Gringo-Tico Has Newspaper As Only Resort To Fight ICE For Unmade Calls
Charles Francis Boeger Meir, described as the "gringo-tico" in the local Spanish press, says he has exhausted his patience and is tired of paying the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) - the state monopoly on telecommunications - for calls he has not made.

"Not only am I tired, they have left be broke", said Boeger to the Spanish language daily Diario Extra.

"As ICE has not given me any response, I made a complaint to the Aresep and there I got no response either, so I presented a "recurso amparo" (appeal) to the Sala IV (Constitutional Court), where the magistrates say they can't do anything either", added Meir.

So, Boeger decided to do what many Ticos have learned to do in a similar situation, go to the press, the Diario Extra in particular.

"I have nothing left by the Extra because I am fed up and disappointed at a country that everything is a "chorizo" (pay off)", added Boeger who has lived in Costa Rica for 0 years, mainly in Playa Herradura.

The problems Boeger has had with ICE goes back some four years when he was billed for calls he said he did not make. The gringo-tico says he has to change his phone number four times and now uses a calling card because he continues to be billed for calls to made to cellular telephones which he says he has not made.

To back up his claim, Boeger shows a list of 123 calls made to numbers he does not recognize or know, all made from his home telephone.

"The lines must be crossed. There a strange calls and the phone rings early in the morning and believe that I am not the only that has this problem" , said Boeger.