I do agree that these paper monthly bills in mail boxes are outdated and should come by email instead.

Why don't you pay by direct debit, as I do?

JojoS wrote on Oct 4^th, 2016 at 11:13am:

How do you do this? By transfer at an ATM ?

And this would mean no receipt to prove payment other than an ATM slip which has no gas account reference details.

HK1980 wrote on Oct 4^th, 2016 at 11:35am:


So what do you put in the box? A cheque or cash ?
Very old fashioned. It's time for  San Hing to enter the modern age and allow on-line bill payments thru' the banks.

this is the easiest company in the world (to deal with). You can do everything electronically, incl. emailing them your meter reading (email address on the back of the card you get every month). You chose how you want to deal with them, any option available on this planet, they do it. The location of their office is completely irrelevant.

Direct debit with my HSBC bank account, simple.
I email my meter reading every month by 25th regardless of if I get a card to do it or not.

When I first moved to db I got an estimated bill of $900 when my bill is normally $77. I got refunded by chq, they tried to say it would serve as credit but I said no, I wasn't up for paying almost a year's gas in advance.

I do find them very responsive by email, I have wanted things checked at times and they reply and visit promptly.

Seriously, how lazy can one be these days? Truly a 1% problem. Those people are like the easiest and nicest people to do deal with.  I am sure the people from  Syria would love to have your problems!

chair wrote on Oct 4^th, 2016 at 1:47pm:


That was exactly what they said to me. I still prefer to pay as I go. Making adjustments to my monthly bill as needed when actual meter readings are not made before making payments. The move to North Plaza will also make them closer to me. A shorter walk.

The idea of paying that company by direct debit seems insane. I don't think I've ever had a bill from them that's been less than 200% higher than it should be, and it's usually a lot more. No doubt it's possible to argue for a refund later, but that's not a reasonable way to run a business in the 21st century.

I'm sure the showroom staff, who have to put up with a lot of abuse from angry customers, would love to see San Hing get themselves a functional billing system.

Guess the only payment they accept is either cash or cheque. We have tried to pay via their HSBC account - only worked the first month. We now have received a final notice because their have ignored our HSBC payments and emails with payment details - sigh

Only choice left - spent an hour to go to their office and yell at Tony and his manager for not doing their job.

Wish we had other choices than San Hing - gas service is fine - but their office workers should all be fired!

Similarly I can never understand their billing especially their estimate.

For months and years our gas bill had been fairly constant but if we fail to report our gas meter for the month, their estimate like this recent bill was for $2901.
Our usual bill is about $600.

I wondered what benefits or joy do they get from these unrealistic high estimate.

Anybody got any anwers.

I also don't get how they issue their bills. We used gas once per week last month, they sent the bill for 800HKD

What is so hard about taking your reading by the 25th and emailing it in? If you are abroad, do an estimate. One time, I missed it by a day while away, they sent me their ridiculous estimate. I promptly emailed back and the next month sent in my reading as usual, the adjustment was smooth as I had my autopay cap.

No wasted time calling or visiting them. Ignore their inflated estimates calculated by some computer program, control the process.

chair wrote on Oct 4^th, 2016 at 1:47pm:


When a flat is sold, the agent has a checklist proving all utilities, club etc. have been terminated and accounts sorted out.
Someone did not do their job here.

I have basically given up paying by their HSBC a/c and gone back to cheques dropped at the box at the ferry. They have admitted that since they moved to North Plaza HSBC payments have increased to such a level that they can not handle the HSBC payments in a timely manner.

I'm surprised at reading this post.
I've lived in DB for 5 years, before on HK Island.
I have always found San Hing to be perfectly reasonable and, on occasions, extremely helpful.
Mid-December I had to report a gas leak in a property we'd just moved into. The gas was blocked, meter taken away and we were left with a large gas canister to operate the 2 showers. I honestly panicked as we had 5 offspring arriving for Christmas in the next 6 days. I explained this to the gas engineers and "Lo and Behold" they re-piped the apartment the day before the kids started to arrive!
Yeah, their estimates are sometimes rather wild, so take your reading, tell them and it's adjusted.
They are very nice folk, if you explain your issue. Honest