I’m just a regular person making about $70K a year in a big city, and I’ve recently felt incredibly powerless dealing with private companies. For instance, my landlord’s auto-pay system had a glitch that excluded my pet rent and water bill. I ended up with over $1,000 in late fees. Despite hours on the phone, it turns out their system doesn’t really do auto-pay and requires a fixed amount instead of covering the full rent. It feels like a scam, and my options are to pay the fees or potentially spend a fortune on legal action.

Another frustrating experience was trying to cancel my pest control service. I had to endure a 40-minute call followed by 35 minutes of arguing, just to finally cancel. There’s no online cancellation option, and the process felt like a timeshare sales pitch.

Why do ordinary people seem so unprotected against these shady practices, and how can we change this? How does one person even start to address these issues?

    • mke_geek@lemm.ee
      5·
      2 months ago

      It’s an extra monthly fee to cover the cost of extra cleaning and repairs needed due to tenants having pets and the damage they cause.

    • Thavron@lemmy.ca
      4·
      2 months ago

      I assume it’s a surcharge on their rent for the fact that they have a pet.

    • pezmaker @sh.itjust.works
      32·
      2 months ago

      It’s exactly what it sounds like. Extra bullshit monthly rent tacked onto the regular rent in addition to a usually non-refundable pet deposit at time of move in or pet adoption.

      Basically you’re a money faucet in the US, and wide open if you have pets or kids

      • MissJinx@lemmy.world
        21·
        2 months ago

        Wait, Kids too?!! omg

        I get the deposit, pets can be destructive, but pet rent is peak captalism. It’s like charging rent by the weight!

        thank god I don’t have that here coz I have 2 dogs and 2 cats.

        So that applies to any pet? Even hamsters and fish?

        • pezmaker @sh.itjust.works
          4·
          2 months ago

          To be clear, rent is usually one value for however many humans will be living there, but everywhere has different rules for pets. For the most part you’re restricted to one or two dogs specifically if they’re allowed at all. Some places will charge the same for one or more, some will charge more for 2. It’s really variable. But with RealPage leading the way with the largest rental management companies, is getting pretty unified and difficult to not get fucked over by.

          Smaller pets like fish or hamsters usually aren’t mentioned or charged for though that I’ve seen.

          • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            My lease explicitly prohibits fishtanks (and waterbeds IIRC). Pretty limited to just cats and dogs.