You may have caught the story repeated many times on the local TV news about 13,000 customers of Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority (PWSA) receiving bills with a couple of extra zeros added to the total.
The stories identified the problem resulting from a California based company using a European protocol (commas instead of decimals) which meant that a $45.00 bill would end up being a $4,500 bill.
What the TV news stories -- at least the ones I'm seeing on WTAE -- neglected to add was that the Cali company outsources PWSA's billing to Malaysia.
Huh?
Why the fuck does my water bill have to go half way round the world?
A tip of the hat to Chris Briem who tweeted the Malaysia connection which he found in the Trib's coverage.
Surely Burghers could have been found to do PWSA's billings who had never even heard of using commas instead of decimal points...
UPDATE: KDKA and WPXI broadcasts also leave out the Malaysian connection.
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1 comment:
Wow. I missed this when you originally posted it! Don't forget to check your water bill this month! http://pghisacity.blogspot.com/2010/03/check-your-water-bills.html
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