Paying Bills

Bill paying in Mexico is a little different than in the US. They still want your money, but you have to pay in person and not all utilities are due every month. The only bills we get are the phone/internet (monthly) and electric (every three months).

Last month neither bill arrived and I spent the first two weeks of the month worried that our utilities would be cut off. Yes, I could've gone into the offices but the whole Spanish thing deters me from many tasks that I wouldn't have thought twice about in the Chicago. The phone was cut off last week - but oddly, not the internet - so I brought in an old bill and fumbled through an explanation. The woman scanned the bar code on the bill (much more convenient than rattling off account numbers) and told me the amount due. Easy peasy.

We still haven't received an electric bill so today I plan to go into the office. The main difference between the two utilities is at the electric company you pay at a reverse ATM, rather than dealing with an actual person. An infrared light scans the bar code then a display tells how much you owe. You insert bills and/or coins, then the machine gives you your change. Ibis seems to think I can bring an old bill and it will tell me what we owe.

We shall see.

The phone company does have an automatic withdrawal method but the first month we tried to use it, it only deducted the amount for the internet and the phone was cut off. I still haven't figured out how that happened.

In really exciting news, we've decided to finally get cable! We're still debating between satellite (more sports) and traditional cable (don't know the benefit) but hopefully we'll be running in the next couple weeks. As soon as the NHL & NBA finals are over.