Can anyone explain to me this logic....

Carpet has a 5 year life, after that they replace it with no charge.

Paint has a 3 year life, after that they repaint with no charge.

BUT, the crappy horizontal blinds they use have to be paid for regardless of how long you've lived in the house?

This makes no sense to me, they want me to pay $35 each to replace two sets of blinds that have bends in them, but i'm good to go with my carpet and paint because i've been in this house for 6 years?....wtf.

I have no intention of paying $70 for two sets of blinds, i know i can go to Lowes or somewhere similar and get them much cheaper, it's just the point of the matter.

They don't even use horizontal blinds anymore every house around me that has had people move out has been retrofitted with vertical blinds for the windows just like the ones used on the sliding glass doors. That makes sense since you can replace individual blinds without needing to replace the whole assembly like the horizontals i can predict i will replace these two sets only for them to come in and replace those with verticals anyhow.....waste fraud and abuse much??!! 

Do you have renters insurance? They paid for mine, I was shocked. 

Do you have renters insurance? They paid for mine, I was shocked. 

i do, but it's not worth the time to go that route. This isn't about the money it's the principle. I can go to lowes buy two sets of blinds for $20 and be done with it i just don't get why i should have to. 

Donny, when our blinds needed replacing I just put in a work order and maintainence came and swapped them out. I never got charged. 

So true, I thought you were moving out all together. 

Did you ask Lincoln why?

I'm sure they wouldn't give a good explanation anyway.. 

I would never claim it on Renters Insurance....

Wait, Donnie are you kidding me???

We just bought a house and moving out in 30 days, we have the crappy horizontal blinds too. But, I thought they were replacing those slowly with the vertical blinds when people moved out anyway. So, how is that fair?

I will be someone's worst nightmare in a month. 

those vertical blinds suck... Just about every window that we have them on has 1 or 2 slats that broke off at the top...

good idea to call it in... I might do that after the tent comes off my place...

yay fumigation.... 

Donny, when our blinds needed replacing I just put in a work order and maintainence came and swapped them out. I never got charged

yeah WEG i called and talked to both Lincoln and my district office. They don't have a "expiration date" for blinds like they do for carpet or paint so they said i have to pay.

So true, I thought you were moving out all together. 

I am, this was noted on my pre-inspection check out, the blinds aren't even destroyed just bent from fingers or whatever over the years, but there is no way to bend them back so they need to be replaced according to them.

Did you ask Lincoln why?

I'm sure they wouldn't give a good explanation anyway.. 

I did, they basically said "umm if blinds are damaged it's on the renter to replace them or pay for them to be replaced"...which i understand, but crap out of 6 years in this house i'd think two of 12 sets of blinds being damaged would fall under normal wear and tear.

Wait, Donnie are you kidding me???

We just bought a house and moving out in 30 days, we have the crappy horizontal blinds too. But, I thought they were replacing those slowly with the vertical blinds when people moved out anyway. So, how is that fair?

I will be someone's worst nightmare in a month. 

Have you done your pre-inspection yet? I thought the same thing, basically i was told if you elect to have lincoln replace them and pay the $35 they will replace with vertical, but if you replace them yourself or they are in good working order they will leave the horizontals in place.

I almost want to call them on this and pay the $35 for them to replace the downstairs set that is bent. There are 4 windows down here with horizontals, having one set vertical would look horrible the windows are all right next to each other. 

Just call in a work order :) lol 

Ya, that is crazy. Happened with us to. 

Okay, you may have an out here. We just moved into a house in Quantico last summer. They are doing the same thing ripping out the horizontals and replacing with verticals.

We comlained that there were no window coverings on our french doors. We were told by Mrs. Washington, one of the heads for Lincoln here, "they were no longer installing the horizontals because they were a safety hazard". I am not positive but is was either a base or usmc order.

You might look into that.

We went to Lowes and bought some for $6 each. We have to take them down though when we leave since they are a safety hazard. Children have been strangled. 

Just call in a work order :) lol 

already did on the phone they stated it's a $35 fee per set that needs to be replaced, called 3 different times on 3 different days and got the same answer.

I have a plan though...

I'm going to go ahead and replace the blinds on my own and take pictures once they are installed and save the receipt.

My neighbors are going to monitor the house once i move and report back to me if my brand new blinds get replaced with verticals...

If that happens i'll drive over to the district office with my receipt in hand and pictures and demand a refund and i'll put in a notice to waste fraud and abuse as well. 

We also destroyed a set in 29 palms and were never charged. They were $6. 

I think this is fraud waste and abuse! Quantico says thy are unsafe! 

Lejeune is replacing with the verticals when you move out here too, BUT they still require the blinds in your house to be perfectly intact.

My neighbor was even told to not bother cleaning hers, just as long as all the slats were present, none were bent etc.

