Is this storage company unfairly charging a late fee because they cannot process a check fast enough?
You might want to check with your bank, and see what they think. Obviously the best way would be to get the fees waived by talking to the manager. If that doesn’t work, you might simply chose to not pay them. Continue making regular monthly payments, and when you move your stuff out, just don’t pay the extra debt. Are they threatening to evict you over this? I’m not a lawyer, but in general payments are considered made when the check is given, not when it’s cashed. That’s how I’ve always understood it anyway. Make sure you collect the canceled checks and file them away somewhere. So if you just don’t pay, what option does the storage company have? They can try to ding your credit, or sue you. I doubt they would bother suing (and I don’t think they would win either) so if they try ding your credit, you can show the checks to the credit reporting agency and get the charge removed. That creates a lot of work on your part, though. The simplest thing to do, if they don’t agree to waive the
Simply refusing to pay would be nice if you didn’t sign that NASTY contract- and its NASTY. If you refuse to pay, they’ll lock your stuff in there so you can’t get at it until you do or they’ll auction it off to someone like me. You need to NICELY work it out with the manager. If you even suspect that it will be a battle then you need to seriously consider getting your stuff out of there. You should call them and tell the manager that you’re pretty sure that the reason they’re posting your checks late is because you’re sending it to the wrong address. Then when he agrees, remind him that you were told to send it there and that you’d be happy to change the address so they get paid on time but you’d appreciate it if they’d correct their mistake (since they told you to send it there) by crediting you the fees.
While I wouldn’t necessarily pull it out unless you have a few contacts and can’t reach a resolution, I will point out that by accepting the checks in Jersey and sending them to NY they’re making this a multi-state issue, something they might want to avoid if there’s even a hint of fraud. They certainly don’t want Spitzer’s state aiming a gimlet eye at them, given his history of consumer protection the last few years. You should also look at consumer protection laws in your state. A quick googling on “new jersey law late fee” turns up mention of the state going after Blockbuster and $10 limits on CC late fees. In your shoes my first step would be to send a registered letter to them indicating that you have insured that all payments have arrived at the address requested by the due date you were informed. Mention that the several months worth came as a surprise to you since you didn’t bother
I just had a nice long talk this week with my health insurance company and the special slow way they process my health insurance payments. Basically they bill in the middle of the month, and if they have not processed your check (that’s processed, not received, not postmarked by, processed) by the first day of the next month, they cancel your insurance effective immediately. I had sent a check on the 17th which had not arrived by last Tuesday and I was in a bit of a snit about the whole thing since there was no way I could pay my bill except send another check to be processed specially and slowly. In my case this was the check going to a lock box where it was picked up once per day and processed within 24 hours by bank employees. No bank to call, no office to call, no humans to talk to, no credit card payment to make, etc. I wound up driving my check halfway across the state on Friday to give it to someone who did me a “just this once” favor. Ugh. Anyhow… my suggestion with this is t
I recently had health insurance canceled because of alleged non-payment. Turns out that the check processing company uses the same playbook as your storage company: an check goes from my bank to their bank, where it is refused because it doesn’t come with a payment stub whereupon it goes into a “this is special box” and gets shipped to an understaffed office via two other stops which can take from 3 to 8 weeks apparently. After being repeatedly accused of paying late, I asserted that I was, in fact, not paying late – my bank and their records assert that I’ve paid on time. They told me, “but we get everything late because of the electronic payments.” “Not my problem” I replied, “and my bank will back me on this. I can’t be held responsible for your inefficient payment system.” So get out your records and put your bank to work. If you have the proof of when they went out/arrived, it’s not your problem: it’s theirs. Politely and firmly refuse to pay the late fees and provide proof that y
