I first emailed Francois on January 4, after he had failed to send me his Internet account credentials, for which he had given his "word as a gentleman":
Dear Francois, I hope by now you are safe in Montreal. I'm writing this letter to remind you of an outstanding matter in our contract. The outstanding issue I referred to is the Internet access, more precisely the login and password for your Teksavvy ADSL account, which you should have provided to me yesterday.
As you may recall, when we first talked about your apartment, at your place, you've mentioned that your Internet account is paid for through the first part of January 2014 and I can use it at least until it expires for free or longer, if I want to pay for it. We tried to connect both computers to the Internet to complete our financial transaction. You tried several times to set up my computer with your Internet access credentials but you could not - I think you kept getting "error 391" or something like that. You refused to give me your login and password to try, telling me that you use the same password for everything and you want to protect your password. After spending a significant amount of time trying to get things working, I suggested we go back to [Cdna] and use the Internet there to complete our transaction, so there we went. On the way back, I explained to you that I'm not so excited about moving in because of the ashtray and marijuana smell that seemed to be present not only in the apartment but also on the hallway. You told me that most of the stuff is new so the smell will likely disappear. You told me that you were not willing to go lower than $500 for the month, which you needed to pay for your trip to Montreal.
(..)Internet access for one week, but you told me I don't need to worry about it, that you I have your word as a gentleman and that you will email me the password as soon as you get to Montreal. You then created your own PayPal account and I provided you with a phone number at my expense, as you mentioned you do not have one and you may have needed one in case PayPal would perform phone verification. Before sending you payment via PayPal, I wrote the following short agreement which needed to fit in PayPal 300 character limit, which is why I did not write all the intricacies (..).
I am sending you CDN$500 to sublet your bachelor apartment at 28 Balmoral Ave, Toronto, M4V 1G4, fully furnished and all utilities included starting today and until January 24, 2013 with the option (mine) to extend for $50 until Jan 31. Internet is available until January 7 but not guaranteed.
I asked you if you were OK with it and you were both before sending the payment and after you received it and you confirmed you were. I mentioned to you that I expect the Internet access credentials within 24h of your departure. As discussed with you, we formulated it as such so that it is clear your intention to provide Internet access but that may fail due to technical issues - you told me that your own computer did not work which is why you had to switch it with your sister. However, as long as you have not given me the login and password, preventing me from setting it up myself (which I am sure I would manage to do), you are essentially making it unavailable to me.
After completing payment, we went back to the apartment, where you talked to your superintendent on your own, then gave a notice I helped you draft in which you mentioned I will be living in the apartment. You mentioned that your lease agreement prohibits subletting and then we delivered together your notice of moving out. Prior to your departure you gave me another paper to use in case there are problems, once again summarizing our agreement.
I also noticed that your attitude toward the Internet access seemed to change. Whereas prior to receiving payment you told me that it's only a matter of time until you change the password and that you do not mind me using it, afterward you told me "you're not paying for it" and seemed more evasive in your answers. In the event that you simply forgot to send me said credentials, please accept my apologies, it wasn't my intention to accuse you of a "bait & switch" fraud.
It is quite disturbing to consider this possibility, considering that up to this point we both had amicable relations and it seems rather strange that you would renege on your promise on this matter, choosing to make your already paid for Internet access available to me, as previously agreed.
There was no response to that email; I did resend it on February 6. After my unsuccessful attempts to reach him, Francois sent the following email on January 14:
Hi Andrei,
Chris said me you sent me an email about internet and a problem with the payment of the rent. I sent the rental payment 2 weeks ago when I was in Montreal, I will reach James by phone asap to handle the problem.
About the internet we had no deal because you didnt pay for the internet and you had no garantee for the free 5 days. Has I said before leaving, Internet is not a part of our deal. The deal is the appartment with heat and hydro.
Please let me know if evrything is ok.
I will revert to you this week-end.
Regards
I did not want to rewrite my previous email, and by that time there was no point to argue about Internet, so I sent the following on January 15:
I met Chris and he told me that you made it to Montreal - I wasn't sure, since you had not replied to my previous email. I did receive an eviction notice with a termination date of January 22.
Did you find the email I sent you the next day after moving in (re:Internet)? Is there a way I can ensure you receive this one as well? Is there any other way to contact you?
He replied the same day:
Sorry buddy you can reach me only by email. I'm busy but i will do my best to avoid problems with the owner.
Send me again the email because i cant find it.
Regards
.
January 6, power shut off, I sent him and Chris the following:
Francois,
The power to my apt has been just shut off by the superintendent James. If you had anything to do with this, you should know it's illegal and you should turn it back on ASAP.
Additionally, as you may recall, you had asked me to open any Toronto Hydro letter and let you know of the charge to pay it. You just got a bill for $67.44, which is lower than your previous $67.44. The due date is February 20.
On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 12:10 PM, Francois sent an email requesting $75.