Harris Marine Financing, Inc.

[redacted],On July 13, 2016 our Customer Service department received your call concerning your utility bill from Conservice. You stated that you had signed a new lease as of 5/5/2016 and were inquiring as to why you had received a bill for the billing period of 4/15/2016-5/13/2016 with charges...

prior to your lease sign date. Conservice called to verify this information with the property and May 4, 2016 was the date we were given for your move in date, but that you had taken over a lease from a previous resident. In the lease it specified that you would be responsible for all terms and conditions of the previous lease, including the Conservice account and all charges associated.  Given this, even though you weren’t living in the unit for the full service cycle of 04/15/2016 - 05/13/2016, you are still responsible for the complete balance of $53.58. Cindy also mentioned that you can contact the previous resident regarding the balance associated with the time you were not in the unit if you desire.You may call their leasing office and the Property Manager would be happy to answer any of your questions concerning your lease and the requirements of taking over the previous lease. You may also call Conservice Customer Service at ###-###-#### with any other questions or concerns you may have and we would be happy to help. Thank you, Conservice

[redacted]  Hello [redacted], In reviewing your complaint regarding the high water charges you have received over the past few months, we reached out to your property management at Monaco Park to research this issue to ensure that all billing was taking...

place accurately and in a timely manner. Upon reviewing your lease and the billing that has occurred over the previous months, the property management determined that they would be refunding you a certain amount. If this has not already been communicated to you, Monaco Park has requested that the details and full information regarding this refund amount be discussed directly with them, since all payment amounts are made to Monaco Park directly rather than to Conservice. I have included the contact information for Monaco Park below. Please do not hesitate to inform your property management and Conservice if this resolution does not meet your expectations regarding these high water charges over the previous months. [redacted] ###-###-#### Thank you,Conservice

Mr. [redacted],I understand your concern for your utility billing. Your unit does have an individual water meter, but it has failed and we are unable to get actual usage for your unit. Currently your bill is calculated by taking a property average of usage and applying the rate charged to the property...

by Pinellas County to get the charge billed to you. The units used to obtain the property average exclude units with potential leaks. The property and Conservice are working on a solution to either repair the meters or switch the entire property over to the RUBs billing method. The property isn’t profiting from the billing of water at your community.If you have any more questions, please contact us here at Conservice by calling 1-866-947-7379.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:This usage details are superfluous and made-up. I have stayed in 4 different apartments before and nowhere the water usage was more than 3000 gallons per month. As soon as Conservice  took over the billing for water and sewer service for this apartment, water consumption went sky-high. So no need for me to get training from Conservice on water consumption. It is clear that there is a gross mistake in either calculating the usage or something is very "fishy" as the same meter might be calculating usage from other units as well and that is included in our bill. This bucket test is totally baseless as nobody from Conservice had come to investigate the issue and also I was not asked to be present when this test was performed. If there is a fault from the apartment authority they should investigate and resolve it with them. I should not be charged unnecessarily. This is very frustrating as nobody from Conservice showed a minimum accountability to resolve or investigate the issue as it seems they are only concerned about getting money and nothing else. I am feeling cheated for all these and I am willing to take next course of action if this is not taken care with due diligence.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: For over 4 years we have been paying at higher rates that did not make sense and were ridiculous in comparison with others in the same neighborhood, and even though your explanation sounds like it provides the necessary data/info it really does not, here is why:Our bills have continued to be high for the duration of stay at North Bethesda Market Apartments, at times reaching close to $120 for the month The fact that you/community managers are adjusting these billing practices to bring our bills lower, already speak on the amount of pressure they have received in the past several month because of a group effort by the residents to tackle this problem, and they are trying to avoid a lawsuit. The fact that our bill is this month is only $48 in comparison to $112 same time last year, or 108$ last month, only speak to the fact that we were right all along and price gouging practices and inaccurate billing were utilized by your company and the management, and only confirms that facts that thousands of resident dollars were overpaid in the course of last several years. This is a gross violation!My suggestion is that your company creates a fund to reimburse residents, based on the formulas you so much love to refund the money you have over-collected for these years. I will personally expect $2400 in compensation which by my formula is what you over charged me for the past 4 years. Should you choose not to comply we will proceed with legal action and investigation into your past billing and bill distribution practices. 
Sincerely Yours,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted]Georgia Power erroneously started services in your name under the Bldg 3 HSE address instead of applying it to your residential apartment, 03107. We discovered this and informed your property management who then had you switch the account to the correct address. Georgia...

