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  • sucky water bill manager

    Little backstory, the place where I pay my water bill is next to the laundromat. So I usually go to the gas station next door, get out a 20, go pay my water bill which is always under 10.00, then go to the laundromat and use the rest for a few loads of clothes. So I usually pay cash for my water and by the time I am done with laundry who knows where my receipt is. Yes bad bad me I know.

    I came home a few weeks ago and the water was turned off. I called and they told me according to the computer I had not paid my bill since since November and that I would have to pay all those past bills and a 60.00 reconnect fee. I was like um...wouldn't you guys have cut it off by now if I have not paid in that long? Considering I was 2 days late once and you cut it off? They told me that is what the computer says so that is what they have to go by and they don't know how I slipped past the system so long. Maybe because I had been paying and you have a major glitch going on? So I make the trip over there to see if I can do anything in person. The lady that usually takes the money recognizes me since I have been coming in every month and we were pregnant together and she knows me and the kids. She asked what was going on and I told her. She made the same face . She called the manager over and told her that I come in every month and I am good about paying on time because she is the one that always takes my payment. Cue catbutt face from manager and says she has to go by what is on the system, not take her word for it. I am almost in tears because with the reconnect fee added this is around 200.00 that I don't have, it is hot and I have kids at home that drink water like camels. Not to mention it is hot and we need showers and toilets.

    Manager is not budging and cashier up front does not know what to do since she knows that computer is wrong but I don't have the receipts. I ask if I could pay half of it and get it turned back on and then pay the other half the next week when my husband gets paid. If I don't come in and pay the rest then they can cut it back off and I have another reconnect fee. Manager says NO. I tell her I guess I won't have water for a while then because I can't afford to turn it back on. Front lady tells me she is sorry and then wants to show me a picture of her daughter real quick that she took. I wait and when she comes back lo and behold the district person comes in, the one over the manager. She hollers at him to come over for a minute and explains my situation. He asks if she is sure I come in and she says yes. He says she has been with them for a long time, he trusts her word, fixes it in the computer and tells her to call for a reconnect. I am like So she has to call cat butt face manager over to get her to authorize the reconnect and call the guy on the radio. She huffs and puffs then after she walks off I hear her complaining about going over her head and such. I sort of loudly tell front lady THANK YOU so much for helping me out and go home. It was funny because I was in no mood to look at pictures but if I would not have stayed that extra minute I would have totally missed the guy.

    I was told that the water would be on within an hour since he was close to my neighborhood anyway. I waited, and waited, and waited... Water never did come on. Never came on the next morning either. I called the water company and was snottily told it was unlocked and to check my water pressure. I went out and they took the lock off but had my water pressure all the way off I have a feeling that was done on purpose. So the next time I went to pay the bill I see cat butt manager working at her desk in the background and tell nice front lady thank you again and I hope she did not get in trouble for helping me out. And told her what they did about turning the pressure down so we did not know it was on. Manager looks up and rolls her eyes at me and front lady kind of rolls her eyes back at the manager and says she is so sorry they did that, maybe they were in a hurry that day and forgot, then she slightly shook her head and thumbed back at manager lady.

    And yes I do realize I was part of the suck since I did not have any proof except the front lady's word and I should not expect any help. I was willing to pay it since I didn't have receipts, I just wanted to try and pay half to get the water back on since it was so obviously a glitch of some sort. I mean, if I would have not paid since November I would have not had water since December, lol.

  • #2
    It was funny because I was in no mood to look at pictures but if I would not have stayed that extra minute I would have totally missed the guy.
    Maybe it's me but... I think she did that on purpose. Delaying you so that you'd stay a little longer and "o look there's the DM!"



    And yes I too agree that ... I think the snot manager did that on purpose too cos bruised egos sometimes need to lash out to feel better about themselves

    Comment


    • #3
      Your water bill is under $10 a month??? Can I move there??

      I wonder what happened to their computers to mess up your account. I bet if they had looked a little further, they would have found evidence that you had paid. It's gotta be somewhere in their system.

      Had a similar thing happen with my phone when I had my landline. I screwed up and missed a bill, all of a sudden I get a bill saying "final bill" (what they send when you or they cancel your service), so I called them. They said, well, didn't you notice that you couldn't make outgoing calls? I said, no, because I called in sick to work a week ago. I said check my records...I've been making outgoing calls all along.

