Complaint letter to landlord

This story takes place in early 2000s. My dad is a plumber with his own small company; they signed to do plumbing to a new construction of 3 townhouses built by his mates (let's call him "Bob") company.
These houses were built on slope of a hill. From the beginning, one of the neighbors directly above the site was vehemently against these houses since they would affect his view. He went full Karen "protecting" his precious view of ...a street. Not waterfront, fields or forest. A regular, suburban street. The Karen was an engineer and worked in city district planning, meaning that while he had no legal basis for his complaints, he was very efficient at generating complaints, delays and pushing for additional review. To put it plainly, guy was an absolute pain in the butt. For a giant construction conglomerate that might have not been a problem, but a bunch of local small businesses, the delays were almost catastrophic.
One of Mr Karen's demands was that the slope of the roof should be flattened, lowering the buildings by around 4 feet. It doesn't sound so unreasonable, until you take in to account this was up north and there was heavy snow every winter. No or insufficient slope would mean the snow would build up, causing heavy extra burden on the roof and requiring manual removal. Karen suggested they build some sort of weird pump system to remove snow; this would greatly increase costs, and was weird and unnecessary of you just built a roof suitable to local climate. And this guy was an engineer who really should know better.
But here's where Mr Karen fucked up. He sent that demand from work, using the official city letterhead and his full name and title. One day, my father's friend Bob (the builder), was at a builders convention. And who does he see at a booth if not Mr Karen's boss? He whips out this letter and walks up to Mr. Boss and asks him, if this really is the city's official take on their project. Mr Boss was very interested to see this letter and had a nice little chat with Bob.
Soon after, the complains stopped. There were no delays and construction got moving. Turns out, Mr Karen had way overstepped; he lost his high-paying job at the city and ended up moving away soon after the houses were finished. My dad ended up liking the place so much he moved his family there, and we lived there happily for next 17 years, having great views of the house that Mr Karen didn't live in anymore.

I think I may have a case of disability discrimination and retaliation because my employer fired me shortly after I showed my supervisor a note stating that I re-aggravated my herniated back injury and the doctor "feels that I should limit my walking and bending for the next two weeks". The problem was I was still on probation and apparently was only on month 5 of 12. I was employed by a large government agency of more than 500 employees.
I have sent details of my case to numerous employment attorneys in my area and have gotten some responses, with one offering to represent me and sending me a retainer where they would earn 40% of the award amount, no retainer fee, and a section stating that if the agreement is terminated before a decision is made by either party for reasons listed such as not disclosing material facts, not agreeing to a settlement, I fail to pay fees and expenses, I make it unethical and difficult to continue representation, or other "Just Cause". I am also able to terminate it at any time for any reason, and if the agreement is terminated before a decision is reached, then I would be responsible for the work that the firm has put in and pay them for their hourly rates as well as all the fees associated.
I have done some research online and found out that sometimes these cases will take a long time, sometimes as long as 14 months, after viewing other lawyers' and firms' case results on their websites. I am afraid that they will drag this out and then I would be responsible for all the fees and hours they have put in and having a false sense of hope that my case can be successful. Are these types of cases usually decided in one court hearing? If so, maybe I can try it out and see if they can win for me after one court hearing, and if they don't they I can terminate the agreement and just pay them for trying one time.
Or am I looking at this the wrong way and the fact that I was offered such a great deal from a firm (no retainer fee, they will only get paid a percentage if they win or the agreement is terminated early) mean that my case is really strong?
I also asked them if I should go and do my interview with the EEOC because I have submitted a complaint and they explicitly told me not to do this. Is this because they don't want it to go to the EEOC where I can have a chance of mediation with my employer thereby resolving this case before they can take it on and potentially drag it out like I described above?
How many of you were able to resolve a simple case discrimination case like this without the help of a lawyer? When is a lawyer really even needed? Should I not follow their advice and go to my interview with the EEOC anyways? I also live in New York and have already submitted a complaint with the NYSDHR where I have received a letter back in the mail stating that I a case number and filed a charge already. They asked to send me a picture of the front page which has the case number to them, which I did.

I think I may have a case of disability discrimination and retaliation because my employer fired me shortly after I showed my supervisor a note stating that I re-aggravated my herniated back injury and the doctor "feels that I should limit my walking and bending for the next two weeks". The problem was I was still on probation and apparently was only on month 5 of 12. I was employed by a large government agency of more than 500 employees.
I have sent details of my case to numerous employment attorneys in my area and have gotten some responses, with one offering to represent me and sending me a retainer where they would earn 40% of the award amount, no retainer fee, and a section stating that if the agreement is terminated before a decision is made by either party for reasons listed such as not disclosing material facts, not agreeing to a settlement, I fail to pay fees and expenses, I make it unethical and difficult to continue representation, or other "Just Cause". I am also able to terminate it at any time for any reason, and if the agreement is terminated before a decision is reached, then I would be responsible for the work that the firm has put in and pay them for their hourly rates as well as all the fees associated.
I have done some research online and found out that sometimes these cases will take a long time, sometimes as long as 14 months, after viewing other lawyers' and firms' case results on their websites. I am afraid that they will drag this out and then I would be responsible for all the fees and hours they have put in and having a false sense of hope that my case can be successful. Are these types of cases usually decided in one court hearing? If so, maybe I can try it out and see if they can win for me after one court hearing, and if they don't they I can terminate the agreement and just pay them for trying one time.
Or am I looking at this the wrong way and the fact that I was offered such a great deal from a firm (no retainer fee, they will only get paid a percentage if they win or the agreement is terminated early) mean that my case is really strong? By the way, I have not sent them my entire case details but they have still offered to represent me and sent me a retainer, which I find rather odd. Should I interpret this as a positive thing, they believe I have a strong case just from my very brief description, or negative, they are offering to represent me and sent me a retainer before knowing all the details in hopes that I will accept it because I am a noob and may drag it out or terminate last minute therefore making me have to pay all the work they have put in.
I also asked them if I should go and do my interview with the EEOC because I have submitted a complaint and they explicitly told me not to do this. Is this because they don't want it to go to the EEOC where I can have a chance of mediation with my employer thereby resolving this case before they can take it on and potentially drag it out like I described above?
How many of you were able to resolve a simple case discrimination case like this without the help of a lawyer? When is a lawyer really even needed? Should I not follow their advice and go to my interview with the EEOC anyways? I also live in New York and have already submitted a complaint with the NYSDHR where I have received a letter back in the mail stating that I a case number and filed a charge already. They asked to send me a picture of the front page which has the case number to them, which I did.

Several weeks ago, I ordered a controller for my sister’s gift from Dareu, and the item ended up stolen. I contacted the seller, and they gave me the local carrier that delivered my item. So, I check in with them and told them the situation.
After that, they followed up with an email after investigating my case. Here it is:
Dear [Recipient],

Thank you for contacting the United States Postal Service. Your concerns have been brought to the attention of our Consumer Affairs office. We are in receipt of your complaint regarding your missing Item [Item #] After a thorough investigation, the station has verified that the carrier scanned and delivered the package on 4/30/2024. We apologize for the non-receipt of your package, possible theft.
For the resolution, we recommend you contact the sender of your item immediately. You can supply them with a copy of this letter as proof that you filed an inquiry of non-receipt to the USPS. The sender can use this letter as supporting documentation to file a claim at www.usps.com/help/claims.htm. As a matter of courtesy, this letter is being provided to the customer to use should they experience a problem with a mailecreditor. Past experiences have shown that many providers will reimburse, or penalties are waived

Please accept our sincerest apology for any trouble this may have caused you. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you again in the future.

Sincerely,
[Sender]
Complaints & Inquiry.
From this point I message the seller and the following happens:
So it would seem that my package was stolen. I have this message direct from the USPS, and would like to receive a refund for this order. I apologize if this has caused inconveniences. Hope to hear from you soon.
Best, [Me]
[Seller]
Hello, thank you for your reply, sorry to hear this, it is news we did not want to receive, but the logistics company admitted their mistake anyway. The logistics provider can compensate. We are now submitting evidence to require the logistics provider to compensate, but please cooperate with us in canceling the PayPal dispute. Once you cancel, we will immediately issue a full refund according to your original payment method, and then you can place an order again. Buy. Otherwise we will have to submit evidence for explanation, please understand.
[Me]
Hello again,
Thank you for your prompt response and willingness to issue a full refund for the stolen package. Given the circumstances and the guidance from USPS, I am eager to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.
However, I am concerned about closing the PayPal dispute before receiving the refund, as it is a safeguard to ensure that the transaction is resolved fairly. I propose the following:

1. Issue the Refund Through PayPal: You can process the refund directly through PayPal. Once I receive confirmation of the refund, I will immediately close the dispute.
2. Mutual Resolution: By handling the refund through PayPal, we can ensure that both parties are protected, and the resolution is documented appropriately.

Please let me know if this solution works for you. I appreciate your understanding and cooperation in resolving this matter.
Best regards, [Me]
[Seller] Hello, that's not the case, because you have already initiated a dispute. If I refund directly, it will be a loss of the dispute, so our account will be banned, so you need to cancel the dispute first, and then we will refund, so that our account It won’t be banned! Because the problem is now with the logistics provider. Even if we submit evidence to each other in Paypal, the logistics provider will pay the compensation, but this requires us to spend time waiting, and the method I suggest you is beneficial to both of us. It’s more efficient, and if we don’t refund you after you cancel, you can still use our email records to report us, so don’t worry!
When you cancel the dispute, we will refund the money immediately. You can rest assured because we have email records. We are just reducing the dispute rate of our collection account. Once the disputes increase, the merchant will ban our collection account, so please you understand
[Me] Hello,
I wanted to let you know that I have escalated the issue to PayPal for resolution. I understand your concerns about the impact of disputes on your account, but I believe this is the best way to ensure a fair and secure resolution for both of us. By escalating the dispute, we can work with PayPal to resolve the matter efficiently and ensure that both parties are protected. I appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
Thank you, [Me]
[Seller] Then we can only submit evidence, and we need to wait until we submit relevant evidence before we can proceed with the next steps. If we win this dispute, you will need to file compensation with the logistics yourself.
//END
I myself am unsure of what to do right now. I want to let PayPal help me settle this dispute, as I have email evidence directly from the USPS in regard to my missing item. Yet, at the same time they're offering me a refund only if I take down the dispute which is risky. Any thoughts on what I should do y'all?