Power did not back-bill Parkside at Highlands to when this was accidentally switched to your name, as they had previously informed us they would do. There is a gap in service from 07/07 - 08/25 which Parkside at Highlands was not billed for.We had informed your property as late as 9/15/17 to let you know not to pay the common area Bldg 3 Hse account that was accidentally switched to your name, as we requested from Georgia Power to have the account back-billed to Parkside at Highlands. However, payments were made to Georgia Power on the account in October and November. Because of this Georgia Power did not back-bill the Hse account to your property. Once Georgia Power was informed, they refunded the amount that Parkside at Highlands paid on the account for the charges that Conservice billed to you for the usage in your apartment. We passed that refund on to you which was $-216.41 in total. Conservice is unable to provide any additional credits as this represents 100% of the charges applied to your Conservice account.As a courtesy, Conservice has contacted Georgia Power for further dispute and they have confirmed a credit has been issued on the account under your name. The credit is for the time that Bldg 3 Hse account was in your name and should show up on your next Georgia Power statement, though Consevice will not be able to confirm this as the account us under your name.  We hope that this resolves this issue for you!Thank you!Conservice

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: There response is not correct, I have never received a bill that matches the amount that is claimed due on their website. All I'm asking for is a printed invoice that matches the website, and Conservice has been unwilling to issue one. You can see from the previous bills and the webshots of utilitiesinfo.com website there's no matching information. Because Conservice doesn't seem able to be honest about their bills it makes me very uncomfortable to not have a written invoice from them. In regards to their ludicrous claim that it's Portland's billing process that prompts their questionable billing system I'd like to offer that this is not my only utility bill, PGE (where we receive our electricity) is able to offer a timely, clear, specific invoice that always matches their website. It doesn't seem like they feel the need to add charges online without sending and invoice, even with Portland's "complicated" rules.Finally, their claim that there are no late fees added until 30 days after the bill, when does that clock start? When they add the fees to their website or when I receive an actual invoice? It seems very purposely vague. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Although we have explained the way the sub metering system functions we have continued to work with the community management as well as regional management for Main Street Flats.  They have decided to extend a credit of $28.41 to cover the days in which Ms. [redacted] feels she is being incorrectly charged.  According to information we have no service tickets have been opened by Ms. [redacted] with the property regarding the meter.  If the resident continues to think there are further issues she should advise her community management of the issue.Thank you,Conservice

