A Rant About the Aguada Collecteria
In order to have a legitimate rant about the collecteria, everyone needs to know what the collecteria is in Puerto Rico.
Collecteria: The collecteria is a government office that collects money from businesses and individuals. An example of an individuals’ payment is state income ta, property tax or to cash in lottery tickets. An example of a payment a business would have to make is the 7% sales tax or the tax withheld from employee payroll.
Departmento de Hacienda
Just a little more set up before I rant.
At one time, there was a collecteria located in downtown Rincon. As a Rincon based business, I was required to collecteria and make payments every month. There was always a long line, but it was right around the corner from our house so no big deal.
begin rant
They closed down the collecteria in Rincon about 6 months ago. I’m not sure why, since there was always a line there, but they shut the doors and the landord of the building put a sign indicating it was for rent. Se Aquilla (sp?). The sign on the glass read that it was closed and the next closest location was in Aguada.
I was bummed, because Aguada is 10 minutes away with no traffic and 45 minutes with traffic. Beat. Well, I was over it and started to enjoy going to Aguada once a month and used it as an excuse to stop at a Deli we discovered that actually sells lunch meats by the pound! Not that I like driving, but it was nice to get out of Rincon regularly.
Today I went to the collecteria in Aguada and they changed their hours of operation. They used to take my money from 9:00am to 3:00pm, but today they had a hand made sign written in highlighter that stated their new hours. They are now open from 9:00am to 12:00pm and then again from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.
Well, this new schedule isn’t that bad as long as you plan for it. Today, Sydney and I showed up at the collecteria at 11:45 and the guard came over and told me they were closed until 1:00pm. I asked the guard what time it was and he told me it was 11:45 and gave me a look like, I know we are closing 15 minutes early, but I’m not in charge, they are. He then pointed to the side walk and said;
Please wait here until 1:00pm.
I explained to him that it wasn’t 12:00pm yet and that I had all my paperwork/checks in order and that I would only take 2 minutes. He looked in to the counter where they were helping the last person in there and told me no.
Sydney the Superstar
Maybe it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I thought it was ridiculous. Close early? I understand cutting down on hours to save money but this was just ridiculous. They weren’t closing down because of government cuts (closed office and 9-3 office hours), they were closing early because they were hungry and/or lazy.
The round trip with Sydney took us about an hour and twenty minutes. Do they think I can just leave the office for 3 or 4 hours to make a lousy payment every month!? When I was walking away the manager was giving me stink eye and I had no recourse. He’s the boss, gotta come back when he says so. If I were from Jersey, I would have flipped him off.
At first I was livid, but then Sydney and I went into a locally owned store down the street hand-in-hand to get a bottle of water. The store was small, only had beer, rum, smokes and bottled water. The owner was talkative, nice and was sweet on our little superstar girl. I let Sydney drink out of a big girl water bottle, she pointed out the balloons at the bridal store, claimed the motorcycle when it roared by and pointed out animal shapes in the clouds as we walked back to the truck. I was back in a great mood (thanks Syd).
However, just because I was in an instant good mood, it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to have a little rant on the blog. Man I was pissed. Have you had any good/bad experiences with Departmento de Hacienda Collecteria? Do share!
August 16th, 2011 at 6:08 am
Hello,
I totally understand your rant. In PR, most public workers tend to carry out their duties with a high sense of entitlement that would drive anybody nuts. High customer service is obviously not their main goal. You could visit a goverment office (municipality or state) at 8am (the time when they are suppose to open) and see employees talking with each other or just walking around. My sister just started working for the Dept. of Education but she waited 4 hours to get the last paperwork finished at their office in Ponce. I am very sad to tell you that you will have the same experience in most government offices with government employees.
By the way, the actual name for the offices that take your money is “colecturia” and the sign for rent, at the old colecturia in Rincon should read “se alquila”.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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August 16th, 2011 at 9:57 am
I had the same problem you did only I was there to buy a $2 stamp so I could get my record of NON-owe anything. Imagine that, I had to prove I didnt owe any money for parking tickets and to do this required me to buy a $2 stamp at a collectaria! I got there at 11:30 and they had us line up outside because we might not get in by noon. I was pissed and let them know it. Why do people put up with this.
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August 16th, 2011 at 11:55 am
@Rosana – Thanks for the spelling corrections!
@Jeff – Some days this stuff really gets under my skin, other days it doesn’t. I don’t think dealing with Government agencies is on my top ten favorite things to do list, regardless of what country I am in.
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August 16th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
We are selling the house and I got the property tax bill in the mail ( for $8.48 or something). Debating whether to pay it – if we close on the house in a week the payment won’t have made it into the system guaranteed. Or will it hold things up? Technically we don’t even owe it because we had an “overpayment” and I just call Arlene and she does it on the computer for me. Soooo I go to San German and get to the window to pay my $%$ $8 and am told I can’t do it there. Have to go somewhere else. You would think any government office could take money owed to it. Better to just not pay it. Same with tickets (bucear sin bandera) and speeding or traffic stuff. Just do what you want I say – Mad Max all the way! EVERY MONTH? You have got to find a way around that…become an internet business and file somewhere else. Ridiculous! psst – where is the deli in Aguada? If I could find thin sliced turkey I’d eat it!