I think I may have a case of disability discrimination and retaliation because my employer fired me shortly after I showed my supervisor a note stating that I re-aggravated my herniated back injury and the doctor "feels that I should limit my walking and bending for the next two weeks". The problem was I was still on probation and apparently was only on month 5 of 12. I was employed by a large government agency of more than 500 employees.
I have sent details of my case to numerous employment attorneys in my area and have gotten some responses, with one offering to represent me and sending me a retainer where they would earn 40% of the award amount, no retainer fee, and a section stating that if the agreement is terminated before a decision is made by either party for reasons listed such as not disclosing material facts, not agreeing to a settlement, I fail to pay fees and expenses, I make it unethical and difficult to continue representation, or other "Just Cause". I am also able to terminate it at any time for any reason, and if the agreement is terminated before a decision is reached, then I would be responsible for the work that the firm has put in and pay them for their hourly rates as well as all the fees associated.
I have done some research online and found out that sometimes these cases will take a long time, sometimes as long as 14 months, after viewing other lawyers' and firms' case results on their websites. I am afraid that they will drag this out and then I would be responsible for all the fees and hours they have put in and having a false sense of hope that my case can be successful. Are these types of cases usually decided in one court hearing? If so, maybe I can try it out and see if they can win for me after one court hearing, and if they don't they I can terminate the agreement and just pay them for trying one time.
Or am I looking at this the wrong way and the fact that I was offered such a great deal from a firm (no retainer fee, they will only get paid a percentage if they win or the agreement is terminated early) mean that my case is really strong? By the way, I have not sent them my entire case details but they have still offered to represent me and sent me a retainer, which I find rather odd. Should I interpret this as a positive thing, they believe I have a strong case just from my very brief description, or negative, they are offering to represent me and sent me a retainer before knowing all the details in hopes that I will accept it because I am a noob and may drag it out or terminate last minute therefore making me have to pay all the work they have put in.
I also asked them if I should go and do my interview with the EEOC because I have submitted a complaint and they explicitly told me not to do this. Is this because they don't want it to go to the EEOC where I can have a chance of mediation with my employer thereby resolving this case before they can take it on and potentially drag it out like I described above?
How many of you were able to resolve a simple case discrimination case like this without the help of a lawyer? When is a lawyer really even needed? Should I not follow their advice and go to my interview with the EEOC anyways? I also live in New York and have already submitted a complaint with the NYSDHR where I have received a letter back in the mail stating that I a case number and filed a charge already. They asked to send me a picture of the front page which has the case number to them, which I did.

Hey everyone figured I come to reddit for help here is my dilemma, I have lived in the current building I lived in for almost 40 years. I am dealing with an issue where my landlord doesn't provide hot water constantly as in the water will be cold during late night hours or it will be luke warm.
I started to keep a log of it and made numerous 311 calls HPD has come by and issued summonses. Also after I make my complaint I make a video with my phone showing the complaint number and I actually take a temperature reading of the hot water being cold. I have tried talking to the management company, and the building manager and still nothing. We have a live in Super who is as useless as wet toilet paper I have had major issues with him in the past and for my well being its better I don't approach him.
I would like to know what are my legal options in this situation? Should I put rent in escrow and give the landlord notice and fight in court for a rent reduction? I did some research and found a form to submit to court to request a rent reduction to lack of hot water / heat. I feel that is my best option this has been going on for way too long I wanna build up a strong case against my landlord.
I appreciate any help or advice thanks in advance.

Can anyone confirm if a written letter for gossiping is a thing?
To confirm, I work in a childcare centre. I overheard a conversation between 2ic and a colleague where the colleague was complaining about another colleague in her room. I approached the room leader of both said colleagues and said “what the hell is going on down there, I never had a problem with colleague (the colleague who was being spoken about) because someone was making a complaint about her” She then went on to tell she had zero idea of any concerns and she was no longer (as of the night before) the room leader.
I, that night sent my director an email and explained the WHOLE situation, also explaining I had been to comfort the colleague as she was crying as the one making a complaint about her was bullying her. She told me while it was good I told her she was disgusted at my behaviour of approaching (who I thought) was the room leader.
I did not discuss this with anyone else, I did not talk in front of anyone else, I was genuinely concerned about my friend.
Now a week later the director has had a meeting with me and explained I will be getting a written letter which I will need to sign. I said I couldn’t not sign it as I admitted guilt in the letter, but was not happy as I didn’t think I broke any rules as I didn’t call this gossiping.
I am a 30 something yo woman who has never worked in this industry before going to university and I feel like I’ve been targeted as a genuinely thought I was talking to the right person.

Looking for some info from anyone who has filled a complaint. I live next to a dog who goes outside several times a night to exercise its vocal chords.
I filled out an online complaint form and a letter was sent. The dog has calmed down slightly but it really would be nice if it would just stfu totally between 10pm and 7am
The next steps state that if the barking doesn't rectify after a couple weeks you can get further investigation by paying $80, tracking the time/frequency and duration of noise for 2 weeks which sounds like a pain especially middle of the night. They also state an officer is sent out to listen to the noise, they don't work weekends so I reckon they also won't be sat there listening at midnight.
Just wondering if anyone has gone through the steps or has any suggestions. I wear earplugs but can still hear the silly dog.

I have been reading a lot of posts that speak of how students' condescend tutors, and thought I should mention this, in case it is of any value:
I am married to a Korean who, from the outside, has a decent job and a decent salary. But he, like many of our students on Cambly, works over 12 hours a day and sometimes even weekends and long travels. I once sat down and divided his salary by the number of hours he works, and quickly realized that his hourly pay is less than mine. I am always amazed by his work ethic, but I was honestly grateful at this realization. Regardless of my complaints concerning my role as a tutor, I think I needed to remember that I still get to have authority over my time and that being a tutor allows me to do multiple things at once. Of course, there are benefits to the white collar jobs--like stability, opportunity for growth, being able to get a recommendation letter, and so on--and this is not to say one is better than the other, but goodness, we are no less than most of our students (especially those from far east Asia).
Since then, I find it humorous when a student says anything with a condescending tone.
Sorry if this is redundant... I thought it could help someone who is struggling with those sighs of pity and the deigning question of: "is this your only job?" There is no need to feel ashamed. You're doing great :)

Posting from Missouri (Kansas City metro) Okay so.... first post on here so this might be too much info or too much context, but I didn't want to leave anything out. I need advice on what I can or should do. Also my dad is not wanting to file charges because "it's done and over with" when I feel it shouldn't have gone this way at all. UNSURE OF WHICH TAG TO USE SO I JUST PUT OTHER CIVIL MATTER.
For context, I live next door to my parents. The neighbors across from us have been having "family friends" (older couple and younger couple) living with them for close to or over a year now. It was supposed to be 3 months. We never had problems with the owners of the home and didn't have any with the "family friends" until about a month ago. The older man had the home owners son go get a lawnmower from another neighbors yard that had just moved out. My dad made the comment to the older man to not teach the kid to go into people's yards and take stuff, regardless of if they are living there or not. The older man got an attitude with my dad and it was over from that point. Or so we thought...
Within the past few days, the house the lawnmower was taken from has been cleared out into a big dumpster. My dad had permission from the landlord to throw out an old, broken recliner and a few smaller things. I helped my dad load everything into his truck because he has multiple health conditions that prevents him from being able to do much. While we're loading the truck, the neighbors son was going through the dumpster, which we don't care about because it was all trash and dumpster diving is not illegal here if it's off private property (it was on the street). The older man started walking down the street to go through everything he found. The whole time he's walking down the street, he was talking crap, saying "I'm not stealing" or something about stealing, and continued when he was standing next to the dumpster. We finish loading everything and go down to put it in the dumpster. My dad gets out and asked the older man why he was talking crap the whole time he was outside. The older man denied saying anything until my dad said we heard him saying something about not stealing. The older man immediately starts saying he said that because he's not stealing. My dad continued to tell him that what he's doing now isn't stealing, but going onto someone's property and taking something is. Everything escalated from there.
The older man immediately started to get loud with my dad and walking towards my dad aggressively. He's saying things like "I've had a heart attack. If you touch me, you're going to jail." and "I'm from New York." (Don't know if that was supposed to scare us or not) while in my dad's face. My fiancée kind of walked towards them to not let it go too far. She says something to him and he tells her "watch your lip, girl." I'm not going to stand for ANYONE disrespect her like that so I told him "don't fucking talk to her like that." and "I'm not going to let you disrespect her like that." He didn't like that. He's still running his mouth the whole time and blaming the lawnmower incident on the kid. He said "yeah I'll blame it on the kid, I'm 71 years old" I couldn't make out the rest. My fiancée said "exactly you're 71 so grow the fuck up." He yelled at her to "shut the fuck up, girl" so my fiancée yelled "you're a grown ass man talking to me like that." My dad is in-between them the whole time because the older man is trying to aggressively walk towards her the whole time. The older man then starts to try to push my dad out of the way to get to my fiancée. My dad tells him to back the fuck up as he's pushing the older man's arm off. The older man then pushes my dad so my fiancée swings on him. She didn't hit him (besides maybe like a single finger, we cant tell) because my dad was pushing her back.
The guy then pulls a knife out and takes the blade out fully, as he's yelling for help. Everyone immediately backs away from the guy as he is aggressively following my dad. The guy then turns his attention towards my fiancée and I, turning to come after us, so my dad pushes him away from us. The whole time he has the knife out, he's screaming at us and saying "that fucking lesbian bitch hit me." The younger couple are pulling up the street at the same time the guy starts walking home. The younger guy got the older guy to go home. The younger woman screamed at us "shut the fuck up. You're just pissed you cant grow a dick." My dad needed oxygen so I missed a little bit of what happened right after.
The cops were called and he went back home. The homeowner and his wife were apologizing to us while we were waiting on the cops. My little sister got on recording the guy coming after us with the knife, but not what lead up to the knife being pulled. I had to go get my dad's ID and the older woman comes outside and says "I want them to come up here because we're pressing charges." I replied to her "they'll be up here. Don't worry." She then screams at me "Oh shut the fuck up you lesbian bitch." I just brush it off and get what I need. Both cops got part of our side before one went up the get the other guys side. The cop that stayed with us saw the video my sister took. The cop then went to my dad's neighbors that had a camera pointing towards the incident. That camera view shows my dad's back and the cop said it looked like my dad pushed him first, that we were in the wrong. The older man said that he was trying to walk away. We told them multiple times that my dad did not push him first and that there were cameras on the house directly across from where this all happened. The cop was yelling at us, calling us liars, that video doesn't lie and that one video is all she needs to see. We just dropped it because the cop told us that if they are called back within 48 hours, everyone in the video is going to be arrested.
We then talk to our neighbors that showed the cop the security video and the cop only watched up until the first push. She IMMEDIATELY made up her mind and saw us at fault. We then got video from the other neighbors and it shows that my dad was pushed first. You can see him trying to push my dad out of the way to get to my fiancée, not trying to walk away. We have the proof that my dad did not push first. We also have video of how the cop was talking to us, which was very out of line in my opinion. I told my dad that bare minimum, a complaint on the officer needs to be made.
Should we go to the police station to file charges with ALL the evidence or just drop it? Any advice would help because I don't want to feel this unsafe in my home. I didn't realize that they felt so much hate towards my fiancée and I because they have been nice to us or just didn't talk to us in the past. I've never had to deal with neighbors being this way towards me or us.

