A consumer’s tale of woe

The following is an interesting tale for consumers, partly because all of us are customers of one or another water distribution system and mostly because it happens to be true and factual.

It started sometime in June of this year. A couple who have been long- time residents of a gated subdivision received their monthly water bill showing a current account of P4,737.89. They were naturally surprised, aghast at the sharp spike in their bill which was normally between P1,200.00 and P1,400.00/month, a couple of times perhaps rising to P1,800.00/month. The lady of the house promptly wrote the utility company a letter to lodge a complaint, citing their past bills for well over a decade and their record of prompt payment through all their years of residency. 

She also narrated in her letter that she noticed a rather strong water leak outside of their gate which remained unattended for weeks despite several calls to the utility company from the village guard. 

After this first letter, a repairman came after a couple of days to investigate the leak and after a cursory check, the utility representative informed the homeowner that the leak was before the meter and has no effect whatsoever on the meter reading. The next day, a team was dispatched to repair the leak, digging and breaking through the concrete just outside the front gate to get to the pipes. They also promptly cemented back whatever they destroyed after fixing the leak though the area fronting the gate is no longer what it looked like before. This is not the first time they repaired a leak in this very same area and the original red tiled area just before the gate is now an unsightly gray cemented patch.  But this was tolerated by the homeowner with nary a complaint—all in the name of cooperation in a village’s environmental concern.

The couple left for a two-week trip abroad without receiving a reply to their letter. They withheld payment, waiting for the utility company’s response.  And then the next bill came, this time showing a bill of P3,574.56.  They could only surmise that the repair of the leak covered only a part of this billing period. Still, there was no written response from the utility company.

When the third billing came, the wife wrote another letter citing all the attendant details.  To her surprise, the utility company cut off their water supply, prompting her to rush to the nearby business office of the utility company to lodge her complaint. The young lady who attended to her was efficient but courteous, and after studying the pertinent documents of the case, she advised the lady to temporarily pay the average bill which she reckoned to be P1,500.00/month for the three-month period while they launch an investigation into the case. The couple paid the amount of P4,500.00 as suggested the next day and the water service was promptly restored.

Come August, a new bill arrived reflecting a current bill of P1,429.20.  However, the total amount to be paid carried over the full balance of the unpaid previous bills of P5,726.79, so the homeowner had to pay a total of P7,387.21.

The homeowner rushed back to the business office where she lodged her complaint and talked with the same lady who referred her to the head of the zone area.  The case was reviewed on the spot, the homeowner producing the water bills and her letters and the manager showing her the report of the on-the-spot check of the reported leak. For her part, the lady of the house cited their past records, their average water bills for well over a decade, and the fact that, apart from the maids, she and her husband were typical empty nesters with the kids visiting on weekends only.

The one-on-one meeting with the manager lasted for several minutes, with both parties sticking tenaciously to their side of the issue. The manager said there is no way they could agree to any rebate, sticking to the technical report on file. The homeowner, exasperated, simply asked: can you please just explain to me how our water bill jumped more than 400 percent in one month and then normalized after the water leak was finally repaired? The manager couldn’t offer a reasonable explanation but ventured a lame excuse: maybe your maids left your water running unattended for a long time!!? That would have created a big pool of water somewhere in the house for days on end, but I guess the manager could not find a better excuse.

Obviously, the meeting wasn’t going anywhere with both parties sticking to their guns. The homeowner sensed that it was not within the manager’s parameters to make a decision that may run contrary to the policies of the company, no matter the attending circumstances.  The homeowner asked the manager if there was ever any instance that the utility company ever granted a rebate for a valid complaint. His response was this: the company was always willing to replace a defective meter if it could be proven that it was the cause of erroneous billings.  And what about the previous bill before the meter was replaced – will there be a condonation of any kind?  No, said the manager, but the water bill for the succeeding months will have been corrected!!?!

Sensing this was going nowhere and taking note of the long queue of customers waiting to take up their own issues against the utility company, the homeowner requested the issue be raised to the manager’s superior and left the matter at that. Meanwhile, she paid her current bill and is waiting for a written reply from the company.

In the face of all these, the homeowners were quick to add that there was never an instance where the employees of the utility company were ever discourteous or impatient.  The business office was effectively a complaint center, but the attending staff never lost their cool even when faced with irate and unreasonable customers like that very day when the homeowner was there.

This piece is written in the interest of the ordinary consumer — it is not meant to disparage but hopes to be constructive. There is such a thing as a valid complaint, and if all indications prove this, airtight policies cannot be invoked in place of reasonable negotiations.

Mabuhay!!!  Be proud to be a Filipino.

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