Bravo to KL Hulk's letter on being ripped-off by Perbadanan Urus Air Selangor (Puas).

I recently had a bad experience with Puas as well. I was notified by Puas one fine day last year that my water meter was faulty and needed to be replaced. Guess what, after replacement, my water bill shot up from RM40 odd to RM400 plus!

When checked with Puas, the feedback was that there could be a leak in my internal plumbing system. Previously, when the Water Works Department (JBA) handled the matter prior to privatisation , I was informed that when there was a leak in the internal plumbing system, access billing due to the leak will be discounted as long as consumers rectified the leak; however with Puas, this practice did not apply.

After spending a few thousand ringgit changing all the underground pipes, my water bill remained high. I made more phone calls and visits to Puas offices. In one of the phone calls, Puas suggested that we could request a meter test at our own expense (RM15) to be carried out by its personnel.

Reluctantly I agreed to have my meter inspected and replaced at the insistence of Puas. Puas personnel informed that an inspection will be arranged within two weeks and we will be informed.

Weeks and months went by while our water bill remained sky high, and no solution came. One fine day this week, I woke up to my dogs barking angrily at the front gate. Three men with a some sort of vest and uniform and a beat-up Kancil van with the JBA logo were in front of the gate.

When confronted, these men indicated that they wanted to read my water meter. Seeing that they despised my dogs, I offered to read the meter for them, but they insisted that they would read the meter themselves.

The three men went to the meter and then declared that they were removing my water meter on the grounds of non-payment - a few seconds ago they were suppose to read my meter, now they wanted to remove it.

After rounds of negotiations and telling them that the meter and my account was under dispute, and also calling up their office to try to clarify the matter; we relented and gave up. None of us could stop the them from taking the meter anyway. It took one person and only five seconds to cut my water supply. Mind you, three men came for the mission and one man did the job in seconds.

I had to rush to Puas headquarters at Jalan Pantai and was told to talk to a clerk on the first floor, and later referred to another clerk. I had to intercept the area engineer in the hallway because he was on his way out. I was told to go back to the second clerk that I met to be taken to another clerk on the ground floor. By this time, my mood became extremely foul.

With my mobile phone, I dialled Puas general line and asked to be connected to the general manager, one Mr Subramaniam. His secretary assured me that this matter will be resolved. Calls were made to the third clerk that I was to meet at the ground floor.

After a long deliberation, I was told by the third clerk that the only thing he could do was to lodge a complaint on my behalf. I told him that I had made a complaint before and I couldn't wait for a few days without water until his good office sorted out my complaint. But he maintained that it was the only thing he could do.

With great disappointment I marched to another block and up five flights of stairs to the general manager's office. I decided by then that if I had to, I will squat and camp outside his office until he got his seemingly incompetent staff to sort out my problem. I was met by the secretary and then referred to a manager in charge of customer service.

After repeating my story for the fifth time for the day, this kind Sir made some calls and instructed his staff to have my water meter reconnected immediately, but as per Puas normal schedule, re-connection can only be carried out after lunch, and was told that after lunch for Puas meant after 3pm!

With this information in mind and the kind Sir's note in hand, my tour of the Puas office resumed. I went back to the adjacent block to the first floor and showed the first clerk my note, and she made a call. Again I was sent to the ground floor to stand in queue to collect a form from counter three and then queue on to pay at the payment counter and then back on queue again to counter three to get another stamp

After these tings were settled, I went home to wait for my meter to be reconnected and it was done at about 4pm

A day wasted, two meals missed, energy spent walking, queuing and arguing with people who do not care and do not seem competent to do their jobs.

What's the moral of this story?

I say forget about all these red tapes, be it Puas, TNB Telekom, KTM or whichever privatised utility company, let your dissatisfaction be known. March into the director's office, pay a visit to the general manager or managing director. Even if need be, go to the relevant ministry and launch your complaints.

Believe me when I say this: these people need education, we will be doing them good and rendering them a service by waking them up and make them take responsibility for something they are paid to do.