moving nightmares

I thought I was going to have to personally lay a smackdown on our future landlord yesterday. Perhaps a little background is important:

Back at the end of August when we found the apartment, we asked if there was a possibility of moving in during the middle of November, since we were required to give three month's notice to our current landlords. We were told that we absolutely had to move in on the first of the month, or else she would continue to keep the apartment available for someone else who could move in on the first. Since the first is a holiday and no moving trucks would be available, we decided to move on the 31st. Also, when we decided we would take it, Steph made it very clear that it would be necessary to put in a second telephone line upstairs in the "office," because, in his words, "my wife is American and uses the computer to keep in touch with her family, so it is extremely important that the connection is ready when we move in." The funny thing is that anyone who knows Steph knows that he's more concerned about a pause in his online gaming and I can just as easily call Dad by phone, but that's neither here nor there.

Over the last couple of months, I've noticed a disturbing trend concerning this new landlord. When we mailed her all the required documents, including a check for the deposit, we never received confirmation that she received it. Then, if we had any questions, we would have to call her a couple of times before she would call us back. This is a pattern I do not like.

So here we are, less than a week before moving, and we were having difficulty getting in touch with her to find out when we could get the key. When she finally called us back, we learned that the last family didn't move when they said they were going to move, and the work was still being done on the house. In fact, she told us that the work wouldn't be done until the first, and wanted to know if we could move after that.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Look, I know it's not really her fault if the family didn't move when they said they were going to, but you can't tell us at the last minute that moving on the first can't happen when you insisted on it in the first place! Steph told her that we already had a truck reserved and about ten people that had made plans for helping us, so she said she would see what she could do.

Last night, when we still hadn't heard from her, I was just about ready to call her myself and give her a piece of my mind. I would have been mortified if we'd have to call all these people who volunteered to help us and ask if they could reschedule - most likely the next weekend! Nevermind the fact that I'm sure we'd have to pay something for canceling the truck reservation.

Happily, she did call last night, and told us that the painters will work through the weekend so it will be ready for Monday's move. The bad news is, nothing's been done for the internet connection, so I have no idea when we'll be back online. I'm a little disappointed, but I'll take that rather than calling all our friends and family who are coming to help to tell them that everything has changed.