As the title states, (and despite the existential risk to myself - as I am disabled, impoverished, and my survival is reliant on the room I rent in her attic - given her recent threat to have have me thrown out by the police because she could not handle the feelings she had during the argument that she initiated), I have finally drawn a bright red line in the metaphorical sand regarding her treatment of me. This is the culmination of 8+ years of sustained, one-sided, unreciprocated, and unsuccessful effort on my part to sustain, salvage, repair, or improve our "relationship"
 
I've learned a lot from the stories and people on this subreddit, and I know if anyone can understand the way that I'm feeling about this it's you guys.
 
Any input, commentary, criticism, insight, commiseration, etc, is very welcome, and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read it.
 
Anyways, enough preamble, here's the letter in all of my ridiculously-verbose inglory (the square-bracketed disclaimers, etc, were part of the letter as delivered to her, since she is selective illiterate whenever there's something she doesn't like):
 
[START]
 
[This document begins with a 382 word AI-generated summary (titled "AI- GENERATED SUMMARY:" below the square-bracketed opening remarks), estimated at 1m23s time required to read. If you are unable or unwilling to make it through even this brief summary, then there is literally nothing else I could possibly do to assist in your comprehension of my positions. The full message following the summary is approximately 2100 words, estimated at approximately 8 minutes to read.]
 
[If you would like assistance in understanding things I've written that you're struggling to interpret or comprehend, you can go to chatgpt.com (no account necessary), or download the ChatGPT app from the Google Play Store on your phone. You can simply interact with the chat in natural language (in other words, type as though you were texting another person) and it will understand what you are saying. If you are struggling to understand how to interact with it effectively, you can simply inform it of that (in any wording you choose) and it will assist you with altering your approach to receive more effective results.]
 
AI-GENERATED SUMMARY:
 
Your son's message is a powerful declaration of his boundaries, grievances, and intentions within your relationship. Here's a breakdown to help you understand:
 
Preface: He advises you to read with an open mind and, if needed, with assistance due to the emotional complexity.
 
Declaration of Disengagement: He firmly states his decision to disengage from any form of interaction or acknowledgment outside of essential landlord-tenant matters.
 
Condemnation of Abuse: He accuses you of perpetuating a cycle of abuse that has deeply impacted his health and stability.
 
Rejection of Coercion: He dismisses the idea that being evicted is a viable solution to the abuse, highlighting the coercive nature of such a choice, and how it leaves him vulnerable to further harm.
 
Criticism of Your Behavior: He unreservedly condemns your actions, particularly your exploitation and manipulation, emphasizing the gravity and effects of your conduct.
 
Challenges to Your Claims: He directly confronts your claims regarding his efforts in the relationship, asserting that he has consistently made extensive attempts to maintain it, despite your accusations to the contrary.
 
Commitment to Compliance: He unequivocally affirms his commitment to compliance with all landlord-related demands, demonstrating his unwavering respect for your authority as the homeowner.
 
Demand for Clarity: He demands clear and unambiguous knowledge of the requisite terms when any changes to living arrangement paradigms are demanded, underscoring his willingness to comply with any directives you may issue.
 
Defense Against Gaslighting: He firmly asserts his unwavering commitment to respecting your property and authority, preemptively refuting any attempts to accuse him otherwise.
 
Insights into Your Behaviour: He offers insights into patterns in your behaviour, linking them to moments of vulnerability or distress in your life.
 
Call for Self-Reflection: He urges you to seek professional help for your narcissism and unresolved childhood traumas.
 
Caution Regarding Gravity: He states that failing to address your responsibilities would be a missed opportunity for both of you to salvage the relationship and resolve underlying issues.
 
Reiteration of Hope: Despite his current stance, he leaves the door open for reconciliation if you undergo necessary personal growth.
 
Closure on Unequal Effort: He firmly states that he can no longer sustain the one-sided effort in the relationship and won't continue to do so.
 
It's evident that he's deeply hurt and demanding acknowledgment, change, and resolution in your relationship.
 
[end of AI-generated summary; my full, non-AI-generated message follows below]
 
[I recommend that you read this in its entirety at a time and capacity level where your literacy and comprehension are at their highest level, and preferably with the interpretational assistance of a knowledgeable and competent support person or technological assistant.]
 
[Presumably, after reading a few sentences or less, your defense mechanisms will be activated and you will eject. However, as with the vast majority of the things I have said to you that have gone unacknowledged, I am completely certain that the contents are cogent and comprehensible, and I believe that with competent support and vulnerable effort you undoubtedly have the raw cognitive capacity necessary for comprehension if you are able to stabilize your emotional reactions and put real effort into the actions necessary for you to understand my words.]
 
I will not talk to you.
I will not look at you.
I will not approach you.
I will not acknowledge you.
 
If you attempt to interact with me on any interpersonal level not related to your role as a landlord, I will reserve the right to express just how fucking despicable it is to treat such a vulnerable person with such utter disregard and abuse for so fucking long.
 
The cycle of abuse you have maintained to destabilize me for your own pathological reasons has caused - and continues to cause - extensive damage to my health, stability, and existence. However, since I know your response to this would likely be some variation of "you're not a victim here [my name], so if I treat you so bad, just leave", I'll preemptively and unequivocally condemn such coercive and abusive tactics, and state again (as I did the other day), that the forced choice between your abuse and life-threatening-homelessness is obviously no choice at all, and leaves me perpetually subject to your coercion and abusive control.
 
Such exploitation by you is absolutely disgusting, and honestly I understand why you run away from yourself at every single instance where you're in danger of having your lifelong house-of-cards ego even slightly threatened. I know if I treated another human being the way you treat me for even a moment, let alone for the literal years you have done so, I would not be able to face myself in the mirror either. You should be fucking ashamed of yourself.
 
You say I "don't want to be your son anymore", as though it has been someone other than me making hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of efforts and attempts in order to try and single-handedly keep our relationship alive, and as though it has been someone other than you who has stonewalled me for years about every single legitimate and valid time I attempted to gain even the slightest foothold as a full human being in the owner-pet relationship you have fought so hard to maintain. You siphon, in fact demand, emotional supply whenever you so choose, and then fucking discard me as soon as it appears that I might do anything that would result in you losing even a fraction of a percent of the 99% to 1% imbalance you believe is an immutable part of our "relationship".
 
I will do my absolute best to be in my room as much as physically possible when you are home, so as to minimize the need to be physically adjacent to you in the course of our respective activities of daily living.
 
I, again, remain unequivocally committed to my position of deference and compliance towards any rules/demands related to my existence, presence, or activities as your tenant.
 
As you refuse to provide any sort of unambiguous guidance or clarification whatsoever regarding your shifting demands affecting my ability to access/perform basic activities of daily living, I will continue to act in good faith with respect to my adherence to all previously-established arrangements and protocols (whether codified or de facto) regarding such activities. To the full extent of my abilities, and to the extent that it is physically possible, I will immediately and unequivocally comply with any alterations, additions, or excisions you choose to impose regarding the nature of our physical coexistence as landlord and tenant, regardless of your disregard or intent for any harm to my stability that will ensue as a result.
 
If you intend to attempt to manipulate or threaten or gaslight me to illegitimately and dishonestly accuse me of failing to comply with your rights and demands as the homeownelandlord, then I can assure you that such efforts will be ineffective and inadvisable. The extensive history of my genuine, documented, and unwavering commitment to absolute respect of your home, property, and landlord-tenant authority is unassailable, and nothing has or will change about the good faith nature of my efforts to simply live peacefully and work on stabilizing my health and continuing to attempt to develop basic protocols that offer me the opportunity to seek the ways and means required to sustainably exist, survive, and seek meaning and fulfilment as a human being.
 
