Forward Management and Confusion Over Early Rent + New Flat Electricity Fee

We received a letter from Forward Management stating that we owed $75.00, and if the bill is not paid by July 5, 2014 that we would owe an additional $50 late fee. However, since our rent is auto-paid through the bank (every month, 3 weeks before it is due to prevent late fee issues such as this), I knew that this was not actually possible. A phone call to the receptionist revealed that we did indeed owe $25 (a mid-lease rent hike to include a flat electric bill), not $75 for our new electric fee and that the landlord does not (cannot?) charge a $50 late fee for utility bills.

So, the $75 the letter says we owe would be $25 for electric plus a $50 late fee although the receptionist said we only owed $25. Since I've been paying rent about one month in advance, this didn't mesh well with the changeover to a flat rate for the electric bill, which lead to this confusion. But I sent Forward Management a $25 check, and everything was sorted out without any ridiculous late fees for a missing $25.

Forward Management Fumbles Overdue Balances, A Review

We received this "Past Due Balance" notice from Forward Management Pittsburgh. Note that the bill is for $86.90, subtract the $50 late fee and the amount that was owed [late] is $36.90. This is an electric bill from the landlord, which is proven when you look at the attached statement. An electric bill from December 12 2012, to be exact:


When I called Forward Management Pittsburgh at around 11:30am today, they agreed to remove the $50 late fee since it does not apply to electric bills. However I pointed out that when I go 10 months back in my online banking statement records, someone deposited a check for exactly $36.90 on December 20, 2012. However, as the statement is almost 10 months old, my bank does not allow me to access that check or see who it was written to without paying "applicable fees" (shown below). Of course, there is likely only one reason that I would write a check for exactly $36.90 a few days after I receive an electric bill for $36.90.

So now, in order to prove to Forward Management Pittsburgh that I did indeed pay my bill, I am going to have to (1) send them this lame online statement and if they don't accept that, (2) negotiate with them to pay the fees to get the deposited check information. All this, because Forward Management Pittsburgh cannot keep their records straight.


[Edit 10/9/13: Forward Management accepted this evidence as proof of the bill being paid. I received a phone call today.]