Desperate to have the billing crisis solved

After reading in the Roodepoort Record, page 6 of 29 September, about billing challenges being tackled, I had to send this letter as many of us are sitting with the same problem. This is my reason for writing this to Mr Rabelani Dagada, MMC for Finance.

Could you please assist us with the right way to settle our account problems? I don’t have a problem with an arrears or incorrect account, but with the payment date. Since we don’t receive any statements per sms or email anymore, we have to go and collect a statement every month. We can’t depend on phoning in because every time you phone you get another amount outstanding.

We were informed via the Roodepoort Record how to change the due dates for our payments. We did it but still receive a statement which is payable on the 22nd of the month. How on earth can we do it if we only get paid on the 28th and some on the last day of the month? It puts us as pensioners as well as the working class in a very difficult situation.

It was published numerous times that you have seven days after the date to pay in full, but some get a letter of demand stuck onto their gates with Prestik, four days after the due date. You have to pay extra for the letter as well … another money-making business. With the wind blowing so strong, the letter sometimes gets blown away and the people don’t even know about it.

Please inform us, with the correct details, where to change the dates. No other companies’ due dates are before the end of the month. We don’t want to hear the excuses about the thousands of accounts that have to be processed. Please fix the sms and email systems, as many people work during office hours and cannot take time off to collect statements from the municipal offices. We have tried the website www.johburg.org.za and email address duedates@johburg.org.za, but none of them works.

I think you should seriously look into this problem and rectify it for our citizens’ sake. I hope it will be solved soon.