Dear Claudienne

My sister has lived at Dunrobin Acres since 1988. However, since we feared that the postal service might be unreliable, we arranged for her electricity bill to be sent to my address in Havendale. For all the years since 1988 the light bill has always been paid on time.

For part of each year since 1988 my sister has been overseas and while she is away I visit her townhouse on a Tuesday and Thursday and in a worst case scenario at least once per week. My sister has been away since June 17, 2009. I visited her townhouse on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 but did not visit on Thursday, August 27. When I visited the house on Tuesday, September 1, I noticed that there was no light.

I asked the next-door neighbour if they had light and they said yes. On reaching my house I checked for the three light bills that I pay on a monthly basis and noticed that I did not see an August bill clipped to the Dunrobin Acres Account. A call was made to the JPS Call Centre. The information I got from the call centre was that the amount owed on the account was $1,597.18, due date August 22, 2009. The disconnection order was issued on August 22.

In view of my sister’s payment record of 20 years, always on time and no disconnection, I asked the JPS customer care rep why a telephone reminder was not received. I also asked her if the deposit and reconnection fees could be waived.

The customer care rep checked with the supervisor and told me that the deposit would be waived but that the reconnection fee would not be waived.

I immediately went to a Paymaster and paid $3,038.18.

On September 2 I got a call from the JPS Customer Care Centre to the effect the reconnection fee waiver was denied. I was told that the deposit of $1,200.00 would be added to the next bill.

My concerns are that my sister has had a good payment record. She received no calls although the JPS has two telephone numbers for her on record. The final payment date (22/8/09) and the disconnection order were issued on the same date. The disconnection was done on August 26.

I was told by the JPS that when the disconnection order is printed, no check is made on the person’s account to see what type of payment record they have. This is bad customer care.

The last payment date was 22/8/09 and the light was disconnected on August 26. I found this out on September 1 when I visited the house.

I am requesting a waiver of the deposit and the reconnection fee. I am also requesting that JPS implement a policy that customers’ accounts be looked at before disconnection orders are issued.

Please look into this matter for me.

DJ

Dear DJ

Tell Claudienne has been told by the JPS that they will not waive the reconnection fee. However, the company said that it will waive the deposit.

In your letter you said that the JPS has two phone numbers for you. However, the company said that you did not get a text message as it appears that one of the digits in the number to which a text message would have been sent was different from the number listed in the letter. The company said that the text message would have been sent to only one of the two numbers.

The JPS said that your sister’s bill is currently outstanding as it was due on November 13 and it still has not been paid.

The JPS said it is doing an investigation to determine why you are not getting the bills.

The JPS said that its policy with regards to bill payments is written on the back of the bill.

The policy states: “Service is liable for immediate disconnection without notice for any amount that is overdue and unpaid. In such cases the customer will be required to pay a disconnection/reconnection fee.”

If the customer does not get a bill he/she can also call the JPS’ 1-888 number to get the outstanding balance.

Good luck

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 511-2436 or write to: Tell Claudienne, c/o Sunday Finance Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com