My Water Bill

Tuesday December 9

I went to my flat in the city to see what the water meter said so I know what to pay. When I got there, there were no water meters – just electric meters.

I looked on the bulletin board and I saw all the names of the tenants and what they owe. I notice that they had three sheets of paper – one for each year from 2006 – 2008. I saw my name there and the total that owe is $270.19! I notice that there was $15 for each month. I saw that some people owed in the $300 to $500 range. Of course there were those who owed much less.

I also saw a notice that there is a meeting Wednesday Dec. 10 at 7.30pm. no where did I see who you pay, the flat you go to to pay, a person’s name or phone number.

What IDIOTS!

How in the heck do they expect people to pay when there is no person or address to pay this – only in Ecuador!!

I thought I would have a number that I can use when I go and pay the water, so maybe I just give them my name and address – I don’t know.

I rang the bell to my apartment to make sure that the tenant left. When there was no answer I unlocked the door and saw some of his personal things inside. So I did not go inside.

I left and as I was walking down the alley I saw someone who looked American. I asked him if he rented a flat there, and he said yes. So this was my tenant.

We had a nice chat and I told I was sorry about the problem but this was the first time that this happened. He told me that he just had to move some small things out as he couldn’t take it all last night – as he moved into another flat that Matt has for rent.

I let him finish while I left to go to pay for the water. Irina told me that I could pay this where I pay the electric. When I got there I found out that I couldn’t pay there. Since I don’t have a customer number – if one is needed – I would not be able to pay anyhow.

I then called Matt to tell him the story. I told him what my total is and that it goes back to Jan. 2006. I also said it looked like there is a monthly $15. I said I don’t know if this is the water, just the maintance or both.

I suggest if he could call Juan (Judith brother) and see if he could go to the meeting. (Juan used to work for Matt, so he is someone that can be depended on.)

I then got something to eat. Then I went on the internet. I wrote to Matt to say there are some things I wanted Juan to bring up at the meeting.

Some of the things that should be brought up are:

Sign with contact person’s phone and flat number
Break down of bill

It’s stupid to have one water meter for everyone as it cheats those who don’t use much water and cheats those who have found out the person to pay, but still has their water turned off.

When I got home I called Matt and he first said that he couldn’t make it, then I told him…”I paid you to manage and pay the bills for my properties but the water/monthly maintance was never paid. The bills go back to Jan. 2006 when I was in Cyprus.” (I paid him up to July 2007 when I returned.)

Then, I guess he realized he should have checked into this when the bills were paid when I was gone, so he said he’ll go to the meeting.

I paid him $50 month to look after the property and pay my bills (which came out of my money). He should realize that each house/apartment has a phone, electric and water to pay. Even if no one is staying in the place there is still a minimum.

After my call to him, he called back to suggest that I should go with him to and he said Jayne and I could come over about 5.30pm and if we want we could spend the night. So we’ll go over, but I don’t know if we’ll spend the night.

Matt suggested that everyone vote on if they want to have individual meters.

This would be the only fair way for an owner like me most of the time there is no one in the flat yet I have to pay the same price as everyone else (which is an average price). Naturally, there are those who use more water.

He suggested that I don’t pay anything tomorrow night but we’ll ask for a breakdown for everything. He also thinks that the monthly bill is water and flat fees – we’ll find out tomorrow.

The taxi driver tried to over-charge me when I went home! He showed me a sheet of paper that looked like he wrote it that said $20. I know darn well that the sheet that other taxi drivers have says $12. So I was going to go out the taxi, and actually opened the door, until he went down to $12. He thought he could cheat a foreigner but he was wrong.