To try and make it a bit more bite-sized (without warranty as to the efficacy of said efforts), since I know when your ego is threatened you conveniently - and dishonestly - become completely unable to read a couple thousand words:
 

• I have never been more disgusted by the actions of anyone or anything more in my entire fucking existence.

 

• I will continue to be an absolute model tenant, despite the harmful effects of your constant abuse, and I will unequivocally comply with any demands you make with your authority as my landlord. I will explicitly and aggressively defend against any attempts to gaslight me, or attempt to dishonestly accuse me of failing to comply with any such demands.

 

• Feel free at anytime in your life to decide that maybe it might be time to face the fact that - though skillful in your delusion - you are the same scared child you were 40 years ago, and if you ever want to truly and meaningfully experience what it's like to be secure with yourself beneath the false veneer of superficial and ego-protecting interactions you surround yourself with at the exclusion of true and honest existential vulnerability, then you need to seek, engage with, and be honest and vulnerable with, professional clinical care for your intractable narcissism and the lifelong effects and deficits associated with same. In other words, to reductively and rhetorically restate what you disgustingly told me the other day as a means of deflecting from the fact that you couldn't go more than two seconds without contradicting yourself, “get your fucking meds adjusted”.

 

• When faced with any sort of challenge to your control or authority, your lifelong fear of abandonment has caused you to push people away before they have the opportunity to leave you, resulting in premature, self-created, and misdirected sabotage of significant relationships at the first sign of disturbance or genuine vulnerability. I know you're terrible at recognizing or interpreting patterns or facts, but think, for example, about when your efforts to remove me from your life and/or house have been at their most intense:

 

• (a) in 2016(ish) when conflicts about my role in helping with the [redacted address][job of cleaning out my grandpa's apartment after Alzheimer's took hold] triggered feelings of grief and fear in you at the decline of your father's health and the inevitability of his then-upcoming death,

 

• (b) in late 2019 through 2020ish, in the leadup to and aftermath of your father's death, where you threatened or demanded my removal from your house during damn-near every single minor conflict about utterly insignificant household disputes. The vulnerability and grief you felt surrounding his death triggered the core-level unresolved sense of abandonment you carry as a result of the lack of parental affection you received because of, inter alia, the level of care required by your [editor's note: dying of CF as a teenager] sister and resultant lack of parental support available to you as a result,

 

• (c) in 2021ish, surrounding your mother's acute medical events and her subsequent death, where your treatment of me followed effectively the same patterns and underlying causes as the item above (sans explicit threats of eviction, opting instead for the more oblique and covert references that have been your MO until the recent regression to explicit threats within the past few days).

 

• (d) in 2024, surrounding the final decline and subsequent death of [dog], where all of the same behaviours described above returned and steadily escalated, culminating in telling me to get the fuck out of your house because I wouldn't stop moving some boxes for 30 minutes, and then telling me that you were going to call the police to have me removed from your house as a result of your inability to force me to stop making accurate statements that damaged your ego and need for unquestioned interpersonal control in your self-appointed role as the sole ruler of the relational hierarchy you fought so hard to maintain.

 

• You need to actively and vulnerably seek and participate in professional clinical treatment for the lifelong effects of the hollow narcissism that has maladaptively protected you from your deepest childhood injuries and vulnerabilities, at the expense of truly genuine connection with, at the very least, your firstborn and only son.

 

• [note that the contents of this bullet point are neither a threat of suicide, nor an indication of any intent whatsoever to harm myself or others. I am including this disclaimer to preemptively remove your ability to selectively manipulate my words in order to further gaslight me]
  If you want me gone from your house, and life (and possibly my own life, given the extreme existential risk posed by homelessness for a vulnerable person with the significant disabilities I am faced with), then you will have to have me physically removed from your house in cold blood, and until the day you (or I, depending on the order) die you will live with that being the last time you ever saw the son that you took for granted and abused for 32 fucking years while he groveled at your feet begging for even scraps of affection or humanity from the person who constantly love-bombed and discarded him at her convenience to serve her own narcissistic desires worth no regard for the whole entire person she was subjugating to the role of, barely, a pet.
  

 

• Be aware that if you choose to remove me from your life as a pathological and assuredly-ineffective avoidance mechanism to try and preemptively shield yourself from the fear of abandonment that is triggered in you as a result of my overwhelmingly valid and necessary actions to demand that you cease your lifelong efforts to subjugate me in your self-created hierarchical position at the top of our unequal relationship, then you will be doing yourself an irreparable disservice by extinguishing whatever sliver of opportunity might remain for you to get the help you need to allow you to finally see me as a real person and begin making real decisions and changes and efforts to participate in efforts to salvage whatever scraps of hope might remain for us to have a relationship before both/either of us die.

 

• Feel free to ignore and/or conceal the tens of thousands of words of documented history in order to share contextless excerpts of this text within your self-serving echo chambers in your efforts to receive false validation of your delusional victimhood. Or, alternatively, feel free to vulnerably share this in its entirety - along with the full corpus of my messaging regarding the severity of the harms caused by your behaviours - with a competent and knowledgeable mental health professional(s) for the purposes of seeking treatment for your underlying pathologies and working towards genuine growth.

 

• In the unlikely (though incomprehensibly-or-perhaps-delusionally-still-hopeful) event that you are still reading, I will conclude by saying that the possibility for any hope of salvaging our relationship lies firmly and solely within your control.

 

• After over 8 years of significant, relentless, documented, often-vilified, and absolutely unreciprocated efforts to single-handedly to put 100% of the effort into a relationship that you reaped the benefits of while remaining unwavering in your abdication of even the slightest of responsibilities, I have run out of ways, means, ideas, and capacity to continue unsuccessfully trying to do both of our parts.

 

• I am not closing the door to the possibility of reconciliation if/once you have undertaken the extensive individual work you need to do if you are ever going to be able and willing to put the necessary effort into repairing our relationship. But neither am I continuing to continue working outside your closed door hoping that one day I might be able to do enough to influence you to treat me like a full, real, EQUAL, human being.

 
I love you, and goodbye for now. I hope to see you on the other side, but I cannot force you to undertake the journey.
 
- [name]
 
[/END]
(any edits are fixing formatting/copy&paste errors)

Hello all, I received a letter in the mail and on studentaid.gov it says that my repayment plan starts soon. The thing is, I had tried to cancel any loans that I had originally accepted and to my understanding I had thought all my loans were cancelled. Come to find out, it shows that I owe about 13k in loans. I had already filed a complaint about this matter but is there anything else I can do to resolve this issue?

Moving to NYC and looking for a rental in lower Manhattan. Partner is from the UES so we’re not unfamiliar with the system.
Two weeks ago we found an apartment that was listed both for rent and for sale. Great price, amazing space, decided to visit; we saw 20 couples and families at the first session of a two day open house.
A few days go by and we were told we’re the top choice to rent by the two agents!
Then we spent 10 days waiting for a contract, were asked to produce SEVEN reference letters, etc. No contract … but a lot of calls and promises.
This morning we had to let our second choice place go because they needed us to commit and we decided based on their word we would be able to close this place out.
Two hours after letting the other place go we were told “oh the couple is getting a divorce and the husband decided he doesn’t want to rent.” It’s quite clear that they never had a real plan to rent so they’re just jerking around the dozens of people - when they never really had any intention… how do I know that? Because I texted them back - “what if we make an offer to buy?” and immediately received multiple phone calls and voicemails from the same two agents.
I know there is probably nothing we can do - but is it possible to file a complaint with their brokerage? Why are we paying agents 15% of a year’s rent to obfuscate and manipulate us?

Here's an idea for a mod.

• Persistent online world
• You spawn in one of the cities
• You can hunt animals for resources, chop tree's for wood, mine ore etc.
• You can sell there materials to NPC's for gold, or sell them to other players
• With your gold you can rent out one of the houses in a city
• Each city has a bank, you deposit your gold in your bank account
• Rent is taken out every 12 hours (real-world time), if you fail to pay rent you get kicked out.
• There is a skill tree for each profession
  • Blacksmithing
  • Tailoring
  • Woodworking (create furniture)
  • Alchemy
  • etc
• If I am a tailor I might need certain items that only a blacksmith can make (e.g. belt buckle)
• Players rely on trading with other players to get materials they need
• Each city has a marketplace, you can rent out a stall (daily cost) and hire an NPC (daily cost) to sell your items for you, so you can still make money while offline.
• You can also rent out a empty block of land outside of the city where you can build your own house or place of business.
• For example, I can save up enough gold to rent a block of land outside a city and build my self a lumber mill, I can hire some NPC's to go out and chop wood and cart it back to the mill where they will process it into wooden planks and other timber materials, then I can instruct the NPC's to deliver the processed materials into the city and hand them over to my vendor NPC.
• Business is picking up, I make a lot of gold, more and more players are joining the server, rental properties are starting to run out. I rent some more blocks of land and build some houses and rent these out to new players.
• There are NPC service workers such as guards that patrol outside the city to kill wild wolves.
• We as players are unable to fight, so wolves kill us easily.
• There is a tax system where each resident has to pay a daily tax that pays for NPC service workers (such as the guard)
• Players can vote on the tax rate and where the tax money is spent.
• For example players decide to lower the tax rate, this means there's less funding for guards, in turn the wolf population starts to rise and more players die to wolves.
• Other areas tax money can be spent is welfare, new players get a daily pay-check to help them get started.
• When you rent one of your houses out to a player you both sign a contract which looks something like this:
  • John Doe agrees to pay 12 gold per day to Bob Smith
• If John misses 3 payments in a row then Bob has the option of going to the property and removing all of Johns belongings and placing them outside in crates. The door lock is also replaced, now Bob can find a new tenant.
• John will have to go bring a cart to haul away his crates of belongings if he wants to move them into another property.
• John is sent a letter from the court saying he owes Bob 24 gold and the payment is due in 4 days, if he fails to pay he will be arrest by guards and put in court where other players will play the role of jurors. John will have to use VOIP or type out his defence and try and convince the jury to extend his payment due date, otherwise he goes to prison.
• Optionally instead of all players voting like a democracy, one player will be king and they will choose the tax rates.
• Each server has a list of laws that the king can change.
  • Tax rate %
  • After how many missed payments can a Landlord evict the tenant
  • How many guards are currently hired
  • Welfare pay-check
• If the community are not happy with the king they can cast a vote to dethrone him. Once this happens an election period start that lasts 3 hours. In this period any player can register them selves as a candidate to become king, they have 3 hours to go around to each other player and sweet talk them to convince them to vote for them.
• After 3 hours the vote is cast and a new king is in place.