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August 16th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
ah stephan, the bigger picture here is how sydney sees your reaction and behavior. i think you’re a super star just like sydney. it’s these little moments that children (in their formative years) become who they are to be. money is just money. at least you had her with you and it did not cost you time lost with her.
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August 16th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Sounds about right. Grew up on the island, live there for many years and go back often to visit my parents. Nonetheless, I am still always amazed at the I don’t care attitude. Customer service is often non-existent. The best thing to do is just know you will have to deal with it and prepare yourself mentally or get an aneurysm from frustration.
Love the island and most of my people but this has always bugged the heck out of me!
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August 17th, 2011 at 4:40 am
@Katrina – The deli is called
“Les Delices Deli” and it is on the 115 next to “Bar Code”. If you know where the new bridge is on the 115 closer to Aguada between Rincon and Aguada, you can find the deli. The exact address is Carr. 115, km 21.4.
They are a sandwich shop and deli…enjoy!
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August 17th, 2011 at 5:11 am
“Do share!” LOL
I should send this entry to my Dutch husband…then again maybe NOT. hehe
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August 17th, 2011 at 5:41 am
Searched online for “Les Delices Deli” and found a great review with photos. Will stop by next time we visit clients we have in the area. Oh I agree with what have been said about government offices’ employees. Make blood boil, twice over.
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August 17th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
i found you guys from your old post in 2007 on the supermarket shock that is the econo! i actually just moved to rincon about a month ago thinking that, hell, i can do my work (food websites & cookbook writing) from anywhere, why not get more tropical than SD! the lack of accessible ingredients has me questioning that now though! hmmm…
anyway, it wasn’t at the collecteria, but i had the exact same thing happen to me at the aguadilla departamento de servicio or whatever the name of the place is you go to deal with transferring a title when buying a car. i showed up about 15 minutes before they closed on a friday as the man was pulling the gate down. he just looked at me and shook his head telling me to come back tomorrow. ugh…and i thought dealing with the dmv in san diego was a crapfest.
(truth be told though, other than getting turned away it really was much quicker than san diego – it can take HOURS to get your number called.)
i’m looking forward to reading through your blog and getting advice from people who have made the exact move i just did!
happy blackout wednesday!
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August 17th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
This post could easily be titled “A Rant About [enter name of any Puerto Rican government office here].
And the Les Delices Deli is SO delicious! I highly recommend the Turkey Best sandwich and the deli meats/cheeses that they sell are amazing too. Totally worth the drive to Aguada!
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August 19th, 2011 at 7:08 am
“Breaks” are sacred in PR. They are entitled to 30 minutes away from their desk in the morning, 30 minutes in the afternoon, and 75 minutes for lunch. By entitled I mean they feel entitled to take this time to EAT, even though not in their contract, and even the managers approve it. The rest of the time at their desk can be spent chatting with co-workers and EATING at their desk. If you object, you are a heartless soul trying to deprive human beings of fair working conditions and heaven forbid, FOOD. It is still shocking that citizens are expected to actually show up instead of being able to conduct business via mail or internet. Showing up means driving somewhere (more pollution, waste of time and money) and then finding nowhere to park (risking parking tickets which you have to come back to pay). We have learned to get to those offices early, expect long lines and return visits because we were missing something. We block out a whole day and, like Stefan, make a day trip out of it, squeezing in some fun activity away from home. It does take a while to get used to this system. But you must. As a wise cousin once told me, “Puerto Rico will never change.” — Fran
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August 20th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Amanda – Welcome to Rincon! Yeah, the food thing take a bit of getting used to (and figuring out the tricks and tips to actually get good food and ingredients). Try the Edwards Coop grocery store if you have not already. It’s 10 times better then the Econo and the owners are really nice.
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August 24th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Stefan: Sorry to here about your experience with the colecuturia, even if it is a very common problem in PR. I don’t know why you have to go there every month but maybe Hacienda’s new (more like revamped) ecolecturia service might help to avoid those trips! Here’s a link: https://colecturia.hacienda.gobierno.pr/Portal/Default.aspx also CRIM (property taxes) has also added some online services recently (apparently this page is only availabel in Spanish, maybe de built in translator to Google Chrome will help) https://www.etaxpr.com/crim/default.aspx Anyhu, hope those links help you in the future! If you have any questions please feel free to email me! -Alexis
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September 8th, 2011 at 9:15 am
Not to Rincon…welcome to the government of Puerto Rico, lol. Well lately the government improved their online page and there are more and more things you can do online, so maybe you can check it out. Still when going to a government office do carry extra patience cause (even when Im ashamed of it) they are not efficient at all.
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October 10th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Stefan.. there’s an office the Ramey Office Center in Aguadilla that I’ve never seen with a long line. It’s a bit farther out, so maybe you could combine it with a trip to Jobos or dinner @ One-Ten Thai.
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