Om konsten att försöka betala en telefonräkning i Kina

Små frågor blir ibland stora bekymmer för oss invandrare. Kan ni hänga med i dessa turer? (Rita arbetar på ett fastighetskontor och representerar hyresvärden, Ricky arbetar på en servicefirma för Volvos räkning och ska stötta oss här i Beijing.)
Så här skrev jag i ett mail idag:


Dear Rita and Ricky,


Sometimes China is a great mystery to me. Sometimes I get no
information, sometimes a lot of information and sometimes, as in this
case, I get very different information.


It is all about our telephone account. We just use it for
Internet connection and I got the information on the day of our arrival
that we have to pay a monthly fee.
Well, we arrived in late April and now it is June so I thought I must
try to find out how to pay, though Internet is still working.


I wrote to Rita and asked how to do.
First answer from Rita:
About telephone ,as you also know the telephone is together with
internet , so keep telephone number function might cost around 26 rmb
for every month.
Second answer from Rita:
Good evening Asa ,
you can come to ICBC bank  which besides park avenue market to pay for
it , Nobody will send bills to your mailbox or notice you , you need
remember your telephone number to pay for it by beginning of every
month.


So yesterday I went to ICBC bank. After waiting for more than one hour
it turned out that they couldn´t give me any information about this
telephone number. The suggested me to pay 120 RMB to make the telephone
work or to call China Unicom.
I called China Unicom but they didtn´t want to give me any information
if I couldn´t tell the name of the landlord. So I went home to send an
email to Rita to ask about this.


Third answer from Rita:
Good monrning Asa ,
The landlord 's name is : Ren Xiao Bing (任晓滨） .and your telephone
number is 65306649 ( pls double confirm )
Normally you need come to ICBC automatically machine to input your
telephone then the display will showing some information about
landlord 's name and telephone number and how many times“ you ” have
paid before 。Then confirmed the information is correct press "Confirm
" button .and go ahead the following steps .


Later this morning I got another email from Rita:
Hello Asa ,
Updated news is that my colleague applied for internet when you moving
in ,and she choice one of package which is telephone has no basic fee
for every month, and can get 200mins for domestic calls ( no
international calls ) for free ,but if overused 200mins it will
charged .
So sometimes when you found might overused 200mins  pls come to ICBC
banks check it in case of cut off internet.


Then I called China Unicom again:
Without asking for any information about the name of the
landlord/owner of this account they told me that that there is a so
called family package paid for this number. Including telephone,
Internet and two mobile sim cards, duration one year from the 5:th of
February this year. I don´t know who has payed or who has got the mobiles.
We have not.


End of story!


Please tell me which information is the correct one?
Am I supposed to do anything right now?
And when will I know what information is the correct one for upcoming issues?
I am not angry, just confused.
Best regards Asa


Nu ikväll har jag fått detta svar från Ricky:



Dear Asa,
Thank you for bringing the telephone issue to my attention.


I spoke with China Unicom and understand that your apartment has bundled Internet and telephone package for 12 months, the internet fee (RMB168 per month) has been paid until 28th March,2013. For the telephone you have a package 300 minutes to dial the call locally within China for free of charge each month until 28th March,2013


So you do not need to pay for the telephone fee unless you has used over 300 minutes each month. If you have used up 300 minutes, the best way to settle the telephone fee is to pay at China Unicom by simply mentioning your telephone number. If you wish to track the telephone bill, you can China Unicom Customer Service 10010 and select the English to track the telephone balance by giving them your telephone number and user name Ren Xiao Bing.


Hope above helps to clarify. please feel free to call me if you have any question. I am happy to assist.


Kind Regards,
Ricky

Herregud! Varför kunde ingen säga detta med en gång? :)
Kina=Kina=ibland helt obegripligt!