>Charlotte<
Lurker
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? South Carolina
I think my question is pretty straightforward, so I'll just simplify it first. Details follow if you're interested (and in case anything else matters.)
A local water company is not municipally owned, as in "City of So-and-So Department of Utilities", it's a privately owned company under contract to provide water services to the city. I want to confirm my assumption that because they are a private corporation, they don't have any particular protections, and suing them would be just a run-of-the-mill SCC (in SC it's called Magistrate's Court) procedure. That's my question.
Here's the story. First, it's not me suing them, it's my father. I'm just helping him get all the information he needs.
Dad's water bill is usually around $40 a month. His bill for September was $689.00 for 88,000 gallons of water. After getting nowhere with their customer service, he contacted the regulatory agency that handles these disputes. Today they informed him that while they agree it seems fishy and they do suspect it is the fault of the water company, they are not going to intervene because he can't prove he didn't use 88,000 gallons of water. That's it. Just like that. I can't even wrap my mind around how unbelievable this is.
He lives alone. Does laundry maybe once a week, never runs the dishwasher. He has no leaks. Nobody is sneaking up to his outside spigot with a hose. It's not possible that he used that much water, but nobody in a position to help him is willing to admit that, and they're all telling him he just has to pay the bill. He can't afford to pay almost $700 to the water company for no other reason than they refuse to admit they made a mistake.
His choices seem limited to not paying the bill and getting his water cut off, paying the bill and forgetting about it, or paying the bill and suing these idiots in Magistrate's Court to get it back. I've been studying everything I can find but I want to make sure I'm on the right track and that it's not a different procedure because he's dealing with a company that provides a municipal service, although I could be wrong that that would make a difference in any case.
I can't believe that even though it's an obvious mistake, he has no recourse and has to pay it "because they say so".
I think my question is pretty straightforward, so I'll just simplify it first. Details follow if you're interested (and in case anything else matters.)
A local water company is not municipally owned, as in "City of So-and-So Department of Utilities", it's a privately owned company under contract to provide water services to the city. I want to confirm my assumption that because they are a private corporation, they don't have any particular protections, and suing them would be just a run-of-the-mill SCC (in SC it's called Magistrate's Court) procedure. That's my question.
Here's the story. First, it's not me suing them, it's my father. I'm just helping him get all the information he needs.
Dad's water bill is usually around $40 a month. His bill for September was $689.00 for 88,000 gallons of water. After getting nowhere with their customer service, he contacted the regulatory agency that handles these disputes. Today they informed him that while they agree it seems fishy and they do suspect it is the fault of the water company, they are not going to intervene because he can't prove he didn't use 88,000 gallons of water. That's it. Just like that. I can't even wrap my mind around how unbelievable this is.
He lives alone. Does laundry maybe once a week, never runs the dishwasher. He has no leaks. Nobody is sneaking up to his outside spigot with a hose. It's not possible that he used that much water, but nobody in a position to help him is willing to admit that, and they're all telling him he just has to pay the bill. He can't afford to pay almost $700 to the water company for no other reason than they refuse to admit they made a mistake.
His choices seem limited to not paying the bill and getting his water cut off, paying the bill and forgetting about it, or paying the bill and suing these idiots in Magistrate's Court to get it back. I've been studying everything I can find but I want to make sure I'm on the right track and that it's not a different procedure because he's dealing with a company that provides a municipal service, although I could be wrong that that would make a difference in any case.
I can't believe that even though it's an obvious mistake, he has no recourse and has to pay it "because they say so".
