Cleaning guy abused my property

[malicemizer661]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

First of all I would like to state some supporting info, as I feel my situation would not make sense without it...

I am 19 years old, living with both of my parents in an upper middle class suburban home. My whole life I have been "wierd", and am a technology/videogame freak. Among various electronics all over my room I have over 6 game consoles, a nice tv, a nice stereo, a VERY high end yamaha synthesizer,a very very large collection of DVD', and a very nice laptop (very nice laptop speakers as well) which is fairly new. To top it all off, there are 4 CD wallets that each hold 200cds all stacked on top of each other (and yes, they are all full).

All of these items are located in my bedroom, so if someone walked in their first impression would be "Wow, this kid is spoiled. Look at all this expensive stuff!"

Now with that background info out of the way, here is my problem...

A carpet cleaning man was scheduled to come today at 8am, so I went to sleep in my brother's empty room. My immediate response to leaving my electronics unattended was "I REALLLLY hope that cleaning guy doesnt touch anything."

So I wake up by the time he was already finished and had left my house. I casually mosey on over to my room, and open up my laptop. "what is this gum!? on my keyboard!?" yes, there was chewed gum in the crevices/cracks of my keyboard. I spent over 2 hours trying to scrape it all off with a needle, some of it even fell INTO the laptop. (will it melt later on and break my system?) After seeing that I was quite frustrated, seeing as that I have not chewed gum in over 2 years, I never have friends over. No one EVER comes into my room, even if they did NO ONE opens my laptop because im ALWAYS in my room and i would know.

At this point I'm thinking "hmmm, I wonder if anything else is messed up" .
I grab my stereo remote wanting to chill out to some music, I press play for the CD. Next thing I know, there is a *WHIIIIRRRRRRRRR* sound. "what the hell is that scratching noise coming from my stereo?!" I screamed. I look into the stereo to notice my CDs were pushed out of their slots, and jagged, which gravely scratched my CD when i tried to play it. i thought "well maybe he nudged into the stereo and knocked the CDs loose". So i tried it myself. I nudged it, i hit it, i flipped the entire unit upside down in a rage. Nothing. That was proof to me that he opened up my stereo and tampered with the CDs.

Im still looking for something else that could be damaged, but so far the laptop/gum is the main thing. I know i could never proove this to anyone. My parents say im overreacting.

I dont know his motives for doing something like this, but i suspect he felt i was spoiled when he saw all the stuff I had. Perhaps he was depraved of nice things as a child, so he figured he would cause a little subtle chaos for me.

Someone help what can i do about this? I KNOW it was him, but cant proove anything.

(Another bizzarre detail to support my claim: when I attempted to visit the company website I found a page were you can leave feedback about their service. I tried to type in my comment, but it wont work. Strange huh? http://www.superiorcarpetcare.com.au/onlenq.html)

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

First of all I would like to state some supporting info, as I feel my situation would not make sense without it...

I am 19 years old, living with both of my parents in an upper middle class suburban home. My whole life I have been "wierd", and am a technology/videogame freak. Among various electronics all over my room I have over 6 game consoles, a nice tv, a nice stereo, a VERY high end yamaha synthesizer,a very very large collection of DVD', and a very nice laptop (very nice laptop speakers as well) which is fairly new. To top it all off, there are 4 CD wallets that each hold 200cds all stacked on top of each other (and yes, they are all full).

All of these items are located in my bedroom, so if someone walked in their first impression would be "Wow, this kid is spoiled. Look at all this expensive stuff!"

Now with that background info out of the way, here is my problem...

A carpet cleaning man was scheduled to come today at 8am, so I went to sleep in my brother's empty room. My immediate response to leaving my electronics unattended was "I REALLLLY hope that cleaning guy doesnt touch anything."

So I wake up by the time he was already finished and had left my house. I casually mosey on over to my room, and open up my laptop. "what is this gum!? on my keyboard!?" yes, there was chewed gum in the crevices/cracks of my keyboard. I spent over 2 hours trying to scrape it all off with a needle, some of it even fell INTO the laptop. (will it melt later on and break my system?) After seeing that I was quite frustrated, seeing as that I have not chewed gum in over 2 years, I never have friends over. No one EVER comes into my room, even if they did NO ONE opens my laptop because im ALWAYS in my room and i would know.

At this point I'm thinking "hmmm, I wonder if anything else is messed up" .
I grab my stereo remote wanting to chill out to some music, I press play for the CD. Next thing I know, there is a *WHIIIIRRRRRRRRR* sound. "what the hell is that scratching noise coming from my stereo?!" I screamed. I look into the stereo to notice my CDs were pushed out of their slots, and jagged, which gravely scratched my CD when i tried to play it. i thought "well maybe he nudged into the stereo and knocked the CDs loose". So i tried it myself. I nudged it, i hit it, i flipped the entire unit upside down in a rage. Nothing. That was proof to me that he opened up my stereo and tampered with the CDs.

Im still looking for something else that could be damaged, but so far the laptop/gum is the main thing. I know i could never proove this to anyone. My parents are confused by my story (they know I have done drugs in the past, and they figure "well he probably got the gum in there when he was stoned or something a couple months ago". they wont really listen because they "trust" him)

I dont know his motives for doing something like this, but i suspect he felt i was spoiled when he saw all the stuff I had. Perhaps he was depraved of nice things as a child, so he figured he would cause a little subtle chaos for me.

