Hecla Water Association, Inc.

Unemployed for 5 months. Got behind on my water bill. Total bill was 120.08 bucks for 4 months including gross charges if you pay after due date. Made a payment online, busted my a[censored] to deposit funds into my account, got to the bank, the friggin ATM is out of service. Made a call to the bank and after 45 minutes and 2 people, was told to go to another ATM (another banks ATM as there was not another US bank atm close). The next day, payment was returned before I could make the deposit Called Hecla, explained the situation, was told $20.00 for a return fee., and that they could do nothing as it had not returned to them yet. Money was in the bank the whole time. Had unexpected expenses that weekend, they called Monday and told me I had to pay in full or the water would be disconnected. I have $106.00 in my account. That wasn't good enough. There attitude is tough s[censored]. They have to have full amount. Now it will be additional 40 buck on top of the return fee, for total of 160 bucks, but, and get this, if I pay in full on Friday, it will be additional 60 bucks to turn back on that day for a total of 201.08 Or, I could go until Monday, and not pay their same day turn back on b[censored]. I've been a customer for 20 years. If I could, I would leave Lawrence county and not pay them s[censored].

The Hecla Water Association tries to provide reliable service at all timeswe apologize for any mis communication that might have taken placeAll Hecla bills are due in full by the 15th of each monthThis is printed on every bill that goes outWhen a bill has not been paid in full after months it becomes delinquent and a letter is generated and mailed informing the customer that disconnection is possibleThe customer in question received a bill for $The customer made a payment of $after the cut off periodThis would indicate you still owe $This customer has not had the bill paid down to a zero balance since May of this yearThey have paid enough in the correct time frame since then to keep it from being in jeopardy until this monthThe best solution to this situation is to pay the bill on time each monthIf I can be of any other assistance please contact me at our office

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below Regards, [redacted] I have told them numerous times we have NOT had a leak and that is all they continue sayingWe have checked everything out that they said and we have no proof of a leak and now our water is back to normalIf we had a leak we would still be experiencing high usageThey need to stop saying we had a leak because that is just untrue or we would still have the high usageThere is a problem with the new meter they put in and they don’t want to admit thatExplain to me how our bill is back to usage now and yet we have done nothing different? Like I have told them before, leaks do not fix themselves

The
Hecla Water Association was asked by the Lawrence Water Corporation to take
over it's failing business operationThe major reason we have found for the
business not succeeding was gross under billing and inaccurate meter reading
and billing processes.Attached
is documentation sent to each
and every customer on the Lawrence systemWe
went to great lengths to inform the customers on how our company would be
improving maintenance, improving accuracy of readings and billing and offering
tips to keep their bills low by checking the plumbing on their side of the
meter for which they are responsible.Hecla
Water spent nearly a year doing a meter assessment on all accountsI have also
attached the assessment made on Ms*** meterAt that time her old meter
was not registering so I am skeptical of any past history of bills with the
former companyWe did install a new meter, but there is no mention of the
sleeve being changedI believe she told me it was changed months before our
company took over.We sent
minimum use bills for the entire time the assessment project was being
completedThis means that customers could essentially use any amount of water
they wanted and only be billed $a substantial loss of income to Hecla
WaterMany customers did not feel they had any kind of issue with their
plumbing until they received their first actual one month usage bill.Ms*** is one of a few
customers who have fallen into this categoryI do not dispute the time frames
of notification of this leakI do dispute what caused the problem originally.Hecla
Water notified this customer of the excessive water consumption as a courtesy
not a responsibilityShe was given the standard leak adjustment per Hecla
Water Rules and RegulationsOur company is trying to be as fair as possible
and will even go as far to write off the water that leaked out between the time
of reading and the time we left the tag on her door.I will send a copy of our
response to Ms***Please contact me at our business office if you have any
further questions.Sincerely,*** ***Hecla
Water Association

*** ***,Hecla Water received a phone call from the customer regarding a high water billWater bills are generated by the usage detected through customer's meterOne of Hecla Water's engineers went to the customer's residence and downloaded information from the iPerl
meterThe iPerl meter stores the previous days of water usage and breaks the usage down into hour by hour readingsThis information showed a leak on the customers sideApproximately 1,gallons was being detected through the meter each dayMost of the usage occurred during the morning and continued into the afternoon. This information is consistent with the high water billThe customer received the hour by hour data from the meter and it was explainedThe metering and billing procedures were also explainedHecla Water believes that the iPerl meter detected high usage due to a water leak or toilet problem at the customer's residence and the customer's are responsible to pay the amount dueI have attached the hour by hour data that was provided to the customer

