Gas Meter Thefts Are on the Rise in Argentina

In May 2022, I wrote a post called Water Meter Thefts Are On the Rise in Argentina. At the time, I thought that the situation couldn't get any lower than that. I was wrong. As it turns out, gas meter thefts are on the rise, too.

A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting an acquaintance who offered to make some lunch for us. But when she went to turn her gas stove on, she noticed that it wasn't turning on. Naturally, she found it odd since she always paid her bills on time. So, she turned on the hot water in the kitchen sink, but the gas tank didn't turn on. 

Now, we were really confused.

On a hunch, she went outside to check the gas meter. The only problem was that a vital component from the gas meter WAS GONE!

She let out this laugh of disbelief and whispered something under her breath that I can't share. As we inspected what was left of the gas meter, we noticed that the gas valve had been turned off. The thieves likely did this to ensure that they didn't blow themselves or the house up when they cut the component out.

Before going back into the house, the neighbor across the street came out and announced that their gas meter had been tampered with, too. It looks like the thief or thieves had targeted more than one home in the neighborhood.

After chatting with her neighbor, she went back into the house and called the gas company. Unfortunately, Ecogas informed her that this was the homeowner's responsibility, not the gas company. So, she called someone who came over and fixed the problem within a few hours. But she had to fork over close to 30,000 Argentine pesos to get the job done.

Naturally, I was afraid that this was going to happen to me eventually. Last year it was water meters. This year it seemed like gas meter thefts were on the rise. Well, I've managed to dodge the proverbial bullet, but two other acquaintances in Cordoba City were not so lucky.

I'm told that gas meter thefts and water meter thefts are common because the thieves can steal the copper and exchange it for money. 

I'm not surprised this is happening given that Argentina's inflation rate has gone beyond 100%. The crime rate has also spiked significantly. These days, I feel like Marty McFly in "Back to the Future II" when he went back to Hill Valley and discovered that it had turned into an unsafe nightmare. 

Don't get me wrong. Cordoba City was never entirely safe to begin with. But it has gotten worse. For instance, the other day, I placed an order for delivery. What I didn't realize was that two thieves were scoping out my neighborhood waiting for a delivery person to make a stop. Since most people wait for the delivery person to walk up to the door and knock, they probably figured that they would take that time to attack him. 

What the thieves weren't counting on was that I was monitoring the delivery person's approach on the phone app. As soon as they heard me opening the door, they walked away. It's probably a good thing too because I carry a blade with me for defensive purposes and I'm not afraid to use it. 

While I was grabbing my food, a neighbor across the street walked up to us and told the delivery person that he almost got mugged. I could tell the delivery person was panicking.   

But this isn't an isolated incident. Thieves have been mugging delivery drivers in Cordoba City lately. Some of the victims have been seriously injured. In one instance, a delivery driver was armed and fought back when they were attacked.

I don't get how people can behave this way in the face of an economic crisis. But this is pretty much what living in Cordoba City is like these days.

Here's Why the Internet Service in Argentina is Such a Nightmare

For those of you who are just tuning in, I've been living in Argentina for over 10 years. During this time, there are a a lot of things I've come to like and dislike about this country. The internet service is very much in the DISLIKE COLUMN!

I've spent 9 years with the phone/internet provider, Telecom, which was eventually renamed Personal. And it was one of the worst relationships I have ever had in my life. For starters, they were only able to offer me 10 megas in internet speed. This in itself wasn't so terrible. What was bad about Telecom/Personal's internet service was that they caused phone and internet outages for various areas without ever warning their customers. Their excuse was that they were upgrading the internet service in our neighborhood. To top that, these outages weren't 24 or 48 hour nuisances. The outages lasted over a month. This was a huge problem since the hubs and I are both online English teachers and rely on the internet to make money. But Telecom/Personal did offer a solution... at first.

They gifted us 50 megas on our phones. This allowed us to turn our phones into an internet hotspot. In other words, our phones became a makeshift modem that let us connect to the internet. Unfortunately, the megas expired every 72 hours, so we had to call Telecom/Personal and ask for more megas until our regular internet service came back.

Well, the last time this happened, I requested my megas the same way I did in the past. But this time, they said NO!

I was like... Seriously? I'm paying for a monthly service that doesn't even work. Give me my megas! 

They refused.

Left with no other recourse, we reached out to another telecommunication company called Claro. They offered me 50 megas instead of 10 and at about 70 percent less than what I was paying for with Telecom/Personal. Naturally, I agreed and signed a contract right away. 

And knowing how urgent I needed the service, they sent two guys over to install our internet service. This was amazing! I've always said that Argentine services aren't up to par and I stand by that 100 percent. But Claro's service was almost American in its efficiency. At least, that's what I thought at first. It turns out I was wrong.

About a week or two into our relationship with Claro, we began to experience micro-cuts. Don't feel bad if you don't know what this is. We didn't either until we started having them. 

Micro-cuts are brief interruptions in internet service. The only thing more annoying than not having internet service is having unreliable internet service. The micro-cuts caused our Zoom calls to drop several times. This was not only embarrassing but frustrating while struggling to teach our students.

So, naturally I called Claro to find out what the hell was going on. They apologized for the inconvenience and updated the modem's firmware remotely. This was supposedly the solution to the micro-cuts. 

While our internet speed did improve slightly, it was only temporary. Within a couple of days, the internet was slow again and the micro-cuts came back with a vengeance. I called Claro, and they tried updating the modem's firmware again. This made no difference.

Finally, a friend of ours recommended we check our internet speed on sites like fast.com. It turns out that despite paying for 50 megas, our internet speed ranged anywhere from 27 to 42 megas. So, I called Claro, who found the situation confusing. Eventually, their reps told me that you never really get 50 megas, even if you pay for it. It's more like you get around 50 megas. I couldn't believe that they had even said that to me. So, I asked them why they didn't just tell me that from the beginning. Their response was that this was common in Argentina, so they assumed that I knew. If we were in the States, we would have sued for false advertisement, but this is Argentina. The legal system is a joke, and I would probably be 80 before anything got done. 

Jump forward about six months and I'm still experiencing slow internet speed and micro-cuts. Claro continues to update the firmware when I call, but they've assured me that there isn't much more that they can do about it. Oh, and recently, they told me that other modems in the neighborhood were interfering with mine, hence the micro-cuts. 

That never happened in the States, so I'm assuming that they're making things up. 

I considered increasing to 100 megas to boost the internet speed. But I've spoken with clients who have 100 megas, and they claim that half the time their internet speed only gets to 27 megas. 

Unbelievable! 

But remember our friends, Telecom/Personal? Well, our headache with them wasn't over. 

I received a letter from a collections agency a few months back claiming that I owe Telecom/Personal some money. The amount is the equivalent of the last month of service--a service we did not have because their lines were down for over a month.

I tried calling Telecom/Personal several times to clear this up. But since I canceled my service with them in September 2022, they can't pull up my records. 

How convenient! 

So, what did I do? I paid the bill to OFFICIALLY SEVER all ties with Telecom/Personal.  

In conclusion, if you're planning on moving to Argentina, don't expect great internet, good customer service, or a solution to most service-related issues.