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AyA Cuts Service Without Warning
This could happen to you, you
are in the middle of a relaxing
shower when, poof, no water.
The Acueductos y Alcantarillados
(AyA) - water and sewer utility
- has adopted the practice of
cutting service without
forewarning.
In the past, the AyA was
criticized for not being able to
collect on past bills and it was
owed millions of colones by it's
customers who continued with the
flow of water without paying a
bill for long periods. Some
never even got a water bill,
ever.
Now, the AyA, as it is faced
with a financial crunch has
adopted a strict policy on
payments: miss paying one water
bill and when the second payment
passes the due date, the service
is cut. And then it charges
˘5.500 colones for the
reconnection - actually it's
˘2.250 for cutting the service
and ˘2.250 to have it
reconnected.
A call to the AyA means nothing.
A recording will tell you to
make payment at the nearest bank
and service will be restored
within 24 hours. A trip to the
AyA offices in San José means
long lines. AyA only has one
office for the San José area,
located on Avenida 10, that
serves its customers.
Officials at the AyA assure that
the customer is advised before
service is suspended. In
practice it does not advise
individual customers of the
impending suspension.
What AyA does is to announce to
the news media that they will be
cutting service on specific days
in specific sectors and advise
customers to pay their water
bill or have their service
suspended.
Many irate customers at the AyA
office in San José tell the same
story; they did not get a water
bill. AyA delivers their bills
to all residences or businesses
unless the customer advises of
delivery to a postal box. If the
water bill does not reach the
customer, it is not their
problem, an unnamed AyA employee
affirms.
The employee who wished not to
be identified said that
customers can always check their
pending bills on the AyA
website, print it and pay it at
any bank or supermarket, so
there should be no excuse for
not paying their water bill.
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