You make pretty regrettable mistakes when you're desperate. Unfortunately, desperation would go on to cost me much more than I ever thought possible.
When I was 19 years old my financial situation wasn't great. In what was left of a crumbling home would be my recovering addict twin sister, and myself. The unfortunate state of our home was all from the even more unfortunate passing of our parents just four years prior. The two hadn't died tragically by any means, thankfully. No.. our parents died of old age, a consequence of having us kids later in life, while not being able to take on the financial burden that would be.. us.
My sister was making the early steps into the college lifestyle, doing her best to stay afloat with my support in funding. Money was tight for the two of us, but as she became more well off on her own, the more content she was with severing the last remaining tie to her childhood.. me.
I didn't hate Xel for her decision, if anything I understood her distancing from this life.. even if it saddened me. So then it was just me! Left to a house with a hole in the ceiling. Believe it or not, life wasn't all to bad even with how considerably down in the dumps it otherwise seemed to be.
However, content as I might have been, it's human nature to want more than you have. Can't say I was to greedy to look for some comfortability in my own home..
And so there it was! The glistening letters of ink outlining my salvation. An advertisement I'd found plastered onto the wall of the small booth I sat at while I waited for the bus to carry me off to work. "$5,000 to those compatible for a recent scientific breakthrough." Under any 'normal' circumstances I would consider this a scam. Hell, I was skeptical as I scanned the letters. Had I been told of this opportunity through spam call or text I would've glossed right over it just as anyone else would have.. but I was desperate.
I think it was the fact that someone, some real person had to have put this paper up on this wall gave me some glimmer of hope for a quick cash grab. Listed bellow the promise of money was details for a number to call regarding interest in the proposition.
I took the bait.. I saw the line, and like some idiot I clamped my teeth down just for that hook to sweep me away.
The corporation I'd come to know as, "The Arsaction," would see me just a week later. There was a brief consultation. They took my weight, age, all things I would've expected. It wasn't until they pulled records regarding my familial situation that I began to find this whole ordeal.. suspicious.
To 'begin' to find things suspicious only at this point is foolish, something I full understand, but I feel the need to reinforce the fact that I, Lex McKarthy, was desperate.
Everything by this point seemed pretty legit. The blood tests, the doctors office, the tests were.. reasonable. What was I to suspect? Everything was so vague, and truth be told I honestly didn't even expect anything to come of this visit. All the doctors, all the consultants seemed so disinterested in my features.. but when they realized I had no one, everything seemed to change.
Suddenly ears perked, suddenly doors closed, suddenly I was.. exactly what they were looking for. Every feature of myself was so painfully average. I was anyman, I was.. nothing. Despite their best efforts to be discreate, I knew it was only the fact that nobody would come looking for me that peaked their interests.
My stomach dropped when I was faced with a pen in my hand, trembling over that NDA. Every fiber of me cursed myself for never considering putting just a minute of research into 'The Arsaction,' however a video briefing would ease my nerves. Nobody knew who The Arsaction was. There was no public record of their existence, and that NDA would make sure that they continued to never exist.
I was stupid, I was irrational, I was in over my head! But I was desperate.. and I had nothing else.
"I have nothing else.. I have nothing else!"
It was a mantra I chanted as I was injected with that substance. The substance that turned my blood orange, made my skin freakishly thin.
And then I went home.
That was it. I was given my sum of money, and I was sent home. They told me I was, "good to go," and no number of questions would get a one of them to speak. I was only met with who I'd assume to be security guiding me out of the building.
Not a word more of what I'd just been injected with, only given instructions to not dwell on mirrors for too long. That was it, just some ominous instructions. So I left, as befuddled as I arrived. Relief washed over me as I made my way home. The anxiety I'd received from such an ominous buildup was all waved by the fact that I was somehow just.. good to go?
Relief quickly turned to panic as the inherent nature of it all being too good to be true set in. I expected to die, I expected some visit from government agents, I expected anything and everything, but as months turned to years.. Nothing ever came of it. No mirror ever caused me any harm, which was its own anxiety I'd have to overcome simply because of the absurd nature or such a request.
I hoped it was.. some prank. Everything was well... for a time. Of course to disturb my peace, my sister called.
I just.. watched the phone ring. My sister, someone who I hadn't spoken to in upwards of 8 years was suddenly ringing me up. When I finally had answered, her question left me speechless.
"Hey Lex. would you happen to remember Mom's recipe for that egg toast? I think I left the cookbook at your place."
I felt my ears ring. The question was so.. casual. She entirely skipped the part where we discussed how she's been, how I'm doing. She spoke to me like we'd hung out only days ago.
At the time I'd thought I was just being dramatic, but looking back on it I can only justify my own hesitation to respond.
"W-..what?"
I stammered like a fool, but I was firm in my disbelief.
"Yeah, it should be in the book on the counter?"
I looked over my shoulder to my kitchen counter, past the toaster I never bought, and over to the book she spoke of. My jaw hung heavy, the whole interaction feeling like a dream.
With one hand I held the phone, and with the other I began to skim the pages of the book letting my eyes linger on mom's cinnamon roll recipe for a bit longer than intended.
"Lex.. are you ok?"
My sister inquired on the other end. I suddenly felt sick.. falling the the ground and laying on my back. This wasn't happening.
"Lex? Are you alright!?"
My sister repeated back more urgently, followed by her assurance that she would be over soon to check on me. But.. no company ever arrived. After hours the line just dropped, and I fell asleep there on that cold, wooden floor, paralyzed with a feeling I couldn't wrap my head around.
When I finally gathered the composure to stand I would try to call Xel back. A frown dawned my face when she never answered. Somehow this didn’t surprise me, and I was lead to believe that she had never called me in the first place. The thing is, the book was still on my counter, and her call was still logged on my phone.
Still, I hadn’t known Xel to do something like this. It wasn’t in her nature to do something so cruel, to act like all this time hadn’t passed.
But it has. Years have gone by and nothing but radio silence from her, a silence I feared would go on. The following days I would continue to attempt to call her, but to no avail.
I had to come to terms with the fact that, as quickly as she had returned too my life, Xel was once again gone. I’m ashamed to admit that, just as I’d forgotten that experience with The Arsaction several years ago, I’d forgotten about my own sister.
Even if she wouldn’t call back, I was inspired to begin looking through old family pictures, and this is where the oddities would start to fester.
I found a picture of Xel and I just.. eating breakfast. Usually my mom was off to work by then, but it was a special occasion. It was a day I remember so vividly. I was 14 years old at this time, and had awoke to the sweet smell of cinnamon rolls filling the air. After all, it was Xel’s and I’s birthday. All was right with the world, all as I climbed from the messy sheets in my dark room. It was abundantly clear that the bulb of the light beside my bed had burnt out over the course of the night, and the closed blinds didn't aid my vision as I stumbled around my room in search of my door.
An oddity presented itself in the fashion of aimless wondering. Where was the nob? One I'd become so accustomed to.. not needing to open? I'd never closed my door. Not the previous night, not ever. Not to the behest of my mother who'd always taken annoyance to closed doors, some trait of my grandmother's to which my mom had unfortunately inherited.
Breakfast took the form of two strips of bacon, scrambled eggs, and slightly burnt French-Toast. My previous assumption of cinnamon rolls unfortunately missed the mark, however I wouldn't object to this. I wish I could convince myself that I was wrong. Something so mundane, something so insignificant to the events in this story, however the first notable instance of a curse that I couldn't pinpoint
My mother had already seen herself off to work by this point, and so I was faced with the responsibilities of seeing myself out to the bus. Some routine I'd become far too used to; The minutes passed, leaving me with nothing to do but wait by the door for a buss that would never arrive.
If the door being shut and the cinnamon rolls being a different meal entirely had left me with a minor confusion, then suddenly being seated in the passenger seat of my mother's car listening to the nonchalant complaints from my twin sister about the nuances freshmen year math shot me into a disarray I couldn't possibly quantify.
I think one of the scariest things for me is the fact that I thought nothing of it. I hadn't freaked out. No scene was made to express what should have been one of the more disturbing instances of my childhood.
I could chalk up the mistaking breakfast for something else as me just misremembering events.. But something unmistakable is the fact that somehow my mom both never drove me to school, yet the fact that she.. always had.
If you're confused, I understand. I am too, because the contradicting nature of my memory is something that haunts me to no end.
Things were easier as a child. That's often the case, but ever sense I stopped aging, I've begun to notice the oddities presented by life that are.. inexplainable. I'm not even sure where to start with researching my predicament.
The Mandela Effect is something that I feel needs no introduction. To those who don't know, the Mandela Effect, in brief, is a phenomenon that incurs when you "misremember" something. Think of a card, now imagine you saw that card as a child and it had a single heart drawn on it's center. Now, years later you are discussing this card with someone else just for them to tell you that the heart you swear, the heart you KNOW you saw.. was a diamond. You tell them they are wrong, you shake your head, chuckle nervously.. But then they present you with the card.
Your stomach drops. This can't be the card, there is no way! Only it is the card, and when you come to the realization that it is in fact the card you'd seen as a child, you are filled with a mix of confusion, fascination, and quite possibly denial.
Most often, the Mandela Effect is associated with silly things like books titles, and board game mascots, but my experience is far beyond such things. It's the only phenomenon I've found that seems even within the realm of explaining my predicament. Problem is, the more I think, the more is wrong.
All of me wishes it all ended with that one childhood experience! But it didn't. In fact, the more I consider my childhood, the more contradictions I notice. Part of me believes I could handle this if it was limited to my childhood, but it's not. This.. experience... It effects my every day!
I'm not losing my mind, I'm just picking up crumbs that I never dropped. Not.. losing my mind, just finding more "mind" than the inventory should account for.
As I stop and think now, I’m understanding that my memories are.. overlapping. Other mirrored versions of myself and my memories will occasionally cross paths, and when they do it causes me to misremember. Not because I don’t remember, but because my memories conflict with one another.
I wish I could see someone about this, but I’m worried the consequences of me seeking someone out.. still, we make dumb mistakes when we are desperate, and I’m starting to feel desperate again.

