Tiktok;@dubwaah
When 28-year-old Heather DuBois matched with her former landlord on Hinge, she agreed to grab drinks with him under one condition: that he'd pay for them with the security deposit he had refused to give back to her.
DuBois, who moved to Nashville in 2021 with her then-boyfriend, told Insider she'd recognized the scenery in his profile photo — it was her favorite spot on her former townhouse's rooftop.
In a message, the man invited DuBois out for coffee and shared his Instagram account. Thanks to the account name, DuBois realized the potential match was her former landlord, who she told Insider she'd only met once before when first touring the property. (Insider confirmed the name on DuBois' lease matched the name on the social media account).
Their working relationship had ended poorly; DuBois told Insider she and her ex-boyfriend had left the apartment in the same or better condition as their move-in day — paying $400 for a service to clean it before moving out, she said — but had still been denied their sizable security deposit of $1,400 without any specific explanation. At the time, DuBois was moving out because she and her boyfriend had split up, and she didn't have the energy to pursue the matter further, she said.
Eight months later, that former landlord was in her Hinge DMs asking her out on a coffee date. Amused by the weird, seemingly karmic gift from the universe, DuBois posted a semi-viral TikTok recounting what had happened on May 1.
Invested viewers called the situation a new "Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan" rom-com, while others brainstormed vigilante justice such as agreeing to a date in order to serve him a lawsuit, or going on "just enough dates for him to pay enough to equal the deposit."
Instead, on Hinge, DuBois typed out: "Sure! But you're paying, take it out of my security deposit," with a smiley-face emoji and hit send.
Unfortunately, DuBois said when she opened the app again later, he'd unmatched her.
"Honestly upset — he was kind of cute. It could have been like a really funny story," she said in a May 2 update.
But, overall, DuBois is happy with the weird turn of events that gave her the final word and an excellent story. She even gained some new followers out of it.
Almost a year later, she's in a markedly better position now — she's "gained independence back," and is focusing on doing her own thing, not dating a ton, and enjoying an unexpected, full-circle moment that she's keen to laugh off. She even gained a "couple hundred" followers from it.
"I mean I do wish it ended with me getting my $1,400 back," DuBois told Insider. "But, we'll take this."
