CORAAPPLATA - cutting off water?

Olly said:

We had an interesting sight this morning. A group of workmen and a Coraapplata official holding a load of unpaid bills. They had come to cut off water to those who had more than 2 months unpaid on the bill. They went all around the development digging holes and cutting off water to dwellings!

We asked if our house was on their list - a handfull of water bills were put in our hands to go through! No ours was not there. We rushed back to the house and got our last bills and the receipts. They looked at them and said " No. You are ok"

What a relief !!!

So best check your water bills.


OLLY

Click to expand...

Right they are... just a little late. I hold a neighbor's bill, which accidentally got delivered to me once showing they owed 100's of thousands of pesos... at 400 some Pesos a month... you do the math... and it stated that they had made it on their list of users which would be cut off in the future... that was a couple of months ago.

I thing they are likely to be able to cut off half o POP's users.
On the other hand, their accounting system is laughable.
You go and pay at the office, they can check your status LIFE on the computer, but have to hand write the receipt by hand. It usually takes months for your payment to find it's way into the system (which, as I was told, is a different one, than the one in the office too ).

I am to the point where I think they should stop using computers all together...


... J-D.

We live in Cerrar Mar and did not get any water for the last week of June and the entire month of July. During the second week of August I went to the water department to make sure they did not expect me to pay for July. Surprise surprise !!!! After speaking to 4 different folks, all one level above the other, so I was told. That yes it would be easier if I just paid the bill. (We are not behind in our bill and as of this writing still owe for July.) I asked each one if they would pay for something they had not received. I do not speak Spanish but had a friend in the office translate for me and all she said was they understood, but still expected me to pay. I thanked each one for their help and left without paying. We still get water but its only a trickle. So maybe there is still a water issue where I live. Any advice on the bill thing? thanks Phil Oh we purchased water from independent distributors 5 times during the outage. The water company never sent a truck .

A couple of months ago, CoraaPPlata visited the administration of Perla Marina. They wanted to cut off the water to the development due to non-payments. They had a long, long list of delinquencies, some going back years. Some delinquencies were very prominent North Coast business owners. We asked them to wait for us to notify the residents. A letter went out to residents explaining that anyone who has not paid their water bill recently should get their account in order.

A couple of weeks later, CoraaPPlata went around the development house by house asking to see contracts and the most recent receipt. Apparently the problem was two-fold. First, addresses from many years ago were listed merely as Perla Marina because few homes were in the development. With rapid growth, those original homes listed merely with the development name could not be located. If they failed to pay the bill, who could find the home? (I assume this same issue is all over the North Coast, as we are no longer the little villages we were years ago.)

Second, homes were bought and sold several times. Some new owners did not go to CoraaPPlatta to change the contract to their name. They never paid their water bills since purchasing the home. But, since the contract was in the name of the previous owner, and the previous owner was gone, how could the water company collect?

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to make the explanation to show that the problem is not entirely the fault of CoraaPPlata. Part of the problems came about due to rapid development of the north coast. Part of the problem resulted from ex-patriates not understanding the system of paying utilities and getting a contract. And possibly part of the problem resulted from individuals trying to get away with simply not paying.

If CoraPPlata does not attempt to collect, they are no different than EdeNorte giving free electricity. Shutting off water is their only means of leverage.

I say, good for them for making an attempt to get this straight!

Lindsey