We got a notice from Avalon Communities (which owns/manages our townhouse) that they are improving their website to provide additional value to customers.  The downside is that for the time being, all automatic rent payments have been canceled and we have to send our checks to the central rental office somewhere in Florida I think.  The notice said that we'd be notified as soon as the new system was available.  Among the benefits of the new system are:

• The ability to set up automatic, recurring rental payments
• A more user-friendly environment for setting up such payments
• People who set up such payments won't have the money taken from their accounts until later in the month, giving them more time to pay.

I was thoroughly annoyed by this, and was tempted to write their customer service people to explain why.  I decided that wouldn't do much good, and instead, I would vent my frustration here.  Here is what annoys me:

1. I had set up a recurring automatic payment before I ever moved into the townhouse.  It was fairly straight-forward.
2. I have never had a problem making rent payments on time and in full.
3. Now, I have to take the time to manually mail off a check for December rent and
4. Once the new site is up, I have to go through the process of setting up automatic payments a second time

I can't see how any of this is of benefit to me.  In fact, from my perspective, it is pure inconvenience.

Just writing this up raises my hackles, and makes me think that I should write their customer service about it.  I may come across as a jerk in doing so, but how else does customer service know when they are doing something foolish?  I realize that this is probably a minor thing to most people.  It should probably be a minor thing to me as well, but it has been gnawing at me for days
Thanks for listening.