For the last month, the company that manages my apartment “community” has been advertising the PANTS off their Pay Rent Online For Free option. Posters inside and outside the building and flyers under our doors have encouraged us to sign up for this sublime new service.

Now, residents have always been able to pay online…for a fee. $20 a month, which would cut into the discount I got for signing a 14-month lease instead of a 12-month lease. And I’m saving that $20 a month for the day when I can bring home a loving and velvety-soft canine companion.

Also? I am a big fan of secure online banking and bill payment whenever possible, but I WILL NOT pay a fee to do it. How stupid is this company, you might ask, that they expect someone to shell out $20 for the privilege of paying decent-for-the-area-but-bitch-please rent?

Pretty darn stupid, because I went in to pay rent today as directed, after a month of waiting for the glorious freedom of not having to write out and sign a check, then find an envelope, then slide it under a door (because THAT’S safe), I got an error message telling me that online rent payment (for free!) “is not enabled for your community.”

I am So. Pissed. Off.

Also, Web nerds will love that the error message is in white on a primary red background in tiny-ass print. And they hyphenate online.

A-holes.