addaminsane
Junior Member
we have access to many bills he has paid BUT
i went into the water company with my friend. He decided that he would try to get the water changed to his business LLC but they refused to do it unless he paid the bill from his own name in full ... i figured they might say that...
When i went in, i found out many disturbing things about the local water company and how they bill. They could not give any information about legitimate usage numbers. ALL of their numbers are based on ESTIMATION. This opens up sooo much leeway for corruption my mind is blowing right now.
They do all of their readings based on when the meter rolls over. for some odd reason, they've yet to come up with a system that accurately reads water usage in an understandable way. Even though its 2016 and there are probably 1000 16 year old kids right now that could build a better water measuring system in their garage...
If they can't come to a conclusion about the usage when they read then they will often issue a bill based on the water usage of a previous tenant where the water is being used. This practice of estimation is a completely unacceptable business standard of a any company, let alone a company which makes boatloads of money based on its demand as a public necessity. Every business uses water differently.
You can say, "well that also causes people to pay less" UNACCEPTABLE. The people who benefit most financially know this and factor in how much the probability is that they will be correctly challenged into their financials ... which up to this point is a very small amount compared to the amounts they get away with.
They also charge water surplus usage fees ... BASED ON ESTIMATION.
Issuing bills based on estimation, especially for a service that is a public necessity and also a service that has EXTRA FEE charges is downright despicable and unethical and nonsensical and unacceptable.
Also, even in the case of a leak, the water leaked doesn't cost the company ANYTHING CLOSE to what they charge the customer for. Water companies major expenses aren't the water usage AT ALL. There are SOOO many ways for water companies to get unearned money right now its baffling. (accumulation of unearned money = demise of economy)
A company who bills based on estimation should not be able to implement extra charges without being able to prove the exact usage numbers. Ideally, every cent they've ever earned from these extra charges should be payed back.
At least within the water company in my area, there are many inadequacies in their system that can easily open them up to lost lawsuits from virtually anyone and everyone who decides to take them to court or defend themselves in court for bills that simply don't add up. ... based on the ability to easily create reasonable doubt about the actual amount that the customer should owe the company.
My opinion at this point is that the inadequacies of their estimation billing system as well as evidence of inconsistencies in billing and implementation of extra fees based on an implication that they are actually earning most of the money being paid to them for their service makes it easy for any cracker jack box lawyer to create reasonable doubt about the amount of virtually any water bill in this city.
In my friends case, we will not only reference obvious inadequacies of the estimation billing practices but also compare estimated usage numbers from the past several months to the time frame when his water meter was replaced. We will then try to find a lawyer who likes the idea of being involved in a potential case of precedence.
if i sound off the wall it is because i am, but my main conclusion about this entire situation after today is that something needs to change and companies need to be held accountable for their actions, especially when their actions effect the lives of SOOO MANY people. My local water company is OVERLY INEFFICIENT and demonstrating unwillingness to acknowledge it until someone EFFECTIVELY calls them out.
