KIB TEK cut me off

[RAZR63]

Help its Friday night and KIB TEK have cut me off without warning because they say I haven't paid a bill? All my bills are paid by D/D and I have checked with my bank and they have been paid! Apparently they are not open now until Monday. What can I do?

[TRNCVaughan]

buy some candles?

[kaiserphil]

You have my sympathy. This is far from the first time this has happened.

[kedikat2903]

Look on the web site. There are telephone numbers on it

[kedikat2903]

Just looked at a recent bill. All tel.numbers for different areas are on the back including break down / fault numbers. If you don't have a bill, post on here and I'll post your area contact.

[kerry 6138]

http://www.kibkomnorthcyprusforum.com/v ... ns#p141083

try the yard near the Weds market were the pylons are they open late there's a machine in the office lets you pay.

[Philoz]

Are you sure they have cut you off?
Maybe someone has nicked your main fuse,I believe they are a valuable commodity-Try checking the main box where your meter is.

[kiplet]

KIBTEK office in Girne is usually open early Saturday mornings.
You will need to take bank proof of payment.

[scubadubaqueen]

Turn sharp left at the roundabout immediately after where the Wednesday market is. Grid station with large pylon. Take your account number, and anyone in the office will help you feed the money machine, and connect you back on straight away at all hours. Been there very late on a Friday night myself on more than one occasion. Actually even without an account number once because the guy looked the address up on the computer and found the account number! Now registered for online/email billing courtesy of their assistance too, as I had not fathomed out how to register, and lack of a paper bill eventually resulted in being cut off, twice!

One can moan about a lot of things that go on in N Cyprus, but service as above is not one of them.

[trooper]

If You need to use ourcwahing machine let me know. Steve

[RAZR63]

Thanks for all the replies (and thanks for the offer Steve!). After a lot of phone calls to Kibtek on Friday night they agreed to reconnect us so long as we paid the bill in cash at the terminal at the Grid Station on Saturday morning. Which I duly did. Very easy to do and straightforward. Thanks scubadubaqueen for the directions. They sent someone out "on overtime" to the office to reconnect us - how nice of them. Next stop is their Girne office on Monday to find out why it happened. Having checked my recent bank statement it clearly shows the S/O going out of our bank (and more than enough funds to cover it). I just don't understand why they do not give you notice that they are going to cut your supply. Very infuriating!! The last few days we had a few power cuts and that exacerbated the problem, thinking it was just another power cut and my mobile phone battery dying (of course couldn't recharge it!). Thanks to our kind friends we managed to sort it out.
Perhaps I should remove their pylons which are situated in the back garden or charge them rent??

[Mozgor]

That's exactly why we stopped paying our bills via D/D, far too many instances of bills not getting paid, but money leaving account. In addition, it appears the practice here is that the banks pay on the last day possible so if there's a problem the supplier doesn't get paid on time hence people's service being cut.

However, it could be that Kibtek actually have the money, but haven't applied it to your account for a variety of reasons, one being the wrong account number having been quoted by the bank.

The banks here have a long way to go to reach the standard that most of us were used to.

[PoshinDevon]

I must admit that when we opened our bank account they did say they could pay water, electric and Belideyesi bills via direct debit. We were to be honest a little apprehensive that it would happen. We agreed to set things up and three years on and so far, touch wood and all that, it has worked without any problems. Have to agree that the bank do pay on the last day. We did query this with them....the reply was...sir it is better in your account than theres! Of course it could all go wrong but so far no problems.

[jofra]

I would guess (under the assumption that interest rates are far better here than in the UK) that the bank's comment is correct; however, while mine is a "holiday home" with my money at home in the UK on low interest, I've decided, rather than all the aggro of setting up a local account and DD's, I just pay my taxes etc and pay Kibtek (a couple of hundred TL) in advance - touch wood, it's worked for the last year!

[PoshinDevon]

I would guess (under the assumption that interest rates are far better here than in the UK) that the bank's comment is correct; however, while mine is a "holiday home" with my money at home in the UK on low interest, I've decided, rather than all the aggro of setting up a local account and DD's, I just pay my taxes etc and pay Kibtek (a couple of hundred TL) in advance - touch wood, it's worked for the last year!

Agree paying in advance is another way to go.

We are only out here 7 - 9 months each year so really we are "swallows" but have a GB savings account out here on good interest rate plus a normal TL account which we just use to pay bills etc....we keep a watch on this account and top up as necessary to ensure we cover any bills coming in whilst we are here and also when we are in the UK.

[wanderer]

Top up accounts and pay in advance a good idea
But leave it to the bank and keep an eye on them and kibtek
One year I left the island early June planning to return July/September
I returned 12 months latter because of medical reasons unable to travel for 12 months good job i had the direct debits
I had to pay extra for a late mot on the car

[brian24001]

I would guess (under the assumption that interest rates are far better here than in the UK) that the bank's comment is correct

But is it?

Most bills are paid from a current a/c earning no interest. If there is a small interest earned, how much is it per day? On say 10,000tl at a generous 4% for a current a/c it would be about 22 kurus.
And is it worth waiting until the last minute to pay and risk being cut off, I doubt it.

Truth is the banks use the funds for their cash flow, it is paid last minute because it is in 'their' interest, and they are not the ones risking being cut off.

[Keithcaley]

I would guess (under the assumption that interest rates are far better here than in the UK) that the bank's comment is correct

...But is it?.....Truth is the banks use the funds for their cash flow, it is paid last minute because it is in 'their' interest, and they are not the ones risking being cut off.

HSBC (Not that I am a great Fan!) have an arrangement whereby a special bill paying account is set up, and you decide on the balance to be kept in that account - enough to pay any monthly bills of course!

When they have paid a bill from this account, they transfer enough from one of your interest paying accounts, (not, I think, a 'timed' deposit account), which means that you don't have to keep checking all the time that there is enough in the account - as long as there is enough in the 'source account'.

I've not looked at it for a while, so if anyone has more up-to-date info - fire away!

[The Dog Walker]

Some years ago we set up Direct Debits for Electricity and Water. Both were cut off 'cos the Bank didn't pay them, despite there being ample cash in the account. We soon moved the account, but have not had direct debits since, and have visited the offices to pay monthly. However, with the arrival of the new electric meters, we did as told and filled in details for text billing. That was 6 months ago, but to date we've received no text message regarding electric bills, so are back to either visiting a friendly bank, or back to the main office. Progress!!!!!!!