Ms. Pan in Nanjing encountered a strange incident. You don't have anyone living in your house, but the gas bill still comes honestly every month!
The cold winter of 2023 is a headache for Ms. Pan in Nanjing due to the "unprovoked" rise in gas bills at home. Ms. Pan chose to live with her daughter this winter, and her home has been empty since January.
It stands to reason that the gas meter should be parked there motionless, but the gas bill is automatically settled every month like a ghost, and more than 50 yuan each time has exceeded 90 yuan for four months.
In the days when she was cooking at home, Ms. Pan's gas bill for two months added up to about 30 yuan. Now I haven't even boiled an egg, but the cost has more than doubled. What the hell is going on? Is there really a ghost in the house?
Ms. Pan's daughter is also a clever ghost, and when she saw that something was wrong, she called the customer service number of Nanjing China Gas Company, hoping that the other party could give a reasonable explanation. But every time I called, the reply I got was always ambiguous, saying that "everything is normal", and the other party just refused to say the specific problem.
Unwilling, Ms. Pan decided to go out herself. She and her daughter braved the cold wind to come to the customer service center of Nanjing Zhongran. Face-to-face communication may be the difference in things. When I arrived at the scene, the situation did not go as smoothly as expected. The staff at the customer service center still said "I can't be interviewed" after asking my superiors on the phone.
Ms. Pan insisted on a clear answer. Nanjing China Gas Company is still adamant that there is no problem with their gas meter and deduction system, and they have also removed the gas meter for inspection, and all the "inspections" cannot explain why an empty home will generate so many gas bills.
In the face of the company's attitude, Ms. Pan had no choice but to find another way, and she contacted the news media, hoping to give a reasonable explanation for the pressure of the gas company through the power of public opinion. She also complained to the relevant regulatory authorities in the hope of getting support from the government.
Faced with increasing doubts and pressure, Nanjing China Gas had to re-examine its gas meters and billing system. This time, they invited a third-party panel of experts to conduct independent testing and auditing.
After a detailed inspection, the team found a number of problems. There is no major failure in the gas meter itself, but there are certain vulnerabilities in the software of the billing system that cause the system to automatically incur charges even if there is no gas consumption system in some specific cases.
Isn't this the real-life version of the "gas detective"? Ms. Pan is not a vegetarian in the face of "ghost" gas bills, she also pulled the media and regulatory authorities, this method can definitely score 100 points!
In the end, the tricks of the system were figured out, and the problems of "diving" also surfaced. This wave of operations not only found justice for themselves, but also opened a "gas protection" lecture hall so that everyone has a small book of self-defense.