You make pretty regrettable mistakes when you're desperate. Unfortunately, desperation would go on to cost me much more than I ever thought possible.
When I was 19 years old my financial situation wasn't great. In what was left of a crumbling home would be my recovering addict twin sister, and myself. The unfortunate state of our home was all from the even more unfortunate passing of our parents just four years prior. The two hadn't died tragically by any means, thankfully. No.. our parents died of old age, a consequence of having us kids later in life, while not being able to take on the financial burden that would be.. us.
My sister was making the early steps into the college lifestyle, doing her best to stay afloat with my support in funding. Money was tight for the two of us, but as she became more well off on her own, the more content she was with severing the last remaining tie to her childhood.. me.
I didn't hate Xel for her decision, if anything I understood her distancing from this life.. even if it saddened me. So then it was just me! Left to a house with a hole in the ceiling. Believe it or not, life wasn't all to bad even with how considerably down in the dumps it otherwise seemed to be.
However, content as I might have been, it's human nature to want more than you have. Can't say I was to greedy to look for some comfortability in my own home..
And so there it was! The glistening letters of ink outlining my salvation. An advertisement I'd found plastered onto the wall of the small booth I sat at while I waited for the bus to carry me off to work. "$5,000 to those compatible for a recent scientific breakthrough." Under any 'normal' circumstances I would consider this a scam. Hell, I was skeptical as I scanned the letters. Had I been told of this opportunity through spam call or text I would've glossed right over it just as anyone else would have.. but I was desperate.
I think it was the fact that someone, some real person had to have put this paper up on this wall gave me some glimmer of hope for a quick cash grab. Listed bellow the promise of money was details for a number to call regarding interest in the proposition.
I took the bait.. I saw the line, and like some idiot I clamped my teeth down just for that hook to sweep me away.
The corporation I'd come to know as, "The Arsaction," would see me just a week later. There was a brief consultation. They took my weight, age, all things I would've expected. It wasn't until they pulled records regarding my familial situation that I began to find this whole ordeal.. suspicious.
To 'begin' to find things suspicious only at this point is foolish, something I full understand, but I feel the need to reinforce the fact that I, Lex McKarthy, was desperate.
Everything by this point seemed pretty legit. The blood tests, the doctors office, the tests were.. reasonable. What was I to suspect? Everything was so vague, and truth be told I honestly didn't even expect anything to come of this visit. All the doctors, all the consultants seemed so disinterested in my features.. but when they realized I had no one, everything seemed to change.
Suddenly ears perked, suddenly doors closed, suddenly I was.. exactly what they were looking for. Every feature of myself was so painfully average. I was anyman, I was.. nothing. Despite their best efforts to be discreate, I knew it was only the fact that nobody would come looking for me that peaked their interests.
My stomach dropped when I was faced with a pen in my hand, trembling over that NDA. Every fiber of me cursed myself for never considering putting just a minute of research into 'The Arsaction,' however a video briefing would ease my nerves. Nobody knew who The Arsaction was. There was no public record of their existence, and that NDA would make sure that they continued to never exist.
I was stupid, I was irrational, I was in over my head! But I was desperate.. and I had nothing else.
"I have nothing else.. I have nothing else!"
It was a mantra I chanted as I was injected with that substance. The substance that turned my blood orange, made my skin freakishly thin.
And then I went home.
That was it. I was given my sum of money, and I was sent home. They told me I was, "good to go," and no number of questions would get a one of them to speak. I was only met with who I'd assume to be security guiding me out of the building.
Not a word more of what I'd just been injected with, only given instructions to not dwell on mirrors for too long. That was it, just some ominous instructions. So I left, as befuddled as I arrived. Relief washed over me as I made my way home. The anxiety I'd received from such an ominous buildup was all waved by the fact that I was somehow just.. good to go?
Relief quickly turned to panic as the inherent nature of it all being too good to be true set in. I expected to die, I expected some visit from government agents, I expected anything and everything, but as months turned to years.. Nothing ever came of it. No mirror ever caused me any harm, which was its own anxiety I'd have to overcome simply because of the absurd nature or such a request.
I hoped it was.. some prank. Everything was well... for a time. Of course to disturb my peace, my sister called.
I just.. watched the phone ring. My sister, someone who I hadn't spoken to in upwards of 8 years was suddenly ringing me up. When I finally had answered, her question left me speechless.
"Hey Lex. would you happen to remember Mom's recipe for that egg toast? I think I left the cookbook at your place."
I felt my ears ring. The question was so.. casual. She entirely skipped the part where we discussed how she's been, how I'm doing. She spoke to me like we'd hung out only days ago.
At the time I'd thought I was just being dramatic, but looking back on it I can only justify my own hesitation to respond.
"W-..what?"
I stammered like a fool, but I was firm in my disbelief.
"Yeah, it should be in the book on the counter?"
I looked over my shoulder to my kitchen counter, past the toaster I never bought, and over to the book she spoke of. My jaw hung heavy, the whole interaction feeling like a dream.
With one hand I held the phone, and with the other I began to skim the pages of the book letting my eyes linger on mom's cinnamon roll recipe for a bit longer than intended.
"Lex.. are you ok?"
My sister inquired on the other end. I suddenly felt sick.. falling the the ground and laying on my back. This wasn't happening.
"Lex? Are you alright!?"
My sister repeated back more urgently, followed by her assurance that she would be over soon to check on me. But.. no company ever arrived. After hours the line just dropped, and I fell asleep there on that cold, wooden floor, paralyzed with a feeling I couldn't wrap my head around.
When I finally gathered the composure to stand I would try to call Xel back. A frown dawned my face when she never answered. Somehow this didn’t surprise me, and I was lead to believe that she had never called me in the first place. The thing is, the book was still on my counter, and her call was still logged on my phone.
Still, I hadn’t known Xel to do something like this. It wasn’t in her nature to do something so cruel, to act like all this time hadn’t passed.
But it has. Years have gone by and nothing but radio silence from her, a silence I feared would go on. The following days I would continue to attempt to call her, but to no avail.
I had to come to terms with the fact that, as quickly as she had returned too my life, Xel was once again gone. I’m ashamed to admit that, just as I’d forgotten that experience with The Arsaction several years ago, I’d forgotten about my own sister.
Even if she wouldn’t call back, I was inspired to begin looking through old family pictures, and this is where the oddities would start to fester.
I found a picture of Xel and I just.. eating breakfast. Usually my mom was off to work by then, but it was a special occasion. It was a day I remember so vividly. I was 14 years old at this time, and had awoke to the sweet smell of cinnamon rolls filling the air. After all, it was Xel’s and I’s birthday. All was right with the world, all as I climbed from the messy sheets in my dark room. It was abundantly clear that the bulb of the light beside my bed had burnt out over the course of the night, and the closed blinds didn't aid my vision as I stumbled around my room in search of my door.
An oddity presented itself in the fashion of aimless wondering. Where was the nob? One I'd become so accustomed to.. not needing to open? I'd never closed my door. Not the previous night, not ever. Not to the behest of my mother who'd always taken annoyance to closed doors, some trait of my grandmother's to which my mom had unfortunately inherited.
Breakfast took the form of two strips of bacon, scrambled eggs, and slightly burnt French-Toast. My previous assumption of cinnamon rolls unfortunately missed the mark, however I wouldn't object to this. I wish I could convince myself that I was wrong. Something so mundane, something so insignificant to the events in this story, however the first notable instance of a curse that I couldn't pinpoint
My mother had already seen herself off to work by this point, and so I was faced with the responsibilities of seeing myself out to the bus. Some routine I'd become far too used to; The minutes passed, leaving me with nothing to do but wait by the door for a buss that would never arrive.
If the door being shut and the cinnamon rolls being a different meal entirely had left me with a minor confusion, then suddenly being seated in the passenger seat of my mother's car listening to the nonchalant complaints from my twin sister about the nuances freshmen year math shot me into a disarray I couldn't possibly quantify.
I think one of the scariest things for me is the fact that I thought nothing of it. I hadn't freaked out. No scene was made to express what should have been one of the more disturbing instances of my childhood.
I could chalk up the mistaking breakfast for something else as me just misremembering events.. But something unmistakable is the fact that somehow my mom both never drove me to school, yet the fact that she.. always had.
If you're confused, I understand. I am too, because the contradicting nature of my memory is something that haunts me to no end.
Things were easier as a child. That's often the case, but ever sense I stopped aging, I've begun to notice the oddities presented by life that are.. inexplainable. I'm not even sure where to start with researching my predicament.
The Mandela Effect is something that I feel needs no introduction. To those who don't know, the Mandela Effect, in brief, is a phenomenon that incurs when you "misremember" something. Think of a card, now imagine you saw that card as a child and it had a single heart drawn on it's center. Now, years later you are discussing this card with someone else just for them to tell you that the heart you swear, the heart you KNOW you saw.. was a diamond. You tell them they are wrong, you shake your head, chuckle nervously.. But then they present you with the card.
Your stomach drops. This can't be the card, there is no way! Only it is the card, and when you come to the realization that it is in fact the card you'd seen as a child, you are filled with a mix of confusion, fascination, and quite possibly denial.
Most often, the Mandela Effect is associated with silly things like books titles, and board game mascots, but my experience is far beyond such things. It's the only phenomenon I've found that seems even within the realm of explaining my predicament. Problem is, the more I think, the more is wrong.
All of me wishes it all ended with that one childhood experience! But it didn't. In fact, the more I consider my childhood, the more contradictions I notice. Part of me believes I could handle this if it was limited to my childhood, but it's not. This.. experience... It effects my every day!
I'm not losing my mind, I'm just picking up crumbs that I never dropped. Not.. losing my mind, just finding more "mind" than the inventory should account for.
As I stop and think now, I’m understanding that my memories are.. overlapping. Other mirrored versions of myself and my memories will occasionally cross paths, and when they do it causes me to misremember. Not because I don’t remember, but because my memories conflict with one another.
I wish I could see someone about this, but I’m worried the consequences of me seeking someone out.. still, we make dumb mistakes when we are desperate, and I’m starting to feel desperate again.

