From Nation's Capital to Nation's Capital: The Azza Street Spy

Achieving Great Heights in Israeli Society

OK, so this title is a little exaggerated. But, I have become a Preferred Customer with Bezeq, the telephone company; so, my standing in society must have improved somehow.

Israelis are really into what's called hora'at keva. This refers to merchants directly withdrawing payments from your bank account. It relieves the customer from the burden of having to remember to pay their bills. Whatever. I can remember to pay my bills. I prefer to receive a bill in the mail, review it, determine that the requested payment is legitimate, and pay it. Particularly because I live with other non-related adults (i.e., roommates), I am not prepared to automatically pay their share of the bill. The manual system seems much better in general, and especially when bills get split among roommates.

For some unclear reason, Israelis have no qualms about a merchant deducting money, not having control over the date of withdrawal and are not concerned that the payment is a variable amount. The disadvantage of my preferred, manual system is that if the bill arrives late or doesn't arrive, you are penalized for a late payment.  If you permit the merchant to access your bank account, you can be assured that the money wil be deducted when they want it.  (Why can't they be penalized for not sending the bill?)

When I first moved into my apt in May 2006, the landline was dead. After the landlady paid the outstanding bills and fees left by the previous tenants and the technician repaired something, we were able to receive incoming calls. However, we were still incapable of making outgoing calls because the phone company did not trust us. We were bearing the burden of the previous, irresponsible tenants who just blew off their bills.

We were told that due to the stain left by the previous tenants, we had to set up bill payment through direct withdrawal in order to gain access to outgoing calls. Eager to decrease my phone bill by having a line other than my cell phone, I acquiesced to this detestable demand. After I attempted to set it up, we gained access to outgoing calls. When the bill came, I thought it was merely a statement and that the payment would be deducted from my account. When the next statement came the next month, I called to find out why they never deducted the previous payment.

Apparently, I set up the withdrawal incorrectly and it never went through. We were officially delinquent on our first bill. But how did we gain access to outgoing calls if we did not meet their condition? How was I supposed to know that the payment was not set up, if we could suddenly make calls?

The real point of the story:
May 2007, I realize that we haven't received our phone bill in over a month. I call the phone company and I'm told that we are in good standing and our account is paid up.

Me: But how can that be? We didn't pay a bill last month.

Him: Yes you did. You paid XX NIS on YY date.

Me: Right. That was over a month ago.

Him: But your bill is bi-monthly. You have a few more weeks before your next bill is issued.

Me: What are you talking about?

Him: All customers are billed bi-monthly. You next bill will come in a few weeks.

After confirming with some work buddies, I learned that all Israeli utilities are billed bi-monthly. We were only paying monthly because we were on the phone company's Black List. After 12 months of a clean record, we got bumped to Ordinary Status or Preferred Customers.

While this may not seem like the most extraordinary accomplishment, I am proud to say that I am now a Preferred Customer with the Israeli phone company. A definite indication that I'm going places in this country...

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