Someone help what can i do about this? I KNOW it was him, but cant proove anything.

(Another bizzarre detail to support my claim: when I attempted to visit the company website I found a page were you can leave feedback about their service. I tried to type in my comment, but it wont work. Strange huh? http://www.superiorcarpetcare.com.au/onlenq.html)

My parents are confused by my story (they know I have done drugs in the past, and they figure "well he probably got the gum in there when he was stoned or something a couple months ago".

I agree with your parents.

 

[malicemizer661]

i edited that part out of the original post, because after reading your comment seniorjudge i realize that detail is irrelevant.

i dont even chew gum i have braces, i cant!

 

[jpritchett81]

i edited that part out of the original post, because after reading your comment seniorjudge i realize that detail is irrelevant.

i dont even chew gum i have braces, i cant!

Not true.....when I had braces I used to chew gum all the time!!!

 

[malicemizer661]

so jpritchett you are saying its possible i put the gum in there on accident?

 

[malicemizer661]

no one else has anything to say about this?

actually today my "k" key is starting to stick down when i press it.

its a laptop, i cant just buy a new keyboard.

 

[HomeGuru]

no one else has anything to say about this?

actually today my "k" key is starting to stick down when i press it.

its a laptop, i cant just buy a new keyboard.

**A: go online and find out how to fix it.

 

[malicemizer661]

The point is, I should not HAVE to fix it. It was damaged by an outside source. ....it was, HIM!

By law he should fix it by making a payment to me right?

 

[justalayman]

A carpet cleaning man was scheduled to come today at 8am, so I went to sleep in my brother's empty room. My immediate response to leaving my electronics unattended was "I REALLLLY hope that cleaning guy doesnt touch anything."

So I wake up by the time he was already finished and had left my house. I casually mosey on over to my room, and open up my laptop. "what is this gum!? on my keyboard!?" yes, there was chewed gum in the crevices/cracks of my keyboard.

I

To me it sounds like this was thought out ahead of time.

You got input from several people here. If you don't think they are correct, you can file this in small claims court. The only person you have to convince there is the judge.

It's not that much to file a SC suit. Go for it if you feel you were wronged.

 

[malicemizer661]

layman thank you for actually taking my post seriously, and giving me a straightforward and educated response ^_^

if i were to file it in court, well its a VERY small claim.

besides, proving to the judge it was his gum would be near impossible right?

 

[justalayman]

layman thank you for actually taking my post seriously, and giving me a straightforward and educated response ^_^

if i were to file it in court, well its a VERY small claim.

besides, proving to the judge it was his gum would be near impossible right?

Well I don't know if ther is a "very small claims court"

That is something you have to weigh for yourself. After hearing the folks on the forum here, you got a pretty bad response. A judge is people just like many here on the forum.

If it was me, if you haven't already, I would contact the cleaning agency and tell them what you think happened. If you really wanted to push the issue with them, send a demand letter for the damages mailed CRRR.

If they don't give you satisfaction, then you have to chose to either drop it or go to court. That is up to you.

Just be careful here though. If the cleaning person did not actually do this, you may be putting their job in peril without cause. This could have a very big negative impact on somebodies life.

If it was me and I wasn't absolutely positive the cleaning person did this, I would just chalk it up to "stuff happens"

 

[acmb05]

quick response

The keys on your laptop pop off just like on a regular keyboard. Use a butter knife or some other dull item and pop each key off and clean it, also check under the key and clean any gum off from there. The laptop would have to get very hot to actually melt the gum and cause internal damage. If the gum is still sticky under the keys then you can get a can of instant freeze and direct a small spray at the gum and it should come right out with a pair of tweezers.

This problem is actually not as bad as it seems.

BTW the keys press right back on again.

 

[dallas702]

If this was a legitimate, licensed, bonded cleaning company (not your sister's ex-boyfriend's uncle) you can file a claim with them so their insurance can pay all of your proveable damages. If the company balks, sue them in SCC and convince the judge of everything you claim. It's your "upper middle class" word against the carpet cleaning dolt.

Next time, leave a camera running that can see the whole room.

I have to ask: Why did you post this under the "Slander/defamation" heading?

 

[malicemizer661]

wow, thank you everyone for the detailed and logical responses!

layman: i see your position about the previous responses being parallel to a judge, because a judge is a "regular person" too, afterall. good point. to contact the company directly is a great idea, i never thought to do that, actually i will do that today ^_^. i understand i would be slandering that person to blame this on him, but im positive it was him who did it.

acmb: i never knew i could do that with a laptop! i was able to get the key off, and most of the gum underneath. there are still some peices of excess gum that literally fell INTO the laptop's core itself, it that potentially damaging?

dallas: it is a legitimate company, the damage is very difficult to prove though (its very subtle and barely visible, which i think the man knew that when he did it) do you think a lawsuit would be reasonable in this case? definately not if they settle it directly (through the company) right? and yes, next time im definately leaving a camera going ^_^

i posted it in this genre because i know little about law, therefore what category my problem fell under was a mystery to me.

 

[cbg]

I'm really, really, really interested to know what proof you have that the guy from the cleaning company even touched your computer.

My laptop is even as we speak having a new keyboard installed. I spilled something into it and it was two days before it worked itself into the system enough to cause any problems.