Salesman cries foul as water bill tops 5,000 baht for just four people

 

Picture: Manager Online

 

CHONBURI: -- A salesman went to complain to reporters after getting no joy from the water board when he received a bill for 5,000 baht.

 

Then the following month he got another whopping bill - but this time his water usage was a fraction of the previous month.

 

Surachai Bunwongprasop went to the water board to complain but they said they couldn't check his usage - he would just have to pay. Though they did say they would check if the meter was working when they had time, reports Manager Online.

 

Surachai showed two bills to Manager reporters. The first was for the November cycle that asked for 5,475 baht for using 211,000 liters of water.

 

The second in December was for 5,633 baht but this time the bill indicated the household - that comprises only four people - used just 11,000 liters.

 

"I have complained about it but nothing has been done," said Surachai who lives in Ban Bung in Chonburi. "Something is wrong. Our average bill is usually 300 baht a month. And the quantities of water used vary enormously and are clearly ridiculous," he added.

 

Source: Manager Online

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-01-13

From the picture the bill for the second month is 158.36 baht so actually lower than his normal bill.  The 5,633 includes the 5,475 which was presumably not paid from the time before.

38 minutes ago, futsukayoi said:

From the picture the bill for the second month is 158.36 baht so actually lower than his normal bill.  The 5,633 includes the 5,475 which was presumably not paid from the time before.

what you wrote seems reasonable if the second bill includes the first unpaid bill numbers.  First bill:  5475 for 211,000 = .026 baht per liter.  Second Bill.  Assuming the second bill includes the first bill, 5633-5475 = 158 baht for 11000 liters or about .0.14 baht per liter.  Can the customer really not understand that?  I can't read Thai but I would think there would be a line that says "previous balance" or whatever on that line that has 5475 on the second bill.

 

 

One possibility is that the water goes into an underground storage tank after going through the meter and the tank has developed an unseen serious leak. And if the tank is covered with cement then even more chance the leaking water will not be be seen.

 

A few years back a friend, in Chonburi city, had same situation. Water authority just laughed. Someone suggested leakage from the underground tank. Luckily friend was able to easily make a temporary connection from the meter direct to the internal piping system for his property. Next bill returned to usual couple of hundred Baht regular amount. He had no choice but to pay the big bill.

 

A local engineer suggested 2 possible fixes.

 

Option 1. Turn the water meter off, wait a week and if the tank empties then send a slim worker down the manhole with a torch to feel around the inside of the tank for any hole or crack. And if hole / crack found down low in the tank, put cement in the bottom up to a height 10 centimeters higher than the hole/crack and allow 2 weeks for it to dry.

 

Friend had concerns that this would not totally work, and even bigger concerns for the safety of people working in the tank, cement smells, etc. So he cancelled this idea.

 

Option 2. Install above ground bigger size stainless steel tank in the very large carport and build a frame around it with some greenery. This did happen. 

Just check when the family has been away for a day or evening or the meter has moved. Easy.

 

I had an monthly escalating water bill a few years back, did a check on the tanks as suggested, was pretty sure it was not my problem. Told the water company who agreed to change the metre, next bill dropped back to the 200-300 THB range. Nothing you can do about previous overcharged bills, to be honest given the amount I just swallowed happy in the knowledge there was no leak and that the problem was solved.

Same happened to us 4 months ago. They would not believe us, I went over again and got "farang mad". Although we did have to pay the bill, we were promised a refund if the meter turned out to be faulty. The meter was switched out for a new one the same afternoon, and the old one was tested - something they apparently only could do back at the station.

Meter turned out to be 20 years old, and faulty. Amazingly we did get a realistic refund (the only deducted the average of the three preceding months).

Went almost the same as back in Holland, really - except that back home they exchange the water meters after their guaranteed life-span, of course.