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Conservice,Thank you for your reply. I continue to dispute this issue for the following reasons:First, although the lease does in fact say what you quoted in this reply, it states $50, not $50 monthly or for any other identfied cycle, It just says $50. I have already paid $20 and you are billing me for $70 more.And more specifically, per your records of my billings of:6/13/2016 - 7/13/2016 (received at Conservice on 7/21/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 8/15/2016)7/13/2016 - 8/11/2016 (received at Conservice on 8/20/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 9/15/2016 )8/11/2016 - 8/31/2016 (received at Conservice on 9/6/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 9/15/2016)The very first bill I received from your company was a Statement Date of 7/16/16. It reflects a statement cycle of 6/1/16-7/1/16 and confirms that my move-in date is 6/11/16, which is accurate, and that the billing for the utilities listed (Electricity, Sewer, Trash, Water, your Account Set Up fee and monthly service fee) were prorated. In fact, your monthly service fee was no prorated and I paid the fee in full. The statement/bill did not have mention of Gas service or Gas service fees or charges. I paid the total amount in full by the due date of 8/1/16.The next bill I received had a Statement Date of 8/16/16. This included the first reference to Gas utility listing a Vacant Gas Fee of $16.54 (the cost of gas) and a Vacant Service Fee (what I found out by calling was the charge received for not having set up an Account with the Gas company in my name) of $20. When I opened this statement the end of August knowing the due date would be 9/1/16 in order to write a check is when I noticed these fees. I immediately called your company and spoke with Clayton. He explained the vacant service fee was for not opening a Gas account in my name. I told him that this prompted me that I had forgotten to open a Gas account in my name because all the other utilities didn't require I open an account in my name and that I would do it immediately because I didn't want to pay any more fees for that and he advised me to email your Customer Service email account right away with attn: to him with proof that I opened the account as discussed with him. I in fact did this within the next day by attaching a copy of my new account for Gas which I opened on 8/31/16. I paid that month's Conservice statement/bill in full by the due date of 9/1/16.I never heard back or received any reply to my above email.The next statement I received had a statement date of 9/16/16 and listed two more Vacant Gas amounts of gas usage and two more Vacant Gas Service Fees of $35 each, higher than the $20 fee from the previous month's statement. One covered 7/13/16-8/11/16 and the other 8/11/16-8/31/16. The later was not even for a full month. I again immediately called your company to clarify this and ask what the reasons for this were, especially since I had opened the gas account and provided proof as instructed the next day making you aware of this as of 8/31/16 and regardless of when you received any gas bills or posted them as billable to me, you already knew that my name and apt were associated with billing. I also questioned why there was a significantly higher amount for those two fees and that one of those was not even for a full month and that none of this was clearly stated as being ongoing in the lease. I was told that the lower fee of $20 was just an opportunity to alert a customer that they haven't opened a Gas account in their name and the later higher fees were more of a penalty for still not opening an account. II responded that I did in fact open an account in my name and sent proof the very next day after seeing and clarifying what the $20 fee was for and therefore did immediately appropriately make the change and should not be billed for the following months as your company had already known I put the gas in my name. I requested those fees be removed but I was told nothng could be done and I started my dispute directly with your company and my apartment community. Waiting for replies and not getting any response that was consistent, I then decided to make this complaint with the Revdex.com.Further, the same day I made this complaint a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by my apartment community to share this info with the Manager because I received a note from here stating that I would need to pay late fees for the remaining $70 I've been disputing because Conservice will not remove the $70 fees. I again expressed my concerns about this and the Manager called her Conservice point of contact with me there, and I explained the situation to her saying that given the way Conservice system is set up and bills does not facilitate the statement they make of charging a smaller fee (the $20 first Vacant Service Fee) in order to give the customer a chance to open the account in their name and later charge a higher fee because they didn't take advantage of the $20 warning fee because I in fact did just that and was still charged these $35 each fees. She agreed with this view and said she's ask her supervisor if he/she would remove the fee and call either me or the apartment manager the very next day with the answer. Neither I nor the apt manager heard back. I stopped by the apartment complex office a few days and checked with the manager as to whether she heard anything and she said no and we called the point of contact again but had to leave a message regarding this and left both our numbers again to be contacted. Still nothing heard back. Today I receive this reply through the Revdex.com and am still unsatisfied with the erroneous and non-customer-friendly dogmatic thinking and response, particularly because despite my many attempts to complain directly with Conservice, there is not a clear or timely process that is respected by your company and yet your company's charges are directly attached to my rent and standing in this apartment community and even with your statement of what the lease says, the lease only refers to $50, not monthly, and you are trying to charge me a total of $90, of which I already paid $20 the first statement that showed the fee.I am reluctant but willing to settle this by paying only $30 in addition to my already paid $20 even though my statements above still stand about there not being a fair process built-in for a customer to respond to the initial lower 'alert' I've been told is in place. Because I did respond right away. Since you refer to the lease as saying $50, I am willing to pay $30 to equal $50 which is the reference in the lease as a maximum amount and does not clearly, i.e. legally, require anything further.Please let me know. I am unwilling to pay any late fees as this issue has continued to be under legitimate dispute during the time it has not been paid. Thank you.[redacted]  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

[redacted],Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the concern about your water usage.  I have attached a report that shows your apartment's daily usage for your reference.  I see that you have spoken to many individuals here at Conservice.  I am sorry that they were...

not able to satisfactorily handle your concerns.  As you can see from the meter consumption file we have provided your meter registered usage on 10/24 & 10/25 which, I believe, are the days you are disputing.  We can reach out to your community manager to discuss this issue further and provider additional information.  At this time we aren't able to make an adjustment but, will provider additional information that we receive from your community manager.Thank you!Conservice

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I understand what's in the lease but that's still not good customer service since you all know the water wasn't used 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

[redacted] ,We have reviewed your account and have determined that you were billed incorrectly for 4 occupants instead of 2 occupants.  The occupancy has been corrected to 2 for future billing.  A credit of $[redacted] will be issued to this resident for the service period of 6/30/15 -...

