New telephone line

We thought that an extra telephone line would be a good idea, especially as PT Telkom was offering a special low price for new lines in our area. Our new line was operational on Jan. 29, 1997 but when we went to pay the bill we were told that we had not paid for two months (November and December 1996). The matter was eventually solved, but only after a lot of hassles. We had to pay the bill first and later received a refund. Although Bapak Deddy, Ibu Vera and Teti were very helpful, they were unable to solve our problems relating to the payment of bills and fixing the line.

Since Jan. 29, our new telephone has only been working for about 10 days. The rest of the time it has been out of order. We have called Telkom everyday but the answer is always the same. "It has been reported to our technician," they assure us. The first report (Number 058) to Telkom's complaint service went missing. They said the line had already been fixed, but the phone was still out of order.

We tried to pay our bill again on March 10, at BDN Manggala Wanabakti but yet again they told us we had not paid last month's bill and that payments were not accepted at BDN. Of course, last month's bill had already been paid.

Although I had to pay last month's bill in Slipi, Telkom said the matter would be settled and the bill would be transferred to BDN Manggala Wanabakti the following month, but obviously this was not the case.

To formalize our complaint, we went to PT Telkom's service point in Palmerah on March 8, and obtained a letter formally assuring us they would send a technician to our home on March 10. But nobody ever arrived. We contacted Telkom again on March 11 because our telephone was still not working, but again they said it was in the hands of the technician.

Why should we continue to pay the bill when the phone has not worked for such a long time? Is it reasonable to expect a new line to work properly on a regular basis? Do we have to be referred to various offices to pay our bill even though we have already paid?

I strongly urge PT Telkom to help us either fix our new line or refund our money.

S & J WATSON

Jakarta