A man here i Ban Phe got bills ranging from 6000 to 8500 baht/month but since he was not here in the country for a while and the bills was automaticly drawn from his bank he didnt notice the problem until several months later

It turned out to be a faulty valve in his pool that made it fill water constantly so he just had to pay and fix the valve

Edited January 13, 20179 yr by Tallviking

In my old rented house the meter was outside the wall in a ditch with lots of overgrown weeds around it... We started getting high water bills.. and there was only 2 of us in the house.  Found out the neighbor had cut the pipe after the meter and was sharing out water for free! 

 

 

Been at the wife's house in Khorat now for the best part of four years. As regular as clockwork our water bill ran in the THB 100 to 150 per month range even when we were not here for a week or we had "visitors".

 

past few months EE have been at peace with just the two of us. Bills continue at THB 100 per month.

 

washing machine develops fault and is off line "awaiting spares" for a month, water bill received THB 800, next month THB 650, then back to THB 260.

 

was going to complain to water dept but having spoken to other residents in Soi, most everyone got the huge increases around the same time. They all believe it was a complete rip off and now each resident is forcing the water clowns to come, one house at a time , to check the meters. 

 

Once all meters checked and replaced we, collectively, will approach water accompanied by local lawyer, seeking refunds.

 

lawyer paid equally by all residents in Soi and his bill is estimated to be less than half the complete overcharge by water clowns.

 

Not fully resolved yet yet but I believe they will not attempt such blatant theft without thinking it through a bit better in future.

 

the people power (OFC I had nothing to do with the rabble rousing or collective bargaining concept ......... honest mate!)

Edited January 13, 20179 yr by The Dark Lord
Spell check Vs Dark Lord continues

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Though they did say they would check if the meter was working when they had time,

Which is the polite way of saying "Forget it buddy"

I sometimes wonder with the water our usual bills are between 250 to 300pm which for our situation is good we use water as needed. Nov/Dec bill 295.62 bht all ok there now on Dec 26 water went off didn't return till 2nd Jan 8 full days no water not a problem we have 4000ltrs in two butt's so we coped well. Then the bill comes in this month on the 10th exactly to the .62 as December's bill same amount of water used. I find this hard to belive but the meter is working as it should. Asked around everyone I spoke to was exactly the same the exact same as last month. Went to meter again this time did what I should have done first time check readings l. Miles out even now today meter is still behind where bill says it should be. Rang to ask seems the meter reader has been sacked after being found to be sat at home inputting readings using last month's bill as a template and giving readings to suit. Had man round today took reading on machine instant bill as normal 189.35 bht!!. Rest of village same but the stupid thing is the guy who was asked wasn't even making money out of it the water company would of course.

Ps no didn't pay for butt's to refill to 4000ltrs friendly school behind us who has 30000ltr tank threw a hose over the wall for us??

Edited January 13, 20179 yr by Deepinthailand

The problem here would seem to be an anomaly on the November bill - the one on the right. The meter was read on 29th November and the reading was 868. The 'previous' reading however was zero - the numbers under the boxed titles 1/3 of the way from the top. The December bill has the November's 868 brought forward correctly and a new reading on the 12th December of 879. One can only guess why a correct previous reading wasn't brought forward; computer glitch, human error, meter change that the computer can't calculate, etc.

 

The chap needs the October bill which will show what meter reading should have been brought forward onto the November bill. The December bill is still high as it has the unpaid November bill brought forward.

 

Only 158 Baht for the December bill as opposed to his normal 300 Baht is simply because the meter was read just 2 weeks after the previous reading (29th Nov to 12th Dec) for some reason.

Another important thing to do is locate your water meter and compare it's unique serial number with that shown on the water bill. For nearly a decade I paid the bills for another property and they paid mine. Fortunately they were away from their house six months of the year whereas I was here all the time so, my bills were low and their bills were high. That was an old meter and upgrading to a 'smart meter' revealed the oddity. Funny thing is that I read my meter every morning as part of my pre-breakfast routine and record it in a daily diary but, I never received an actual water bill through my mail box since they were sent to my bank to pay the monthly direct debit so I had no idea with the old meter what the actual consumption was that was billed. This for a detached house.

