Manny's jackass primitives discuss water bills

[franksolich]

http://jackpineradicals.com/boards/topic/amazing-tale-about-fighting-over-a-water-bill-in-florida/

Oh my.

djean111    (1373 posts)    October 14, 2016 at 4:20 pm
 
Amazing tale about fighting over a water bill in Florida!

My water bill had been inexplicably going up for the last three months.  Yeah, we are only talking going from $55 or so to last month’s $114, but I am living on Social Security.  So I called and complained and had a counter for every rote excuse offered – except for the Midnight Ninja Water Thieves Who Must Be Stealing Water in the Dark for Months.  In the rainy season.  From an outlet where I would hear it.

A water department guy came out, peered into the muddy hole where the meter resides, brushed away the mud and dirt, sprayed the meter with WD-40 so he could read it (that was a great thing to learn, BTW), took a reading, and announced that I had no leaks, and the meter was read accurately.  When I mentioned to the water department (run by the county) militant first line of deflection and defense lady that perhaps the (****ing) meter was not working properly, she said that all the meters were tested a jillion times and nothing could ever ever go wrong ever ever, and it must be Water Ninjas.  And told me I should dig down and read the meter myself.  A lot.

She called last week and cheerily asked how my meter readings were going.  I said we pretty much stopped using water, and would wait until the next bill, and if that was still high, I would probably have to sell my house.  We hung up on each other.

So – Wednesday morning, 8:15, doorbell rang, guy at the door said he was from the county.  The proper response to that is, seriously, “OH ****!!!”  because sometimes people call the county (they enforce the three or four HOA rules that we have) about weird things.  Once the county showed up because someone said I was renting my garage to an oriental family of six.  I said no, I am not, he laughed and said hey, as long as the garage is attached you can actually do that, I just have to make the visit.

Anyway, the guy said he was there to replace the meter.  WTF?  Down here, people get bogus charges of three and four thousand dollars, and the water department refuses to budge, even with lawyers and “8 on your side” and BBB complaints and picketing.  So – I am gobsmacked.  Really, less than a month, new meter, and my new bill is back where it should be.

So miracles do happen.  Kinda boring story, but damn, I am still kinda shocked.  But sometimes right does prevail.  That, or my last meter reading on the old meter was astounding.  Happy Friday!

Hobbit709     (588 posts)  (Reply to original post)    October 14, 2016 at 8:39 pm
 
2. I'm having a goround with the city here.

Last December, they were working on the main up the street. When the water came back on it erratic in pressure for about 24 hours.

Next bill came and said I used 0 gallons. Then the next month’s bill said the same. Called them and had a set to with the person since she was telling me that the only person that could request a meter check was the person on the utility bill’s name. I explained that would be impossible since the utility bill was still in my wife’s name and she passed away several years ago. Got nowhere. Next month again 0. About a week later city employee shows up to check meter-it’s broken, probably caused by dirt flushed from the main with the pressure changes. They changed the meter the next morning. A month later I got the new bill and it showed 1400 gallons use. Two days later I get a letter from the city saying they made an “adjustment’ in my bill and wanted $600 for water and sewer based on their WAG estimates based on “average household” use. I noticed that on the 4th of the month the meter was read, on the 10th the meter was replaced. On the 4th of the following month it showed that 1400 gallons usage. Their WAG claimed that my total usage for the month was 7600 gallons-so evidently I used 6200 gallons in one week before the meter was replaced and only 1400 gallons in the next 3 weeks. They also claimed the meter died a month before it actually did and their WAG for that month was 9200 gallons although the meter showed 4200 gallons.

I disputed the charge stating that either their WAG estimates were way off or their “fully functioning replacement meter was inaccurate.”  Heard nothing for 3 months and then I get a notice saying they denied my dispute and I owed them the $600 plus late charges. I just sent in the notice of appeal and request for a formal hearing. Haven’t heard back yet. So far my water use has not exceeded 2100 gallons a month since the meter was replaced and their claim was that I was averaging 8000+ gallons a month. In my request for a formal hearing I stated I would attend with my attorney present, and that I was willing to go to the city council and anywhere else I needed to go.

Last year the water department got into trouble since they were overcharging people all over town. One guy got a bill for a million gallons and their response was the he must have a leak. His response was that a million gallon leak would have his house and yard knee deep in water.

djean111     (1373 posts)  (Reply to Hobbit709 - post #2)    October 15, 2016 at 2:36 am
 
5. That sounds way more typical than what happened to me.

Of course, I don’t know that my new meter will work any better; at least they re-structured the actual literal hole in the ground that the meter is in – replaced the open-bottomed “box” around it.   Funny, isn’t it – I pay those people through taxes and water usage, they work for the county, and are as unhelpful as if the water was privatized.

