Job Discussion Forums

[justme]

About 4 years ago, my cable bill stopped coming though I continued to have cable. I called the cable company to find out what was up, and they told me my account didn't exist. So I carried on, figuring that this was just something that happens here and as long as the cable kept coming, who cares? About 6 months later, my landlord asked me why I hadn't been paying the cable bill (it was in his name) because they had sent him a notice with a fine of about 400 YTL because of non-payment (though the total of 6-8 months of cable couldn't have been more than about 40 YTL). So my landlord paid the fine and kept my deposit which I'd figured he would keep anyway and that was the end of the story.

Fast forward. Our cable bill stopped coming about a year ago, though we still have cable. I dunno if my husband followed up, but he got a notice on Friday about non-payment. He assumes there's a fine but didn't want to wait in the huge line at the PTT to find out.

Of course this is idiotic-- without the bill, you can't pay, but if you don't pay, you get a fine which is large enough to piss you off but not large enough to screw around with going to court.

So since this is the second time this has happened to me in 5 years, I'm wondering if it's happened to anyone else? Has the cable company (Telekom or whatever they call themselves now) figured out a way to make a few extra lira?

[FGT]

Re Justme :

[yaramaz]

If you have a Garanti account with the internet setup, you can also pay bills using just your bill's account number and it transfers directly from your account. Or you can set it up for automatic monthly debit. I've done both and it saves a lot of headaches.

I actually worry a bit because several years ago I set up cable in my ex ex flat under m name. Then when I left and a friend took over the flat she asked me to leave th cable hookup because she had no ikamet and couldn't get it herself. Now she is gone and I have no idea who lives there or if they pay the cable bills. Should I be worried? If I try to set up a new cable hookup, might I be responsible for bills for a flat I havent lived in in 3 years?

[justme]

[Otterman Ollie]

Bearing in mind you have a Turkish husband ,therefore , a network of support , a casual observer would think you have been a bit careless . ımagine how those of us without such support have to stumble along getting into queues and suchlike only to be told its not the electric payment window but the telephone or viceversa or any other permutation you can think of . my first 5 years here were a pain every month of paying bills , I tried the banks ,worse than useless, could not and still don't
send me my bills on time or to the correct address . Asking collegues at work for advice or assistance gave me two perspectives they either have a "gofer" who does all the running around for them usually a member of their extended Turkish family (the op MUST have one of these ) or the poor schmucks are in the same boat as me and usually don't even have a bank account or even a credit card ( god help them ) . I do have digiturk ,(got rid of cable as soon as poss ) they at least seem able to collect the monthly payments without drama and of course a savings / pension plan which has thus far presented no payment errors .
So don't think you are alone with this monthly horror ,after a while it does subside but moving from place to place seems to upset the apple cart a bit ,puts you off moving really .
It would be nice if employers could have laision officiers who help the newbies over these trying times ,might even be of value to some of the not so newbies as well , just a thought .

[lovelace]

Yes, it's very confusing and you can't seem to get any answers from anyone. I find that Turks can have a very helpful attitude but they don't seem to know much about the systems or procedures themselves.

[dmb]

A few of my bills are in the landlord's name so I don't have automatic thingy. Too much hassle to change them. What peeves me off is when on the back of bill is a list of banks that accept the bill for payment. So you take a ticket and wait for ages then they tell you they don't take them

[yaramaz]

None of my bills are in my name, nor have any been except that lone cable bill two years ago, but I've had no problem setting up the automatic debit thing for any of them-- all they need is the number. If you use garanti bank and give them samples of your latest bills, they'll note all the relevant numbers and deduct the monthly amounts as needed.

Also, if you have Garanti Online setup, you can go in to the Turkish side and go to (I think) Odeme or Fatura or something, scroll down the choices to what you need to pay, plug in your relevant customer number, and the amount you owe will be displayed and you can transfer from your account and send you an email receipt.

*just realised I sound like the Molly of Garanti*




































*massive fart*

[batukhan]

Yes indeed a liason officer would be of incredible assistance for newbies. Generally the attitude is one of sink or swim. This generally instills an attitude of resentment toward the school and country from the beginning. It really is in the best interest of the school to set up a formal system to introduce newbies to their respective cities and how to deal with day to day issues. It would really pay off in the long run. Teacher complaints and negative attitudes might be minimized by the feeling of safety and security. As well as a more positive attitude toward the culture.

[mongrelcat]

[Otterman Ollie]

Just to give you even further worries about bills ,there are the inherited ones from previous owners /renters .Somehow they didn't get paid by the right person so they get left in the post box and on the computer records as unpaid ,guess who is gonna end up with them plus interest which builds a bill up considerably .
All too often people have told tales of a huge water or electric or cable bill (sometimes all three) they got stung for coz the last scumbag did a runner . So watch out for that ,make sure there are no outstanding bills the same thing applies when you buy a car .

[tararu]

When move into a new apartment, you need to get the account numbers for each utililty. You cand find these on the meters at your apartment building or old bills. If you don't want get lumped with unpaid bills, you need to take along the account numbers and cancel the existing accounts straight away and start new accounts in your name.

You will need your passport and ikamnet. If you have no ikamet, then a tourist visa is enough. You will need your rental contract and a copy of the house deeds (your landlord or real-estate agent will give you these). Make sure that you have the account number for each utility or a bill for each utility with you, aswell. It is also a good idea to make at least three photocopies of all these things as they may send you off on some wild goose chase while you are there for photocopies.

[dagi]

They are a funny bunch at those companies. Digiturk stopped sending bills so I never paid and eventually it was cut off. Until now they never send anything again and I wonder what to do with the equipment.
I called them once, got a person on the line whose English was so poor the man did not get what the heck I was talking about and in the end I gave up.

[yaramaz]

They were calling my mobile three or four times a day to yell at me in Turkish for not paying those non existant Digiturk bills. I don't know why they stopped sending the bills to you because they certainly knew my phone number and I told them repeatedly that i didn't live there anymore and to talk to the person who was there now. They've recently stopped, thank god.

[justme]

I totally agree about the newbie liason. The old Interlang supposedly had one, but she was usually just too darned busy to be bothered. We used to go without water and/or electricity for weeks at a time in the teacher flats because she couldn't be bothered to make a phone call or send a guy out. Once when my electricity had been off for 2 days, she gave me the number to call the company, and I said 'Okay, I'll just go ahead and learn Turkish then, and maybe I'll have electricity in about 8 months or so, ' and she gave me this incredulous look like she'd never realized the reason the foreigners kept asking for her help was because they couldn't manage Turkish.

This newbie liason should definitely not be my husband. He's awfully sweet, but completely useless for dealing with stuff like this, even if it just involves a simple phone call. It was probably careless of me not to nag him more incessantly about it, but I have to choose my battles, and I'd really rather have things like doctor's appointments or an ID card for the baby. I've nagged him about automatic debit too, but it's a company bank account and his dad (the other half of the company) won't have it, hardly surprising since I don't think his dad believes in ATM machines or the Internet either...

Sigh. Some of this stuff gets better with a support system and some of it just becomes baffling in new ways.