Don't sweat the small stuff - even if it's a bill of over 900 000 Rand

There are a few things that could give you a heart attack. Winning the lottery, being taken hostage in a bank robbery or getting a rates and services account for R946 657 from your local council. Luckily for Jurgen Weiss, he’s so used to getting erroneous bills from the City of Joburg that a number that high didn’t make him bat an eyelid.

 

Weiss is a property developer so, obviously, he sees a lot of council bills come across his desk – many of them with glaring errors that he has spent a lot of time trying to correct. This latest bill, he has been phoning the city department over and over trying to get them to correct it. When he does call, they say it’s a mistake and will be corrected – but he keeps getting the bill.

 

What are some of the other problems he’s seen?

On one account he has a credit which has never been refunded. On another, he developed a property with 13 separate units which pay for their own services – and he still gets an account. On yet another, he still gets the bill for a property he sold off years ago.

 

Mr. Weiss has grown weary of trying to correct the problems and these days, when he gets a few accounts where the totals don’t add up properly, he’ll just pay the extra R400 to R500 because it’s easier than trying to correct the problem.

 

There is a ray of sunshine for Mr. Weiss though…the City of Joburg has corrected the R900 000 error. At least that’s one off the list.