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AAA, the Puerto Rico water company

Gary
#1
The water company has a strange definition of what's a reason for an emergency repair.

The main valve of our connection broke when I was trying to open it after a repair to the house water system so my wife called the water company.

"Is there any water leaking from it?"聽 No, but we have no water in the house. "OK, that's no emergency so it may take a while before it will be repaired."

Excuse me? A household without water is no reason for an emergency repair but a leak is? Isn't this the same water company that lost 50% of the water that they pumped in their system back in 2001 and 60%(!) last summer?
I understood that they finally got off their butts and started repairing leaks, a good thing although at least 25 years too late.
Now, if that results in not coming to repair my water connection and telling us that it's no emergency to be without water it's kind of strange.
I told my wife to tell them if they needed a leak to come over I could easily take care of that but she thought that was no good plan. :D

It's been 8 days and many phone calls but nothing happened.

Luckily I have a couple of tanks and (they were full) and a pump so we're OK. We can also if we run out fill the tanks with a long garden hose from one of the neighbors, one gets creative on this island. :)

But I still can't get it in my head that they just tell us it's no emergency and that we'll have to wait. How long? Dunno, until ma帽ana I guess...
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ReyP
#2
You expect them to have some sort of logic to their processes and procedures?
Gary
#3

ReyP wrote:

You expect them to have some sort of logic to their processes and procedures?


LOL. Right... :D

GreggK
#4
Why are you surprised Gary? You should be used to that kind of stuff by now. A few years ago PR came up with a new tourism slogan they used in commercials. I can't recall exactly what is was. But I made up my own slogan at the time as a result of similar experiences. "Puerto Rico! Why make sense?"
Gary
#5

GreggK wrote:

Why are you surprised Gary? You should be used to that kind of stuff by now. A few years ago PR came up with a new tourism slogan they used in commercials. I can't recall exactly what is was. But I made up my own slogan at the time as a result of similar experiences. "Puerto Rico! Why make sense?"


"Puerto Rico does it better" was the slogan.

I'm not really surprised, but even after 14 years I still don't get certain things..

ReyP
#6

Gary wrote:
GreggK wrote:

Why are you surprised Gary? You should be used to that kind of stuff by now. A few years ago PR came up with a new tourism slogan they used in commercials. I can't recall exactly what is was. But I made up my own slogan at the time as a result of similar experiences. "Puerto Rico! Why make sense?"


"Puerto Rico does it better" was the slogan.

I'm not really surprised, but even after 14 years I still don't get certain things..


You know that valve could develop a leak on the side that belongs to them

mac00677
#7
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but... they also stated recently that they will be charging $1.80+ for each phone call into their offices!
Schuttzie
#8

mac00677 wrote:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but... they also stated recently that they will be charging $1.80+ for each phone call into their offices!


Oh my gosh!聽 Guess they'll money where they can.

ReyP
#9
I find it hard to believe they will get away with that.
Gary
#10

mac00677 wrote:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but... they also stated recently that they will be charging $1.80+ for each phone call into their offices!


Ain't that wonderful, that's the PR interpretation of customer service I guess.

GreggK
#11
ReyP. Believe it. PR is an alternate universe. Living there is kind of like trying to figure out quantum mechanics and string theory. I always go back to an argument with a Puerto Rican. What I was telling him made perfect sense. He wasn't having any of it though. He simply said to me "We do things differently here".
ReyP
#12
I would think that something like that would be all over the newspapers and opinion pieces. Also Unless they have special phone number they cant charge your phone, so that leaves adding it to your utility bill.
They would be providing shitty service as usual, then charge you money on top of that to report an outage, problem with their service or an emergency.

I can see people calling 911 to prevent the bill when there is an emergency.

If they implement it, I do not think it will last long. When the right person is affected, it will end.
Gary
#13
I just talked to my (step)daughter who's here to visit and she told me the $1.80 is charged when you call to pay your bill by phone, not for other calls. I'll keep an eye on my next monthly bill and report back. :)
ReyP
#14
Ok I can see that (charge for a pay by phone) it is done here in the states. So if they are doing that, it makes sense and I have no issue with it.
Gary
#15
Yup, it makes sense to me, too.
Sitka
#16
How is the water bill calculated in PR?聽 聽Is the water metered?
Gary
#17
Yes, the water is metered. How exactly they calculate is unclear to me, actually I never paid too much attention because it was really cheap.
Like a year ago or so we paid $15-$20 monthly. In the mean time it went up to around $40 per month.
Roughly we now pay $2 per cubic meter. It used to be around $1.
Still not too bad as long as they deliver and that is a problem out here in the boonies. Usually they just cut off the supply every couple of days and leave us dry for at least 24 hours. No explanation, no warning, just no water.
That's why everybody out here has cisterns and a more or less sophisticated system to keep the flow going when there's no "agua de la calle" (literally : water from the street).
Gary
#18
Here's my latest bill. Maybe somebody can figure out how they calculated the final charge. ;)
right-click and choosing view image (Windows - Firefox, should be similar in other browsers)聽 will show a larger version that's better readable.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2lt36nr.png
mac00677
#19
You are being charged for their recycling compliance, or words to that affect... Mine was doubled in two bills. The water authority rep told me that "it was approved by the senate", to which I replied; "who's getting their house paid for, on my money?"

They are not charging cell phones, they are adding it to the callers' bills, as I am told.
Gary
#20

mac00677 wrote:

You are being charged for their recycling compliance, or words to that affect...


Yeah, one way or another they charge more but don't deliver. Oh wel..

mac00677 wrote:

They are not charging cell phones, they are adding it to the callers' bills, as I am told.