8/3/15. This is based on the prorated amount she should have been billed as of the move in date of 7/1/15. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Let us know if you have any further concerns.Thank you,Conservice

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I will believe it when I see it.  Furthermore why did the technician blame this all on a toilet leak that was not leaking.  I knew he was full of BS and did not address the issue properly.  This matter needs to be resolved quickly as I have news media involved and will persue small claims court if this matter is not resolved in full within 30 days.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted],We have received your Revdex.com complaint and hopefully we can address the issues you have. We at Conservice are contracted by Pinnacle's Signature Pointe Apartments to provide the utility billing to their residents and apply a $10.00 late fee after four days from the...

date that the bill is due. For the utilities bills that were sent out with a due date of 5/1/2016, the printing company contracted by Conservice had an error that caused bills to be printed and sent out late. Since Pinnacle's Signature Pointe Apartments is Conservice's direct client, the property management staff was made aware of the issue and asked how they would like Conservice to proceed. The property management staff informed Conservice that they would notify the residents of the delay. This is the reason that the residents at Signature Pointe Apartments were not contacted directly by Conservice about the bill delay issue.As for your concern with the $3.00 convenience fee, for any automatic credit card or electronic funds transfer payment, financial institutions charge a convenience fee for those types of payments. Since this $3.00 convenience fee is not instituted or controlled by Conservice, there is no way to remove or bypass it when a payment is made. We have reached out to the leasing office at Signature Pointe Apartments and have agreed to apply a $3.00 credit to your account. That credit has been applied and is currently reflected on your ledger at Conservice. Thank you,Conservice

Dear [redacted],We have received the complaint you sent to the Revdex.com and wished to address the concerns you stated. The bucket test maintenance performed in your unit on approximately 8/29/2016 found that the meter was measuring the consumption of the unit correctly....

Maintenance informed us, as well as provided pictures, showing that after running 10 gallons of water down the drain, the meter only increased by 10 units (beginning read 0207738, ending read 0207748). We have also reviewed the data obtained from your meter, which checks into our system daily, and found that the consumption being used in your unit, while high, shows normal fluctuation, which is further indication that the meter is working correctly.  As you informed us that no leaks were found in your unit, in addition to the bucket test confirming the meter is reading correctly, this is why we advised you that the high consumption, to the best of our knowledge, is accurate and directed you to our website for water conservation tips.We understand your continued concern with the high usage in your unit and, as an additional precaution, we have reached out to your management company for further investigation.  All indicators came back showing that the meter is working correctly and your unit should be billed based on actual usage.Thank you,Conservice

[redacted],Thank you for contacting us regarding your bill.  As previously explained, it is standard practice that when a meter reports "0" usage that a resident is given an estimate based on their normal usage.  When you previously contacted Conservice we did reach out to your...

community management and they instructed us to not adjust the amounts that had been billed.  However, after looking further into this issue we did reach back out to your community management and a credit has been applied to your account for the time period that you were not living in your home.  You will see a total credit of -$2[redacted] on your account.  Please keep in mind that they other charges such as water and sewer base charges are not consumption based so those charges will not be adjusted.  Your new total due 10/1/15 is $[redacted].If you have any other questions please let us know!Thank you!Cosnervice

We have verified with our accounting department and the mail room that all payments received from the post office are processed the same day and there are no outstanding pieces of mail from that time frame. Unfortunately, we cannot request the post office to find a single piece of potentially lost mail.We have reviewed the customer service call log and any training concerns have been addressed.If the resident would send us the check number, date and amount of the missing check, we can put a refuse payment in our system and if it is received at a later date, it will be sent back to the resident.To avoid any potential postal delays in the future, the resident can provide us with their bank route and account number by sending in a voided check or scan and send an image of a voided check to us and we can manually set up auto payment for her going forward. This will avoid any potential future late fees or convenience fees associated with one-time payments.Because the resident has not paid the outstanding balance at this time, an additional $10 monthly late fee was applied to her account. We have again waived this fee as a courtesy to the resident.  The total owed is $87.12.Thank you

