Yesterday morning I ran out of water as did the other two apts in my building. Today still no water. I looked in the cisternas and they were all 3 empty or nearly empty. Thinking the city had not turned on the pumps for two days in a row, I asked my downstairs neighbor. He said they had water but they heard water running late last night and discovered some low life had stolen my meter. Someone stole all 3 meters about 3 years ago, well, they stole the copper and tossed the meters in the shrubbery (of sorts) near the pipes. We each had to pay $400 to get the pipes repaired and they installed new meters. This time is strange as they seemingly wanted the meter as they are now connected with PVC. Any other incidents around town that anyone has heard of? This really sucks. Can they charge me again for the meter? It is really not my fault but its not theirs either, although they could be seated Florida style, about a foot below ground in real pipe and no room to work around unless you have the magic water company tool. What the hell can they do with this meter? Won't Aguakan be able to tell it by the serial number?
Well, just got back from Aguakan. They won't have any meters for 1-2 months. When I fell back to earth they said they would just connect it with a temporary fix. BUT, the meter replacement will be in the neighborhood of $1,343, quite a jump from 3 years ago when it was like $449, according to my neighbor who I just spoke with. I am puzzled over this as what can someone do without getting caught when the meter gets read on the wrong address. Unless it was just vengeance, but I am such a sweetheart.
They must be "doing the hood" TJ, ours was stolen for the second time not too long ago. And yep, about 1300 to replace it. Not sure what the value is to the thieves, but it's a super PITA. :S
For what it's worth (having gone through similar instances twice now) the most likely culprit is some drug addict that was interested in the copper pipes (and/or what little bit of copper the meters have inside) that he'll sell as scrap for all of 10 pesos to some unscrupulous scrap yard... meanwhile your bill will be considerably higher. Calling the water company is counterproductive, since; A. they don't care and won't send anyone out in a timely manner even if you're gushing water into the street and, B. they'll then charge you a fortune for the work and meter. Having been through this game before, the proper procedure for handling such situations is; Hire a cheap plumber to run a straight pvc pipe (or do it yourself if you can) saying nothing to the water company about it. When they pass to check the meter the guy will make a note that you don't have one and you'll get an estimated use bill based on a minimum charge of something like 50 pesos (in our case anyway, you're mileage may vary) eventually they will come out and replace the meter (took them several months in our case) if you're home and they want you to sign something for the meter DON'T... if you sign you pay!.. I refused to sign saying I didn't own the property etc.. and they left after some complaint and we were never billed for the meter. More recently another degenerate drunk broke off the last remaining foot or so of copper pipe leaving us with a nice water fountain out front for a day until I fixed it with some garden hose (which will remain in place until it breaks), At that time we did call the water company because water was shooting into the street at an alarming rate and we were stupid enough to think they would care (it was 2AM and we were soaking wet with cold water, so clearly not thinking straight) during the phone call we were informed that they would send someone out within 2 weeks (meanwhile I guess it's ok to flood the street :icon_mrgreen and that we would be charged up to 800 pesos... The next day I did my "repair" and when the water guy did come 3 weeks later we refused to let them do anything since we knew we would be charged.. so basically.. deal with it yourself and don't report it unless you want to be charged royally for it... :aktion061: Bienvenidos a Mexico :mexicoflag: On a side note I have tossed the idea around with some agreement that some of these roaming "plumeros" might be behind the meter and pipe thefts so that they don't have to buy material and/or they can get "work" by passing the areas the next day that they know will need a plumber... but of' course that's only wild speculation... and it is entirely possible that this case is all the result of T.J. being T.J.