 

The householder who had been paying my (higher) bills then demanded compensation from me but I pleaded statute of limitations and lack of evidence. On two occasions following an undetected burst pipe (in my house) the water consumption had doubled yet he had never queried this with his house letting agent who paid his bills manually in absentia

On 1/13/2017 at 11:27 AM, Tallviking said:

A man here i Ban Phe got bills ranging from 6000 to 8500 baht/month but since he was not here in the country for a while and the bills was automaticly drawn from his bank he didnt notice the problem until several months later

It turned out to be a faulty valve in his pool that made it fill water constantly so he just had to pay and fix the valve

 

Here's another angle in regard to 'auto bank deduction'.

 

I'm aware of a farang who bought a big house in a new expensive moo baan and after a few months he and his wife had to unexpectedly and quickly return to Australia for a year.

 

He make some calculations and left enough funds in his Thai bank to cover the 'auto deduction' for:

 

- Mortgage payments (not very big amount)

- Water

- Electricity

- Monthly bill for the moo baan maintenace (elec. security, street cleaning etc.)

- True visions.

- Telephones.

?

 

Return to LOS got delayed again and again and farang and wife returned to their new house at 18 months to discover:

 

- Third and serious debt collection letter from a lawyer in regard to unpaid mortgage. 

- Plus debt collection letters for the unpaid TV service, water and electric payments, etc., and of course the water and electricity had been disconnected.

 

Some checking of the bills revealed the water bill had shot up to many thousand of Baht per month just after they went to OZ. Obviously the massive water bills had destroyed 'the fund'.

 

They had no choice but to very quickly pay all the O/S bills and charges, re-connection fees and large deposits etc.

 

I guess foolishly, the farang had deliberately decided to not ask anybody to make a quick inspection every couple of weeks or whatever. And he insisted his wife not mention anything about bills etc., to her family (who the farang did not trust).  

Edited January 18, 20179 yr by scorecard

On 1/13/2017 at 8:27 PM, eefoo said:

The problem here would seem to be an anomaly on the November bill - the one on the right. The meter was read on 29th November and the reading was 868. The 'previous' reading however was zero - the numbers under the boxed titles 1/3 of the way from the top. The December bill has the November's 868 brought forward correctly and a new reading on the 12th December of 879. One can only guess why a correct previous reading wasn't brought forward; computer glitch, human error, meter change that the computer can't calculate, etc.

 

The chap needs the October bill which will show what meter reading should have been brought forward onto the November bill. The December bill is still high as it has the unpaid November bill brought forward.

 

Only 158 Baht for the December bill as opposed to his normal 300 Baht is simply because the meter was read just 2 weeks after the previous reading (29th Nov to 12th Dec) for some reason.

Yep.  Why the spike is probably the main issue.  the forward billing from the unpaid bill seems proper.  Get the Previous bill and see what the heck the meter is allegedly reading historically.

When first went to Thailand, I lived in Pattaya for several years (Scam city) my monthly water bill was always huge & there was only myself & girlfriend living above a restaurant. A problem happened with the water meter I was there when they came to fix it. That's when my huge water bill was solved I was paying for the water down stairs in the restaurant & the Thai Laundry next door was also connected to my meter with a 3 way split joint. I also believe they where doing the same scam with my Electric bill as it was always   9-11 Thousand Baht a month. Cunning little Thai Thieves the whole of Thailand is just full of scams. After 9 years living there I've had enough of those people & will never return for similar reasons it's THEFT, & just full of corruption.  

Does anyone remember a few years ago when the water company was found to have overcharged nation wide for years so to compensate for their mistake, water was free for the best part of a year? The meter was read, the usage was logged, the bill was printed but the monthly total simply had the same metered amount subtracted to equal 0.00 baht.

 

No? I thought not.

Our bill just came in at double over 300 ฿ it should be half that so we hunted around till we found a wet spot. I dug down and found a break ,now it is fixed. Should be back to under 150 ฿ next month. Also there is a damp spot near the meter but it appears to be on the village side and they don't seem to care.