Hello [redacted],   At Conservice, we strive to offer excellent customer service and support in handling billing and utility management for your community. One component of this is handling complaints that may arise during this process and resolving these complaints in an accurate and timely...

manner. We appreciate the detailed explanation and documentation of your concern and have done all possible to ensure that this issue was thoroughly investigated. A resolution is summarized below.   In examining the charges listed on your bill for the service period of 5/1/2016-6/1/2016, we evaluated the estimated reading of 20,000 gallons. This estimated reading was intended to true-up any underestimated consumption in the previous five months due to the meter reads data collector at your community not sending reads to our system. However, in comparing this amount to previous months’ usages before there were any issues with this data collector, we did verify that the average usage for your unit falls between 5,000 and 6,000 gallons each month, and therefore the estimation of 20,000 gallons to true up to the current meter read was deemed excessive. We appreciate you bringing to our attention the pipe break that occurred in your building, as this helps us understand the reason our data showed such a large increase in meter reads when your unit has a consistent history of using around the same amount of usage each month.   We have reached out to your community regarding this issue and suggested adjusting this estimated read of 20,000 gallons to a unit average of 5,424 gallons. This falls much more in line with your average usage when compared to your unit history. The property has approved this change. Listed below are the credits that have been applied to your account, displaying both the original charges you received for this service period, as well as the updated charges after this credit has been applied.   Original Water Charge (20,000 gallons): $160.93 Original Sewer Charge (20,000 gallons): $119.60   Updated Water Charge (5,424 gallons): $43.58 Updated Sewer Charge (5,424 gallons): $32.41   Credits applied to Water: -$117.35 Credits applied to Sewer: -$87.19   In comparing these updated water and sewer amounts to charges you have received in previous months, we found that these charges fall much more in line with both your typical usage and the typical charges you receive for these utilities, and these amounts have been updated on your account in our systems, as well as with your property management. This issue should be resolved moving forward, as we are using the actual reads we are receiving for your unit, and these already appear to follow the usual trend that is typical of your unit. We appreciate you bringing this issue to our knowledge and hope that you find the provided resolution satisfactory. If you have any further concerns or additional questions, we encourage you to contact our Customer Service line at ###-###-####.Thank you,Conservice

Ms [redacted], Your move in date is listed as 6/11/2016, but you did not set up an account with Washington Gas until 8/31/2016.  During the time period of 6/11/2016 - 8/31/2016, Washington Gas issued 3 separate bills.  Conservice will apply a vacant service fee for each bill processed,...

which is why you received 3 separate vacant service fees.  The first bill issued by Washington Gas was received at Conservice on 7/21/2016.  Since bills are mailed out to your community around the 15th of each month, the next bill a vacant charge would have shown on your bill was the bill mailed on 8/15/2016.  You should have received this bill between 8/16/2016 - 8/20/2016, your account with Washington Gas was then setup on 8/31/2016.  By this time Washington Gas had issued 3 separate bills covering this time period.  Those service dates from Washington Gas are as follows:6/13/2016 - 7/13/2016 (received at Conservice on 7/21/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 8/15/2016)7/13/2016 - 8/11/2016 (received at Conservice on 8/20/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 9/15/2016 )8/11/2016 - 8/31/2016 (received at Conservice on 9/6/2016 and issued to you on your bill mailed on 9/15/2016)The timing of when Washington Gas service cycle ended and when their bill was received at Conservice is the reason for the gap in time from when you moved in, to when you saw the vacant charges and realized you had forgot to establish your own gas account.  However, Conservice did process each vacant gas charge in a timely manner based on when the bills were received.  In regards to the language in your lease, section 4 states "In the event you fail to timely establish utility services, we may charge you for any utility service billed to us for your dwelling and may charge a reasonable administration fee for billing for the utility service in the amount of $50.00".  You were billed fees of $20.00 and $35.00 which is allowable per your lease agreement.  These vacant service fees are in place to account for the expense of processing and paying these bills, as well as tracking and passing on the utility charge amounts on the bills.Thank you,Conservice

Complaint: [redacted]Thanks, please keep us posted here.
Sincerely,
[redacted]