Dont call me Shirley     (2128 posts)  (Reply to original post)    October 14, 2016 at 10:55 pm
 
4. My regular water bill is $140/mo for a family of 3.

[Big Dog]

djean111     (1373 posts)  (Reply to Hobbit709 - post #2)    October 15, 2016 at 2:36 am
 
5. That sounds way more typical than what happened to me.

Of course, I don’t know that my new meter will work any better; at least they re-structured the actual literal hole in the ground that the meter is in – replaced the open-bottomed “box” around it.   Funny, isn’t it – I pay those people through taxes and water usage, they work for the county, and are as unhelpful as if the water was privatized.

OK, Dummy. Here's how this works. Private provision of goods or services is competitive, and customer service is important, because you can take your business to a competitor and the current water provider would lose profit. Government has no incentive to provide quality of service, because it operates in a monopoly enforced by people with guns.

Austrian economics 101, DUmbass.

[freedumb2003b]

The proper response to that is, seriously, “OH ****!!!”  because sometimes people call the county (they enforce the three or four HOA rules that we have) about weird things.  Once the county showed up because someone said I was renting my garage to an oriental family of six.

The county enforces HOA rules?   Unlikely.  And how about the use of the very un-PC "oriental?"  The correct PC term is "Asian."

What a strange post.

[SVPete]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Government Efficiency, with its own special Regulated Monopoly Land!

Knowing the kind of thing I'd find, I typed "los angeles department" into my Google search line, and Google's first suggestion was "Los Angeles Department of Water and Power". For your amusement:

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-dwp-20161004-snap-story.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-drought-los-angeles-water-department-waters-fake-grass/

[SVPete]

djean111    (1373 posts)    October 14, 2016 at 4:20 pm
...
So – Wednesday morning, 8:15, doorbell rang, guy at the door said he was from the county.  The proper response to that is, seriously, “OH ****!!!”  because sometimes people call the county (they enforce the three or four HOA rules that we have) about weird things.  Once the county showed up because someone said I was renting my garage to an oriental family of six.  I said no, I am not, he laughed and said hey, as long as the garage is attached you can actually do that, I just have to make the visit.
...

Sounds like this DU-member doesn't know the difference between HOA rules and zoning, building code, and occupancy laws. The cited example would be in the realm of occupancy laws. Of course the relevant county employee has to check the premises when this sort of violation is reported! dj111 should focus his/her ire on the a-hole neighbor who falsely reported that dj111 was violating the law, not the county worker who was just doing his job.

And, yeah! Hasn't "Oriental" become racist, just as "Colored" and "Negro" have (except for the NAACP and United Negro College Fund)?

[Carl]

But they want more government.

[BattleHymn]

A water department guy came out, peered into the muddy hole where the meter resides, brushed away the mud and dirt, sprayed the meter with WD-40 so he could read it (that was a great thing to learn, BTW), took a reading, and announced that I had no leaks

Why such a graphic explanation of a hole? 

[landofconfusion80]

Why such a graphic explanation of a hole?

The primitive equivalent of "dear penthouse"

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[SVPete]

Some genius at Rome's first Rent-A-Chariot noticed that most customer problems were caused by the customer and/or could be resolved by a low-skilled customer service employee. Thus was born the modern multi-tier approach to customer service. The people at the first tier go through usual-suspect stuff and FAQs, solving many problems. Problems not resolved then get passed on to the next tier or two where more skilled (and higher paid) people help with the problem. This is frustrating for people who know their problem is real, and not FAQ-grade, but, properly organized, the multi-tier approach solves a lot of problems quickly, and the higher skilled and paid people aren't wasting their time with FAQ-grade and user-stupidity-grade problems.

This DU-member's case being with a government department (or regulated monopoly) and probably speaking with union clock-punchers ...

[Carl]

For what it is worth WD40 (water disbursement 40th formula) is probably one of the most over hyped and useless products sold and has been for decades.

There is no possible way one would use it to clean off a glass or plastic screen to be able to see better. 

[SVPete]

For what it is worth WD40 (water disbursement 40th formula) is probably one of the most over hyped and useless products sold and has been for decades.

There is no possible way one would use it to clean off a glass or plastic screen to be able to see better.

Yeah, the story would be better if it claimed the guy used Windex.

[I_B_Perky]

For what it is worth WD40 (water disbursement 40th formula) is probably one of the most over hyped and useless products sold and has been for decades.

There is no possible way one would use it to clean off a glass or plastic screen to be able to see better.

My meter hole is always full of water.  The meter guys/gals around these parts have this glass/plastic tube they put up against the meter dial.  Surprisingly you can read it really well.  Only reason why I know this is I was home outside one day during the week when they came and the doggies were out.  Would not let the gal near the meter.   She had this long tube... so I asked what it was for and she showed me.  Pretty damned ingenious if you ask me.

As for the dummie... he got stoned, left his faucet running and did not want to pay the bill. They came and shut it off. He immediately went to the dump posting about his problem.

Dummies are so predictable.