Shanghai Thieves & Indoor Swimming Pools

I have told some that my job would be much easier if there didn't seem to be an endless supply of problems both big and small that seem to occupy 90% of my time. Today brought a perfect storm of these so called time occupiers.

The Shanghai Thieves-

You may remember my post about the veggie scam of 2009, well a Shanghai coffee equipment company is trying their best to make their mark on 2010. We recently purchased a coffee machine from Super Coffee Bean Company 超级无敌豆 for a 1000 USD.

10 days ago the order was suppose to be processed and we expected the order to arrive 5 days ago. When it didn't arrive we called and they explained that it would be in the mail very very soon. When we talked to someone else in the company they said they didn't have the product we purchased and that if we were lucky we might get one in a weeks time. Well I don't like purchases being based on my luck so that didn't fly very well. The company said 4 days ago that they would return our money through the bank. Ok I can live with that. 100 phone calls later it turns out that this is one messed up company. They have given us excuses like they were in line at the bank and that we should receive the money in a few minutes. Unless that line is 4 days long, I cannot imagine they ever actually went to the bank. On and on the excuses came but day after day the money still was not received. This company sells hundreds and hundreds of equipment and other products and I am sure will continue to do so, but why are they choosing to mess with me. I think some companies truly believe that people will sit around and take this abuse and do nothing. Well I am not one of those people. If our current request to the American Consulate and the Kunming Foreign Affairs bureau does not find success then you better not doubt that I will fly my angry butt up to Shanghai and raise the underworld until my money is returned.

Sidenote- The Foreign Affairs bureau took 5 hours to answer the phone today and when they finally did they said there is nothing they could do short of the American Government making a direct request to them. So I am a "Foreigner" and I have an "Affair" so wouldn't the Foreign Affair's Bureau be the ones that could help?

Indoor Swimming Pools-

As if this didn't require my entire day's time I got the water bill for my home today. 666 RMB (98 USD) for two months of water. Normally my bill is 1/10th of this amount. Now I do take daily showers and have been known to wash clothes and dishes on occasion but that is a lot of water. I am not sure but it may be so high because of my olympic size swimming pool that now occupies my living room.

I am not joking. For that amount of water I could LITERALLY fill a pool in my living room. And if you think I am just saying that to be funny or to make a point then you need to think again. I have a close friend that owns the swimming pool in our complex, right next to the coffee shop. His bill for to for his SWIMMING POOL is only 400 RMB for the same amount of time. My bill is 33% MORE then a swimming pool. When I explained this to the water company they were not amused. They are convinced this bill is not a mistake and that I need to pay it otherwise they will cut off my water. Fantastic. It's now 4:44 PM and work is almost over and I have literally done nothing else but work on these two situations. This has been another day lost at sea.