Gas Leak

On Friday, we noticed a strong gas smell in our kitchen. Our house uses natural gas for the stove/oven and for the water heater. After some investigation, I concluded that there was probably a gas leak. Someone from the company was here to make sure that I had paid the bills correctly (which I had) and she called the gas company for me. My experience when calling anywhere is that I call and if there are no English speakers then they usually just hang up on me (this has happened several times). Someone from the gas company was going to come out and check it out in the afternoon. When the guy came, he checked and kept telling me "Mei you wenti" (no problem). I called and had someone from the company translate. He told them that we needed to wait 2 days and to see if the problem gets worse. This is a gas leak we are talking about here! Obviously, I didn't want to do that so I was told that my only other option was to go down to the gas company. Tina, who had been translating for me in the morning, came with me to the gas company. We were told that we needed to prepay 400 yuan (about $58) and then a repairman would come in the morning. I thought, "Yes, now are we are getting somewhere!" The next morning the repairman came, looked under the sink (where the gas lines are), and told us it was too complicated and left. He just left! Tina called the gas company again and we figured out that we needed to pay 300 more yuan and then someone would come in the afternoon to fix it. So with great trepidation, we paid the additional money hoping this would get it fixed. I mean we are talking about a gas leak here! Bear in mind, that the gas was turned off and so was not leaking anymore, but this obviously needed to be fixed. Anyway, after paying the additional yuan (bringing the total to 700 yuan or $100), another repairman came around 2PM. He fixed the problem in less than a half hour and informed us that we would be refunded some money because it was not that complicated. Yes, those were his word - NOT THAT COMPLICATED! So, I just need to go on Wednesday and I will be refunded 600 yuan! Really, not too bad. It just took 3 repairmen, a translator, and 3 trips to the gas company (including the one for the refund)! Definitely a TIC (This Is China) moment. ;-)