Hello everyone! I am struggling to find a place in DC. I am panicking since I just graduated college and have a job lined up with a start date in June. Background: I have no guarantor to sign my leases and I was evicted my sophomore year due to financial circumstances, which has affected my credit and record. However, I have managed to rent from college management companies and pay on time since. Where can I find private landlords or management firms that I can contact to find a place that would not require credit check? I can provide paystubs and job offer letter. Any help would be amazing. Thank you all.

Hey, I rent in New York State and I need to relocate to a cheaper apartment as soon as possible. Rent is completely unaffordable. If my landlord finds a new tenant, can he still charge me the early termination clause? I'm trying to find a loophole out of this lease as soon as possible because I would love to be able to pay rent on time AND be able to eat.
He doesn't seem to know or care what New Yorks laws are. I found dead mice sitting on my top shelf that I never looked at months after moving in, he's tried to charge me late fees before the state wide mandated grace period, and has also sent his mom (lower tenant) to hand me the official letter for "14 days past due" to knock on my door repetitively until I answered it. I'm pretty sure that this is grounds against the law of right to quiet enjoyment or harassment.
The rent was late this month for mental health reasons being a priority and he was informed of this and has begun to harass me once again.
At what point do I contact a lawyer? I'm so sick of being compliant with him when he can't even comply with New York's laws.

So disclaimer this is everything my roommate did when she lived with me from my perspective. Also this is a really long story because a lot happened, and I do tend to get sidetracked.
Before we became roommates, I had a situationship with this guy. Let’s call him John. John and I met in our first semester of college and hit it off right off the bat. John was a mutual friend of me and my psychotic roommate, which is how we were introduced. Let’s call her Shortstack. So Shortstack knew I had a thing for John, and was encouraging us to start a relationship which I thought was nice. Eventually, though, when there was a lull in our relationship she admitted to liking John, and I backed off because it was looking like a relationship between me and John wasn’t gonna happen. I did my best to subtly wingman and they ended up dating.
Right before they made it official, I had met someone new. We’ll call him Tim (I’m trying to use generic/default guy names to keep some anonymity). Tim and I hit it off right off the bat. He’s honestly the most genuine, talented, thoughtful, and interesting guy I’ve ever met. Anyway, right before John and Shortstack started dating, I got a text from Shortstack saying she had the hots for Tim and asked if I he was free game. I was a bit bothered by that, but she respected my answer when I politely told her that Tim and I had something good and I didn’t want anyone interfering. At least, I THOUGHT she respected my answer.
Almost a year later and I had asked Shortstack if she wanted to be my roommate so we could both live near school while not having to live on campus. Worst decision ever.
She moved in before I did, and when it was my turn to move in the place was an absolute disaster. Dirty clothes and empty Dominos boxes covered the floor. She had also set up her decorations all over the entire apartment (not really leaving any room for me, which was made worse by the fact that we shared a room, and the apartment was very tiny so we were basically living on top of each other). I brushed it off, but it never really got any better. Normally I wouldn’t be too upset, I’m not a huge neat freak or anything, but it peeved me that she would always point out any mess that I had made.
Here’s a list of some of her really gross habits: dirty underwear everywhere kept old dominos boxes everywhere would buy salads and let them expire and they would sit there until I took them out Refused to do any chores or contribute in any way our shower didn’t fully drain so hair was often left in the tub, but she never cleaned up after herself (meaning I was scrubbing her pubes out of the tub) Used tissues would be left on the ground Not flushing I never once saw her do laundry in the 6 months we lived together
I’m sure there’s more but these are just the ones that I remember. To be fair, here were my gross she took issue with: Leaving dishes in the sink for a long-ass time Letting my laundry basket overflow Walking around in a towel after I took a shower, even when her tinder dates were over (mostly cuz I didn’t give a shit and everything was covered, but I also understand that her glares when I would do that were a little deserved).
That was the easiest part of living with her that I had to deal with. It got so so so much worse, and slowly she started to reveal her true colours.
She had a job at a jewelry store, got fired. Moved to a job at a grocery store across the street, got fired. Bummed around for a few weeks, mostly just sitting on the couch doing arts and crafts. Tried a Zumba class, quit after 2 sessions. Finally she got hired at a movie theatre, but she would only work Friday and weekends. All the while a lot of new things were appearing in our apartment. New makeup, a makeup chair, a tiny plastic Dreamhouse, posters and picture frames, lights, you name it. She was also buying premade meals and continued to order Dominos and DoorDash, never making her own food.
That’s around the time I found a buried letter from our landlord saying she was 2 months behind on rent. (Also an honorable mention about her RGB lights, she would keep them on while I was trying to sleep, even when I had work in the morning which was most days and she’d throw a little hissy fit whenever I asked her to turn them off because it was midnight and I had to get up in a couple hours).
She would constantly be having guys over, but would never tell me, so I’d always come home to a stranger on our couch and I’d uncomfortably lock myself in our room. Walls were thin so I had to listen to her awful flirting and occasionally kissing noises. She had made a goal for herself to kiss at least 30 guys so she could write a book about it, one chapter for each guy. It’s funny because the book is coming out soon, I’m not gonna share the name because I don’t wanna promote an incel’s diary but if you happen to be one of the guys she wrote about, just know that she has said several times her type is “Generic kinda ugly white guys.” I don’t think that’s her type, I think she just says that because all of the super attractive guys she went after all shot her down so quick.
While she’s collecting “ugly-ish white guys” (her words), she has promised herself to some dude in the military overseas who has a ring with their initials carved into it (his name is Matt. I’m not censoring that because I genuinely hope he sees this even though chances are insanely slim. She’s Jodie-ing you my guy, and she wants to elope and marry you to piss her parents off and for financial benefits because she can’t keep a job).
ONTOP of all this, Tim (who at this point I had been with for over a year) would come over and visit sometimes. She was always miserable, but perked up and suddenly became so sweet and friendly whenever he was there. Tim kept trying to drop some social cues that he did not want to talk to her, but she ignored it. I also want to mention that Tim is incredibly attractive, physically and personality wise, which is the main reason I think that “ugly” isn’t actually her type, it’s just all she can get.
Oh quick mention one of her tinder guys was 17. She was close to 20 at the time. She said their age gap made her uncomfortable but she invited him over because she wanted to, and I quote, “lick his abs.” Take that as you will.
My breaking point with her was when I woke up one day with a random man in the room sleeping next to her. She let a random man from tinder have full unsupervised access to 2 unconscious girls and all of their valuable items. There’s more stuff she did but this is already super long so I’m going to leave it on this note. Let me know if you guys wanna hear the rest.

