A brief history:
I've been living in my current home for about 10 years now. My power bill has averaged anywhere from $175 to $250 per month depending of course on our usage, while my water bill has averaged anywhere from $30 to $70 per month depending again on usage over the course of 10 years. Simple right? Apparently not.
Welcome to my Nightmare:
A couple of days ago, I routinely checked my mail,.. and I routinely received my utility bills in the mail that day too. So I opened up the power bill first because that is usually higher and is the one that I am "usually" concerned about. Ok, whew! No surprises there. For some reason, I elect to open up my water bill as well, which I am not normally worried about. Here is a partial image of what I found:
What the??!! Apparently I all of a sudden consumed almost a MILLION GALLONS OF WATER IN FEBRUARY??!! But, wait, that's not all, I was OFF-ISLAND FOR 2 WEEKS IN FEBRUARY TOO! Sooo,,.. that means I consumed almost 1 MILLION GALLONS OF WATER IN 2 WEEKS!!
As you can also see above on the right hand side, my previous bill was $44.14 which is within my average. Now they are billing me $4,099.56!!!!!!! W... T.... F!!!!!!!???
That is not the worst of this experience, now for the call to GWA the next day.
So I had to wait until the next day to call because it was after working hours already for them, let's say about 4:02 in the afternoon? Just kidding. ;) Anyway, since I wasn't able to get any sleep knowing that I had just received the biggest bill of my personal life, I had to calm myself down to make the call to customer service.
Here are the details of the call to the best of my recollection:
GWA: Guam Waterworks
Me: Hi, yeah I have a problem with my billing, I have been averaging around $40 to $70 per month for 10 years and all of a sudden I am being billed for over $4,000 with almost 1 Million Gallons of water consumed... {expecting some sort of reaction}
GWA: Account Number Please
Me: W9XXXXXX
GWA: Ok just to let you know that your previous billings were based only on estimates,...
Me: What? What are you talking about? What do you mean?? Are you telling me that this is really how much I owe??
GWA: I'm just telling you that your previous billings were only based on estimates and that we will need to investigate it further.
Me: Well PLEASE DO!!
GWA: Excuse me?
Me: I said Please DO! {hmm,.. I wonder what she thought I said?;)}
GWA: You will need to fax a map and call us back within 2 Weeks.
Me: Ok, wait, just so we are clear, are you folks NOT having any other issues like this?? Is it only me??
GWA: Yes sir we are having many issuess like this..
Me: Ok then I'll fax it
I hang-up, draw a map, and try to fax it to the number she gave, it just kept ringing with no answer. So I called GWA again:
GWA: Guam Waterworks
Me: I've been trying to fax but the machine is not answering..
GWA: What does the machine say?
Me: N-o M-a-c-h-i-n-e A-n-s-w-e-r. =P'
GWA: Hold on, I will have to walk over to where the machine is..
Me: Was it off?
GWA: {delay} It's working fine it's receiving faxes.
Me: OOOO,,...KKKK,....
GWA: Just keep trying,..
Me: I'll try now can't you just watch it?
GWA: I need to return to my post now just keep trying.
Me: {frustrated} Ok
After hanging up, all of a sudden the fax machine was busy. Yup, just as I thought, it was off, they just didn't want to admit it. They just assume that all of their customers are idiots.
Look, I run a business too, and I have some simple tips s for everyone in Customer Service:
- a little empathy goes a long way,
- try to put yourself in the customers shoes, in their situation, then you'll understand, and only then can you truly help them,
- if you or the company makes a mistake, admit it, they'll respect you more for it,
- your salary is getting paid by your business' customers so please, show some respect yourself, the Government is no exception.
Having some IT and Management background, I have a tip for GWA Management to consider as well:
- It should be easy enough to tag Residential Accounts that either have a usage that is TOO HIGH for a Residence, or if this month's bill is unusually LARGE as compared to the previous months, with some simple code in their billing output programs,
- Add more controls and Audit your Billing Please.
For now, I wait, but you never know, who knows what is going on here..
Drenched in Dededo (in almost 1 Million Gallons of Invisible Water) =P'
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5 comments:
I live in dededo also and have huge water bills At first they kept telling me my high water bill was due to back payments I owed them cause they've been guesstimating my water consumption for years. for 2 months was $1.770.53 and they said my next bill would go back to normal i said i hope so cause its not like i"m running a business or farming we live in a one bedroom house with two small children not to mention we live paycheck to paycheck..Well next bill came $2,966.75 for 1 month.We're on a payment plan for those bills assuming it was due to broken/old water pipes, couldn't find the leak so we spent over $700 to install new pipes thought the problem was fixed then the meter reader came and I asked him for my current reading that way I could calculate it through GWA website and its says my current water bill is over $3341.72 WTF is going on? Haven"t called gwa yet to get answers for it still waiting for the actual bill in the mail.
I live in dededo also and have huge water bills At first they kept telling me my high water bill was due to back payments I owed them cause they've been guesstimating my water consumption for years. for 2 months was $1.770.53 and they said my next bill would go back to normal i said i hope so cause its not like i"m running a business or farming we live in a one bedroom house with two small children not to mention we live paycheck to paycheck..Well next bill came $2,966.75 for 1 month.We're on a payment plan for those bills assuming it was due to broken/old water pipes, couldn't find the leak so we spent over $700 to install new pipes thought the problem was fixed then the meter reader came and I asked him for my current reading that way I could calculate it through GWA website and its says my current water bill is over 3341.72 WTF is going on? Haven"t called gwa yet to get answers for it still waiting for the actual bill in the mail.
Hi janedoeseverywhere, sounds very suspicious, like you're either paying for all of your neighbors water or there is something wrong with the meter. I'd have it checked as soon as possible! Good Luck!
Do you have copy writer for so good articles? If so please give me contacts, because this really rocks! :)
No matter what others say, I think it is still interesting and useful maybe necessary to improve some minor things
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