PSA

Heads Up: “Amtrak Trains Cancelled without Notice”

By Prince Of Petworth

amtrak
Photo by PoPville flickr user Dave Bloom

“Dear PoPville,

I figured that it would be helpful to give people a heads up if it applies to them. I booked tickets home and back for the holidays through Amtrak (Northeast Regional), but my trip changed, so I went to modify my reservation. When I logged into the site, it turns out that Amtrak had canceled my ride back to DC, but I never received a notification about the cancellation. It turns out that they have canceled a number of trains that are running on the day after Christmas, but they have not notified anybody about it yet – my parents had booked a ride on a different train on the same date, and, lo and behold, they double-checked the site, and their reservation had been cancelled too. I’m not sure if they have canceled trains on any other days around Christmas, but I just wanted to let people know about this so that nobody ends up stranded around the holidays.”

“a buck squared off with her and took her life”

By Prince Of Petworth

buck
Photo by PoPville flickr user Jim Havard

“Dear PoPville,

We just wanted to give a word of warning. Our beloved dog was running in the woods near Fletcher’s Cove enjoying the beautiful day. She always loved chasing deer. Sunday, a buck squared off with her and took her life. We found out that this is a time of year where bucks get hyper-aggressive and can attack both animals and humans. Please be careful.”

“I generally have a lot of faith in the service industry and I hope this guy is a lone wolf”

By Prince Of Petworth

street math

“Dear PoPville,

I am writing about a personal experience that occurred two weeks ago when I was dining with friends at a restaurant.

I was at dinner with three other people, but because only two people drank alcohol we wanted to review the bill closer to figure out the best way to split the meal. When we reviewed the bill, we noticed three items had been added increasing the total by about $25. We called the waiter over, but before we were able to explain which items were accidentally added our waiter said, “so sorry”, grabbed the bill, and walked away. At that point, it became clear he added the items hoping we would not notice (because he didn’t even wait for us to explain what our question was about the bill before he walked away). We split the bill and decided that since our waiter had tried to inflate his tip we were only tipping 10% each.

A few days later, I got an email from my credit card company with the subject line: “generous tip alert” (thank you Capital One!). The email showed that I had tipped almost 40%. (more…)

“FYI for renters with Pepco!”

By Prince Of Petworth

pepco

“Dear PoPville,

FYI for renters with Pepco:

My roommate and I have had a problem with our Pepco bill being ridiculously high since we moved into our 2 bedroom 1,100 sq ft apartment in November. We moved from a 2,600 sq ft house with 5 people and 4 floors, and have been paying as much and sometimes more in our tiny place every single month. My roommate and I are rarely home on the weekends, turn off all our lights during the day, and sometimes are gone for weeks at a time, and our Pepco bill was continuing to rise. We even decided to turn our thermostat to “off” one month and sweated every night trying to lower the bill, and the bill went UP the next month. We also noticed we had an uncategorized amount charged on our bill each month called “Other” that didn’t fit into our energy usage categories. Three separate Pepco customer service agents were not able to tell us what this “other” category was and why we were paying $50+ a month for this uncategorized area. (more…)

“So heads up babies and be safe this summer of renting!”

By Prince Of Petworth

rental
Photo by PoPville flickr user Andrew Pasko-Reader

“Hello boys and girls, just want to do an annual Craigslist apartment awareness topic. So, I recently stumbled across this: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/apa/5633523037.html, a SEEMINGLY too good to be true kinda deal, and after checking in with the “realtors” I received this ultra-shady e-mail:

Thank you for your interest in the property listed for rent. You were the second to reach out from the ad. The first prospective tenant no longer had to move because of his work situation. So we give the opportunity to you. We just finished all new renovations and are currently prepared to lease with flexible terms. We will work with you on move in date, lease length and security deposit.

I know you desire the precise address of the property but my husband does not want me divulge due to security reasons. We have had a string of break-ins, squatters and thefts at our other properties. We want to prevent that with this property due to the renovations that have cost lots of money. You will be the first to move in with the renovations. That is why we want to confirm you have your updated report before we schedule a tour.

All utilities are priced into the lease along with garage parking spaces. The appliances in the kitchen as well as laundry room were just installed. You have the option to choose your paint color and flooring before your arrival

When you want to come look at the place, then please visit the link below and grab your report. All of our tenants use this site because it is widely trusted. All you need to do is fill out the form and you get your report We aren’t interested in specifics of your report, it’s more of a formality to ensure you have rental history. Simply get your report by CLICKING HERE

Do not send me the report over mail, bring it to the tour. Once you let me know that you have your report ready, then I can personally schedule a walk through of the place.

So guys, what we have here is a website that collects “renter’s scores” by obtaining credit card information and an e-mail that now DEFINITELY seems too good to be true (pick your color? garage parking?? utilities all for $1250?!?!?!?). (more…)

Heads Up If You Use the 11th Street Bike Lane

By Prince Of Petworth

bike lane
Photo by PoPville flickr user sssdc1

“Dear PoPville,

I/m writing to let you know about a current hazard to bicyclists heading northbound on 11th St NW.

Yesterday when heading home from work (around 6 PM), I noticed multiple large piles of shattered glass (approx 6-7 piles in total) in the northbound bicycle lane on 11th St NW, all between Irving and Monroe streets. The piles of glass were very large– they each appeared to be from multiple broken bottles (large shards of green, brown, and white glass – larger than what you typically see from a smashed car window). Also, every pile of glass was in the bike lane, none in the road or sidewalk on that stretch from what I was able to observe. In hindsight I wish I had stopped to take a picture of one or more of the piles, but at the time it was not my first thought.

When I got home I immediately called 311 to report the issue, and the operator confirmed that she would send someone out to check it out and clean up the glass. Sadly, when riding southbound on 11th this morning, I was able to observe that most (if not all) of the piles from the previous afternoon were still there. Any suggestions on how we can get this cleaned up? (more…)

“I would like to ask neighboring friends and residents to keep an eye out for similar occurrences.”

By Prince Of Petworth

dupont
Photo by PoPville flickr user Josh

“Dear PoPville,

I wanted to inform you of a situation that happened Saturday night around 11:30 between 18th and 19th on S street NW. I was walking home from Adams Morgan when I turned left onto S Street, NW. After walking less than 100 ft west down the block, a Hispanic or Middle Eastern man maximum age 40 and max height 6’0 stopped when we made eye contact. He then proceeded to either masturbate or urinate in my direction and continued to do so for multiple seconds as I approached. I have a lot of trouble believing that it was not sexually motivated, due to his hand placement and movements. I felt very uncomfortable and crossed into the street immediately while readying my keys only to sprint to my door from the middle of the street. Once I was safely inside, I immediately called 911. After than 2 years living in the neighborhood, this is very disturbing because I have never felt unsafe walking home, even MUCH later at night. I would like to ask neighboring friends and residents to keep an eye out for similar occurrences.”

View More Stories