So disclaimer this is everything my roommate did when she lived with me from my perspective. Also this is a really long story because a lot happened, and I do tend to get sidetracked.
Before we became roommates, I had a situationship with this guy. Let’s call him John. John and I met in our first semester of college and hit it off right off the bat. John was a mutual friend of me and my psychotic roommate, which is how we were introduced. Let’s call her Shortstack. So Shortstack knew I had a thing for John, and was encouraging us to start a relationship which I thought was nice. Eventually, though, when there was a lull in our relationship she admitted to liking John, and I backed off because it was looking like a relationship between me and John wasn’t gonna happen. I did my best to subtly wingman and they ended up dating.
Right before they made it official, I had met someone new. We’ll call him Tim (I’m trying to use generic/default guy names to keep some anonymity). Tim and I hit it off right off the bat. He’s honestly the most genuine, talented, thoughtful, and interesting guy I’ve ever met. Anyway, right before John and Shortstack started dating, I got a text from Shortstack saying she had the hots for Tim and asked if I he was free game. I was a bit bothered by that, but she respected my answer when I politely told her that Tim and I had something good and I didn’t want anyone interfering. At least, I THOUGHT she respected my answer.
Almost a year later and I had asked Shortstack if she wanted to be my roommate so we could both live near school while not having to live on campus. Worst decision ever.
She moved in before I did, and when it was my turn to move in the place was an absolute disaster. Dirty clothes and empty Dominos boxes covered the floor. She had also set up her decorations all over the entire apartment (not really leaving any room for me, which was made worse by the fact that we shared a room, and the apartment was very tiny so we were basically living on top of each other). I brushed it off, but it never really got any better. Normally I wouldn’t be too upset, I’m not a huge neat freak or anything, but it peeved me that she would always point out any mess that I had made.
Here’s a list of some of her really gross habits: dirty underwear everywhere kept old dominos boxes everywhere would buy salads and let them expire and they would sit there until I took them out Refused to do any chores or contribute in any way our shower didn’t fully drain so hair was often left in the tub, but she never cleaned up after herself (meaning I was scrubbing her pubes out of the tub) Used tissues would be left on the ground Not flushing I never once saw her do laundry in the 6 months we lived together
I’m sure there’s more but these are just the ones that I remember. To be fair, here were my gross she took issue with: Leaving dishes in the sink for a long-ass time Letting my laundry basket overflow Walking around in a towel after I took a shower, even when her tinder dates were over (mostly cuz I didn’t give a shit and everything was covered, but I also understand that her glares when I would do that were a little deserved).
That was the easiest part of living with her that I had to deal with. It got so so so much worse, and slowly she started to reveal her true colours.
She had a job at a jewelry store, got fired. Moved to a job at a grocery store across the street, got fired. Bummed around for a few weeks, mostly just sitting on the couch doing arts and crafts. Tried a Zumba class, quit after 2 sessions. Finally she got hired at a movie theatre, but she would only work Friday and weekends. All the while a lot of new things were appearing in our apartment. New makeup, a makeup chair, a tiny plastic Dreamhouse, posters and picture frames, lights, you name it. She was also buying premade meals and continued to order Dominos and DoorDash, never making her own food.
That’s around the time I found a buried letter from our landlord saying she was 2 months behind on rent. (Also an honorable mention about her RGB lights, she would keep them on while I was trying to sleep, even when I had work in the morning which was most days and she’d throw a little hissy fit whenever I asked her to turn them off because it was midnight and I had to get up in a couple hours).
She would constantly be having guys over, but would never tell me, so I’d always come home to a stranger on our couch and I’d uncomfortably lock myself in our room. Walls were thin so I had to listen to her awful flirting and occasionally kissing noises. She had made a goal for herself to kiss at least 30 guys so she could write a book about it, one chapter for each guy. It’s funny because the book is coming out soon, I’m not gonna share the name because I don’t wanna promote an incel’s diary but if you happen to be one of the guys she wrote about, just know that she has said several times her type is “Generic kinda ugly white guys.” I don’t think that’s her type, I think she just says that because all of the super attractive guys she went after all shot her down so quick.
While she’s collecting “ugly-ish white guys” (her words), she has promised herself to some dude in the military overseas who has a ring with their initials carved into it (his name is Matt. I’m not censoring that because I genuinely hope he sees this even though chances are insanely slim. She’s Jodie-ing you my guy, and she wants to elope and marry you to piss her parents off and for financial benefits because she can’t keep a job).
ONTOP of all this, Tim (who at this point I had been with for over a year) would come over and visit sometimes. She was always miserable, but perked up and suddenly became so sweet and friendly whenever he was there. Tim kept trying to drop some social cues that he did not want to talk to her, but she ignored it. I also want to mention that Tim is incredibly attractive, physically and personality wise, which is the main reason I think that “ugly” isn’t actually her type, it’s just all she can get.
Oh quick mention one of her tinder guys was 17. She was close to 20 at the time. She said their age gap made her uncomfortable but she invited him over because she wanted to, and I quote, “lick his abs.” Take that as you will.
My breaking point with her was when I woke up one day with a random man in the room sleeping next to her. She let a random man from tinder have full unsupervised access to 2 unconscious girls and all of their valuable items. There’s more stuff she did but this is already super long so I’m going to leave it on this note. Let me know if you guys wanna hear the rest.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE OR A GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL BE REFUNDED. CONSULT AN ATTORNEY IF YOU WANT LEGAL ADVICE.
I'm posting this because 'non-cancellable' or 'mandatory' LoJack fees/agreements are a very common issue for car buyers, and it often feels scammy or unfair. Well, that's because it is.
Let's clarify one item that is very important to distinguish: I did not dispute the placement of the LoJack device in the vehicle before or after the purchase or try to get the cost of this refunded. They will likely disclose that the device is in the car to you before the sale, and the cost is likely built into the price of the car and negligible to you. What actually costs YOU something and what you sign on the dotted line for is the service agreement/warranty.
First, you'll need to read the LoJack agreement very carefully. When I signed for my car, I read the terms which stated that that my LoJack agreement had a 60-day cancellation option. I was entitled to a full dealer-issued refund provided that there were no claims and that I notified them in writing within the initial 60-day period. Also, it said that LoJack could not be used to qualify me either for the sale of the vehicle or for financing. In short... it's cancellable and it's not mandatory, or at least it wasn't based on the agreement provided at this dealership.
I first sent my cancellation/refund request to the finance manager that did my deal with an attached business letter. He responded by saying that I could not cancel it. I was later told it's 'non-cancellable' both on the phone and in writing by the finance director. What they said was a direct and documented violation of the agreement. It didn't take a lawyer to understand the cancellation terms; it was very clear that they were not honoring the contract.
After we exchanged 4-5 emails without making any progress, I started filing complaints. Here's the list of agencies I filed complaints with (note, the names may vary depending on your state, or may not exist at all). Also, it should be noted that *most* of them do not have legally binding mediation or arbitration power; they are simply a channel for the government to provide oversight and to help you resolve your dispute.

• Attorney General
• Consumer Affairs/Protection (state and county if you're in a large enough metro area)
• Department of Motor Vehicles (they often oversee dealerships)
• Office of Financial Regulation (if you financed the vehicle and the LoJack fees*)
• City Attorney

Other people to report them to, to make their lives difficult:

• Better Business Bureau (no authority, but one more touchpoint they may have to deal with)
• Dealership Manufacturer (even if it's a different make/used vehicle - they'll take complaints, but probably won't help you)
• Ownership Group (if owned by a third party or 'supergroup' of dealers - in my case, they actually contacted the dealer with my complaint)

This sounds like a lot of work, but once you type out your case (and be very specific - VIN#, LoJack agreement #, date of transaction, names of employees denying your refund, etc.), you can easily copy and paste it into the forms for the appropriate agencies. I also attached my contract and written correspondence to the complaints as evidence of their failure to uphold the terms.
\If you read your finance agreement and you don't see LoJack as a line item, it means the dealership likely built the cost of the service agreement for LoJack into the price of the vehicle. This is deceptive because LoJack, in my case, is a separate and cancellable agreement at contract signing. This is yet another reason to find and report them to the financial regulatory body for the dealership's state. Make sure they are aware of this information, as it is a deceptive business practice, and in no way makes the LoJack agreement 'non-cancellable'.*
Now back to the story.
I filed complaints with all of the above agencies within 7 days of signing my agreement, on a Friday. By the following Tuesday, the financial regulation office for the state for this dealership had opened a case and contacted the dealer. I received an email from the dealer a couple of hours later saying my check was in the mail. He provided a tracking number for the check.
No one wants that type of oversight or attention. It's not worth however much they'll lose by refunding you. In addition, the financial regulatory agency in the state I purchased in not only had the ability to mediate, but also to open a criminal investigation into the dealership if they found any laws had been broken. Which - I'm no lawyer, but it seems like that may have been the case for me. I'm confident this is why the general manager of the dealership promptly responded to me with a refund after they contacted him with my case.
I was amazed that the entire process took only a matter of days from the time I contacted the dealer to handle it directly, to filing the complaints, to finding a resolution. I expected there to be a much longer delay in the amount of time the state agencies presented the dealer with my complaint.
Note, if you are successful, you may not get a check. It may go to the financing company to reduce your balance (this is more likely if LoJack was a separate line item).
Last thing I'll say on this. By signing the LoJack agreement, I just saved $1000 on the price of the car. Had I refused to sign the agreement in person, they may not have gone through with the deal OR they would have simply raised the price of the car by $1000. It's also important to note that you should PRINT OFF THE ONLINE PRICE WITH LINE ITEM DETAILS if the dealership provides it, before you go to the dealership. If they deviate from the price or add 'mandatory dealer add-ons' (which are rarely mandatory), I'm fairly sure that would be considered bait/switch. The above-mentioned agencies will also want to know this information as well if you decide to go through with the transaction and have difficulty sorting it out with the dealer after the fact.
I hope many of you are successful getting refunded as well. Often people first think of the BBB, but they don't realize how little power they actually have. You'll make much more progress by going through government agencies, especially those with regulatory and legal oversight.

As you're aware from the numerous daily posts we get about housing, traffic and requests for help etc., many people are doing it tough in Brisbane.
In an effort to reduce the amount of repetitive posts in /Brisbane**, we are trialing a daily thread for the following topics:**

• Renting and moving house
• Rent rises
• Landlord/real estate/property manager complaints
• Moving to Brisbane
• Requests for financial assistance resources
• Traffic and public transport complaints
• Stuff for sale

We don’t want to discourage people from posting and reaching out for help, however, we want to maintain the quality of /Brisbane content. If you have questions about any of these topics, we encourage you to use the search function or to Google your question and tack on reddit to the end of your search first.
The mods will be removing low-effort posts related to these topics and redirecting users to the daily thread. If a post is popular, we will consider leaving it up on a case by case basis.
We’ll be doing our best to encourage users to abide by this rule and keep on top of it. However, we're a small team, so please bear with us.
This sub belongs to the people of Brisbane, and the users of /Brisbane, so we’d like your thoughts and feedback. Thanks 🙏