      I paid what I missed but I also told them they'd better not charge me a turn-on fee because I had never been notified of a shut-off, and they had not, in fact, shut off my phone. And they agreed.
      When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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      • #4
        I really hate people who pay by check*-who doesn't have a debit card at this point?- but I'm trying not to pay by credit card, to save local merchants the CC fee. So, oddly enough, I'm mostly back to paying with cash for most stuff. But I quickly found out that you *want* to pay some stuff with a check. Mostly the doctor and dentist. Whatever the size, they have a knack for totally screwing the pooch in the billing dept. I don't like paying for dental work once, let alone twice. One place the office manager had to raid the coffee fund to give me a $5 bill back on a $20.

        It sounds like the Water Dept. deserves to be paid by check, however.

        P*S
        *In line....ahead of me.....for two bags of chips and a soda...and their pen is dead.....and the cashier doesn't have one and has to run around finding one. Bonus Death Points if:
        -they don't have the check filled out in advance while standing in line
        -they dawdle at the register trying to fill in the checkbook

        Comment


        • #5
          Wow, that lady sounds lovely! Shame about her manager, tho
          Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum! - Don't you dare erase my hard disk!

          This is Tech Support, not Customer Service.
          What's the difference?
          We're allowed to tell you "no".

          Comment


          • #6
            I sympathize ... I'm lousy about keeping track of receipts too. In contrast to my mother who used to file them, according to company and date (most recent in front), so she could always find the latest receipt. I usually wind up ripping apart my desk, my purse, random piles of papers ...

            Glad you got your water back, and sorry to hear about catbuttface manager. People like that seriously need to get over themselves.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth Plague*Star View Post
              I really hate people who pay by check*-who doesn't have a debit card at this point?- but I'm trying not to pay by credit card, to save local merchants the CC fee. So, oddly enough, I'm mostly back to paying with cash for most stuff. But I quickly found out that you *want* to pay some stuff with a check. Mostly the doctor and dentist. Whatever the size, they have a knack for totally screwing the pooch in the billing dept. I don't like paying for dental work once, let alone twice. One place the office manager had to raid the coffee fund to give me a $5 bill back on a $20.

              It sounds like the Water Dept. deserves to be paid by check, however.

              P*S
              *In line....ahead of me.....for two bags of chips and a soda...and their pen is dead.....and the cashier doesn't have one and has to run around finding one. Bonus Death Points if:
              -they don't have the check filled out in advance while standing in line
              -they dawdle at the register trying to fill in the checkbook
              They only take checks and cash and don't have the system to take cards at all. No online payment either. This is how outdated their systems are.j That is why I would have to make the stop for cash on the way there because I don't have checks.

              Comment


              • #8
                I buy those neon envelopes, these even, so no more missing receipts for the Bunny.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth pageantmama View Post
                  They only take checks and cash and don't have the system to take cards at all. No online payment either. This is how outdated their systems are.j That is why I would have to make the stop for cash on the way there because I don't have checks.
                  Next time you go to the bank, get some counter* checks. There'll be a small fee, but the bank basically prints up a few checks right there for you to use. Save them for just such bill paying issues.

                  *Not cashier checks. Counter checks are blank and just printed out on site.
                  Labor boards have info on local laws for free
                  HR believes the first person in the door
                  Learn how to go over whackamole bosses' heads safely
                  Document everything
                  CS proves Dunning-Kruger effect

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Do you receive the water bills in the mail? Those bills hopefully would include what you paid last month + what you owe for this month, usually in the portion you don't need to take in to pay the bill with. No matter how disorganized you are, you should try your best to keep those someplace you know where they are, so when situations like this come up, you can go back a month or two and point out that "Yes I did pay those months."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Jetfire View Post
                      Do you receive the water bills in the mail? Those bills hopefully would include what you paid last month + what you owe for this month, usually in the portion you don't need to take in to pay the bill with. No matter how disorganized you are, you should try your best to keep those someplace you know where they are, so when situations like this come up, you can go back a month or two and point out that "Yes I did pay those months."
                      my BF has a little mail organizer he puts all the bills in. then at the end of the month he sits down, pulls out the check binder and gets the bills ready for mailing. except for the water bill, cos sometimes he just drops that directly in their locked payment box. and rent - often that is put in the office manager's hand directly or in the little lock box outside her door.

                      then he saves the bills and puts them in a single envelope and marks it for the month. he usually keeps a month or two on hand just in case something comes up where he needs the information

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