What's the difference if they are just trashing them? 

i just called Lincoln AGAIN to see about the "choke hazard" they said they have no instruction directing them to replace horizontal blinds with vertical.

I did however talk to a supervisor there and he said he will send a tech to assess my blinds, if they are deemed "normal wear and tear" and not abused/neglected they will replace them free of charge otherwise i will have to replace them myself or pay for Lincoln to replace them.

Glad i'm home can't wait to talk to this tech and make him see things my way. 

You show him who is boss, and tell us what happens :0) 

They will charge you for them I know from experience after paying $618 for blinds. At my pre-inspection she told me two sets had to be replaced which I knew. I missed our final since I was taken to the hospital that same day (husband was deployed). It was $618 for blinds I knew didn't need to be replaced and $40 for a damn microwave I know I cleaned, but they still charged a "cleaning fee" of $40 for it. 

i just called Lincoln AGAIN to see about the "choke hazard" they said they have no instruction directing them to replace horizontal blinds with vertical.

I did however talk to a supervisor there and he said he will send a tech to assess my blinds, if they are deemed "normal wear and tear" and not abused/neglected they will replace them free of charge otherwise i will have to replace them myself or pay for Lincoln to replace them.

Glad i'm home can't wait to talk to this tech and make him see things my way. 


Good job :) 

Donny, this situation you're in is Bull****, your house is immaculate! Let's hope Lincoln will reassess your blinds as having been bent by normal wear and tear. Good Luck! 

Donny, this situation you're in is Bull****, your house is immaculate! Let's hope Lincoln will reassess your blinds as having been bent by normal wear and tear. Good Luck! 

Thanks Heather. Hopefully this gets resolved today or tomorrow, if not i'll have you guys and the rest of the neighbors spy on my house when i move and let me know if they replace my blinds with verticals. lol 

Wait?! They are making you pay for bends. I guess they made the people pay that lived her before us. But they didn't replace them! 

Wait?! They are making you pay for bends. I guess they made the people pay that lived her before us. But they didn't replace them! 

yes, i'd say no more then 4 rows of bends all in the bottom corners, no breaks or anything else. The blinds go up and down with no issues and open and close with no problems. It's purely an aesthetic issue. 

I moved.out last month and the guy told me: "Don't worry about the blinds because they have to be replaced anyways." 

I moved.out last month and the guy told me: "Don't worry about the blinds because they have to be replaced anyways


Guess it depends on who your inspector is. Imagine that base housing having no consistency with rules/regulations who'd have thunk it?..... 

My dog chewed a bunch of blinds in my house and I never got charged when I moved. 

When we moved in to our place NOTHING had been replaced or repaired so I had ALOT to write down on my move-in form ... including EVERY SINGLE window with the blinds, the were all messed up and I knew if it wasnt on my move-in form I would be responsible when we moved out.
Well upon our move out the only thing they said was an issue was the blinds, we told the walk thru person that it was on our move-in form and so they told us we would not be responsible but still had to sign the moveout form, so my husband signed it.
Well I got a 2 notices telling us that if we didnt pay for the blinds they would send us to collections, I called and left message after message with WM housing, NO ONE ever called me back. I finally got a letter from the collection agency and i was beyond pissed. I called housing back and they told me "that the move-in form is not a legal document and it was our responsiblity to have ALL the items that were on the move-in form replaced, and because I had not done so, we were responsible for it. And because 'my husbands name' signed the move out form it was him accepting the responsiblity for the charges. I explained to them that we were told we HAD to sign it and that the walk thru person told us that as long as it was on our move in form we would not be charged." Its all such BS. I had never heard of this in my life, i am *still* fighting with them about the blinds. I called the collect agency and told them I would send them a copy of our move-in form and that the blinds should not be our responsibly. I am sooooo pissed with housing, I have been fighting with them for 6 months now. its ridiculous how they handle stuff. 

I agree it's stupid to be charged for them after 6 years. However to me it's not worth it to not pay. It could hurt your credit if they send it to collections and once it goes to collections it's even harder to fight. I spent almost a year fighting with a doctors office and a collections company over a co-pay that had been paid twice but when the doctors office changed computer systems they payments didn't transfer over for whatever reason. It was a lot of time and effect on my part to get it cleared up. Looking back now it wasn't worth it because of all the time I wasted. Good luck. 

I am so sorry for everyone's situations with Lincoln...... but I have had only GREAT experiences with them. When we were on Pendleton, we lived in O'Neil Heights and Lincoln was great. We are now at Miramar and live in base housing off base, and again, Lincoln is great.

I guess I am writing this for those families that are considering moving into Lincoln housing. Not all have bad experiences. I actually love Lincoln. And again, I am sorry for those that are having problems with them :(