The Saga of the Gas Bill Continues

I have written about my efforts to make sure that the monthly gas bills for the condo are paid even though I am only down here every other month.  In February I paid 400 pesos extra on the bill.  Even though I was down here most of February, I spent the majority of my time at Alejandro's house.  Gas consumption for the month would have been minimal, and the bill arriving in early March (when I was not here) should have still had a sizeable credit.

However, as I told you in an earlier post, when I returned last week there was an overdue bill for 75 pesos sitting here.  My 400 pesos had not been credited.  Gas consumption was 60 pesos (a little over $3 U.S.) and there was an administrative fee of 15 pesos.  I went to the office of the gas company.  The lady looked up the account, and said to ignore the bill.  The next bill would show the credit.

Well, guess what?  On Tuesday the next bill arrived.  I was still being charged for the 75 pesos from the previous bill, plus another 22 pesos for the month of March.  (15 peso administrative fee and gas consumption of 7 pesos... about 40 cents.  My cleaning lady probably did a load of towels and bed linens in warm water when she came to the apartment prior to my return.)  And the bill said that the payment was due immediately!  Heck, are they going to come and turn off my gas?

Today I marched back to the office.  The lady remembered me.  She took the bill and went into a room in the back.  She took quite a while, so I thought this time she is making sure that everything is straightened out.  Indeed, when she came back, she handed me a new bill that showed a credit of 302 pesos.  She assured me that in the future, even if the billing should be messed up again, the credit shows up for the account on the computer, and no one is going to be turning off the gas.

That's nice, but how much do you want to bet that on my next trip down here I will be making another trip to the gas company?