, because the people whose incompetence is affecting me cannot be held directly accountable for their actions (or lack thereof). The postal service has so many points at which incompetence could have lost my mail (and apparently four queries about the problem) that there is no real remedy, and it's unlikely anyone would be held responsible by supervisors anyway (for fear of the circumstance "going postal"). There is no reason for the supervisor of the insurance adjuster to take my word over his, since EVERYONE bitches constantly about insurance service and I could just be a crackpot; the adjuster wouldn't even bother me so much if he would just tell me he was working on higher priority items (like people who lost entire homes) instead of lying to me. I'm basically screwed, at the mercy of people who are incompetent, don't give a shit, and can't be held accountable.
The real estate firm, on the other hand, can be held accountable. And if my irritation over the other two items doesn't improve, my time may become less of an issue than my psychological satisfaction in taking the bastards to court and winning three times the security deposit in judgment. We'll see.
[Posted @ 09:50 PM CST]
