City water woes
I have been a customer of city water company Thames Pam Jaya since August 1999, and I am surprised at how unprofessional the company is proving to be.
After installation, a water pipe in the street leaked. I immediately reported the leak, but it took the water company several days to have it repaired. In the meantime the street became muddy.
After that I arranged to have water connected to my house. The water meter installed read 23 instead of zero. The meter reader only appeared in September.
The bills for August, September and October 1999 all came, each stating the meter was on zero. After I paid all the bills I faxed a complaint to the company, and attached a record of the meter at that time, which read 77 on Oct. 22, in the hope to prevent more mistakes in November.
In filing complaints by phone to the company, as soon as I asked the name of the person I was speaking to, the person would hang up. This happened three times, all of them with women.
I then asked to talk to the marketing director. A marketing staffer called Audi received my complaint in a polite and sympathetic manner. He promised to convey my complaints and I sent the aforementioned material again. I also attached the November bill, with the meter showing zero at the beginning and 20 at the end, and that of December showing the meter beginning at 20 and ending at 111.
A few weeks passed, after which a man from the company called me a number of times, saying he was assigned to settle my complaints, and asked me to explain the problem again. Surely the company already had it on file and surely it was easy to settle the problem if the company wanted to.
However, the Jan. 12 bill came, stating the meter began at 111 and ended at 173, based on the recording of Jan. 4. On that date we were not at home and did not know of anyone coming to read the meter. The meter actually read 139 on Jan. 12. I complained again and received calls from the company asking for elaboration.
Finally the company sent a statement saying the original December and January bills were required to correct the mistaken bills. Didn't the company have the bills on computer? I prepared them anyway, but no one arrived to take them and I had to fax the company again.
The two bills were eventually picked up and I was relieved, expecting to receive a correct bill. But then the February bill came without the meter being read, stating "delayed payments" of Rp 385,615. I complained via telephone and fax. How could I pay if the company did not produce the correct bill?
There were more hassles; there was a bill in my name sent to a house 500 meters away ... I told the company I would complain to the mass media and gave a time limit for it to settle the problem. Despite promises, nothing has happened since October.
I have spent much time, energy and money. The marketing director is unable to settle this small matter and he has even refused to talk to me. This is contrary to the contents of his letter to customers titled Happy New Year 2000 and Best Wishes for the Start of the Millennium. The water company does not appreciate its customers in the least.
Don't I have a right to be noticed despite only being a small time customer? Can't Thames appreciate my goodwill as a honest customer who always pays her bills on time? Do I have to report to the House of Representatives? Attached are complete copies of my correspondence with the company and copies of bills and receipts.
IRENE P. RAHARDJO
Jakarta