I'll keep an eye on the next bill and if they charge for the phone calls I'll report back.

Gary
#21
Two weeks without water and counting..
A tech came by and established there's no leak.
He also gave my wife a number to call to get the valve repaired. 20 calls but nobody picked up.
S
#22
Oh my that is horrible. I bet you will still be charged for water .We left a place for a mot and still got a bill for the same amount as when we actually lived in the place .Wear in Puerto Rico do you live
Gary
#23
Oh yeah, the monthly bills will keep coming but that's OK. Every now and then they check the consumption and adjust the bill.

We get by with our emergency water system of tanks and a pump so it's OK - for now..
Gary
#24
Update: still no water, gonna be 4 weeks this Saturday.

My wife went to an AAA office in Humacao and the friendly lady put our case on a to-repair list. That's more than a week ago.

We get by with our tanks/pump system. (I found a way to fill the tanks..聽 shhhh be vewy vewy quiet..:D)
4 members reacted to this post
S
#25
Gary. This is horrible .How can a company that supposed to provide service let this kind of thing happen .Please report this to an agency.聽 I don't remember the name but it's like the bbb in the states .Also tough base with the pr housing department .Maybe they can help you address this matter. It's disgusting and they should be ashamed
Schuttzie
#26
Wow, I can't believe it is still not resolved!
Gary
#27

sandrarduncan wrote:

I don't remember the name but it's like the bbb in the states.


You mean DACO (dept. of consumers affairs) I guess. Thing is, everything here takes a lot of time, you know, going to an office and wait for hours and that goes on and on and on..

sandrarduncan wrote:

It's disgusting and they should be ashamed


Absolutely but they don't care even a bit.

I just don't get exited (I guess I'm slowly becoming a local), my wife goes to the AAA every now and then when she feels like it and in the mean time when we open a faucet there's water. (from the tanks and the automatic starting and stopping pump).
As long as I can fill the tanks we're fine. :)

Schuttzie
#28
Thank goodness you have the back up tanks.
erindep
#29
Hope you got your water fixed by now! We have a vacation house in Arecibo and started getting crazy water bills, $150+ per month. This was for months where the house was only occupied 2 weeks out of the month. We called to find out what was going on. We had to go through a huge process of giving notarized permission for our neighbor to act on our behalf so they could do an "investigation". It's been over 4 months and still no answer on the outcome of the investigation. Good news is, our bill hasn't been as bad, but still higher than what used to be our normal. I love the island, so try not to complain too much about the differences from the mainland, but something is very wrong w/ the all of the utility companies billing practices and customer service.
Gary
#30

erindep wrote:

... something is very wrong w/ the all of the utility companies billing practices and customer service.


Absolutely!
More than 4 weeks without water now.. :(

Later this week, when we have some time another visit to the AAA is in our planning.

trekrider520
#31
I would have thought with all the embarrassment the AAA went through during the summer drought (fixing 1,000+ leaks per week in the SJ metro area alone, and admitting that the infrastructure is crumbling) they would be more attentive to addressing issues.聽 Hopefully you're still able to fill your tanks.
Gary
#32

trekrider520 wrote:

Hopefully you're still able to fill your tanks.


Yup, that still works so it's not too bad, just annoying..

erindep
#33
Oh my goodness! That's scary. If that ever happened to me, I'd have to cancel all of our reservations and ruin a lot of people's vacations. We just finished building the house last April, but didn't put a back up聽 system in. Thank goodness, this summer's drought didn't affect our part of the island. We're planning on making a permanent move there within the next 6 months and we were going to put a back up in once we moved there. Looks like I should plan on doing that sooner rather than later. Good luck with getting them out there to help you. You must be so frustrated by now!
Gary
#34
A backup water system is essential, especially if you don't live in town. Normally they switch off the water at least once every week, 10 days for 24 hours or more. No warning, no explanation, just no water.
That goes also for electricity. We've been running the generator for a couple of hours again, yesterday.

I'm used to it although this situation with the water supply is extreme..
Sitka
#35
About a year and a half ago, we looked at a house for sale in the Rio Grande area.聽 The owner / seller remarked to me that when he built the house, many folks advised him that he needed to install a water tank on the roof (which he did ) due to the unreliable nature of the public water system.聽 聽 He told me that in the five years that he lived there it had never been used as the public water system never went down.
Gary
#36
Lucky so and so, that guy. If I would have gotten a Benjamin for every time we list water and/ or electricity in the 14 years I lived here I could buy me a new pickup truck and pay cash for it.
Sitka
#37
Well...perhaps the frequency of these outages (water and power ) is localized to some areas and not others?

Folks living on the island are sure to know.聽 聽I would like to know the frequency of these problems in the north / west part of the island.
Gary
#38
I know for a fact about our outages, I've been living in this house for over ten years.
In general you're OK when you live in a town or city. The smaller the village/barrio and more "out in the boonies" the more problems your are likely to get. When you drive anywhere on the island off the beaten path you'll see that almost all houses have water tanks on the roof, that tells the story...

I'm used to it and since we have water and power backup it's easy to deal with.
Gary
#39
In case anybody is wondering, the valve still hasn't been repaired.聽 :(
Gary
#40
Well, finally we have water again. :D

The valve has not been repaired though. A three man repair crew came by, yesterday after dark. They forced the valve open, I don't know how, I wasn't there.
They told my wife that this was the better solution because a repair would cost us $150. After wishing Happy New Year they left with their big truck and their digger. It took them less than 10 minutes.

After six and a half weeks it's nice to be able to take long shower without having to聽 worry of using too much water.

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