I understand I was behind due an excessive water bill several months ago and I WAS paying it down more and more My issue is that is when I got the cancellation letter and I called in I was lied to and made to assume that they we're not cutting it off and ripped me off of to turn it off and back onThen lie and say that they never spoke to me which they DID! Had they told me they we're still going to cut it off after our conversation I would have just borrowed the $ sooner and paid the dollars Because of this my water bill may now be behind again I am not made of money and do not like to be lied to just to be stolen from /ripped off

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
*** ***
We have replaced all but one toilet in our house and it does not leakWe have checkedI’ve explained this to them numerous times and they will not listen to meI’ve started making payments on my account only because I can’t have my water shut offI have kids in my houseThey told me if I had a leak (which they believe I did with my toilet) that they would credit my account but then when I ask them to do that they refuseThey just run people in circles until they have to pay to keep their water on like I didThey are a scam and they are scamming people out of their hard earned moneyMy family is having a hard time right now financially and getting an almost $water bill is really hurting usThey need to think of the people they’re hurting instead of just trying to line their pockets with cashI have talked to several other people’s and I am not the only one this has happened toIt’s sad

Please see attached response and documentation from the business.---11-14-17Mr. & Mrs. [redacted]Please review the highlighted areas on this print out. We have seen patterns like this before. A leak that is created from a hole or split in a line or fitting would show a constant flow all of the time. Max Flow and Consumption would not show zeros. So I do not believe there was a leak on your service line.However toilets are another issue. They can leak or run at any given time. The flapper that stops water from traveling from the tank to the bowl can stay open because of a chain or debris. It can open up due to a pressure difference or worn parts.When we see the Max Flow at a low number and the Consumption at a high one I believe a toilet flapper stuck open slightly for a long period of time. Showering or washing clothes would give a much higher Max Flow and not last for hours.I believe the meter is operating correctly. I see the issue whatever it was stopping on the 26th.Please contact me at the office if you have any further questions.Sincerely, Tony H[redacted] Hecla Water Association General Manager

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
 
Regards,
[redacted]I have told them numerous times we have NOT had a leak and that is all they continue saying. We have checked everything out that they said and we have no proof of a leak and now our water is back to normal. If we had a leak we would still be experiencing high usage. They need to stop saying we had a leak because that is just untrue or we would still have the high usage. There is a problem with the new meter they put in and they don’t want to admit that. Explain to me how our bill is back to normal usage now and yet we have done nothing different? Like I have told them before, leaks do not fix themselves.

The Hecla Water Association tries to provide reliable service at all times. we apologize for any mis communication that might have taken place. All Hecla bills are due in full by the 15th of each month. This is printed on every bill that goes out. When a bill has not been paid in full after 2 months...

it becomes delinquent and a letter is generated and mailed informing the customer that disconnection is possible. The customer in question received a bill for $138.72. The customer made a payment of $100.00 after the cut off period. This would indicate you still owe $38.72. This customer has not had the bill paid down to a zero balance since May of this year. They have paid enough in the correct time frame since then to keep it from being in jeopardy until this month. The best solution to this situation is to pay the bill on time each month. If I can be of any other assistance please contact me at our office.

Revdex.com, I apologize for any problems that have occurred. We try to have great customer service. I have a little different information than you have. The account in question has had the following monthly amounts. March - $65.23 April - $67.61 May $68.80 June $80.70 July $91.41. The usage has gone...

up gradually each month. This is not one big jump. I will be glad to provide this information to the customer if they contact me. In our experience this looks like a small leak getting worse. It could be a toilet issue. This amount is not something that would look abnormal to us because its not much larger than the previous month. In the summer typically customers use a little more. As meters get older they become less efficient a new meter will be much more accurate and pick up much more water. Customers should stay with what they have because a new meter will increase their bill even more. Our staff probably didn't see the problem the way the customer did. I can help with advice and information if the customer contacts me. If a leak is found and is in the range of a standard adjustment we will be glad to do so. I will be glad to meet with the customer if needed to solve the problem. I cannot promise any deletion of the bill at this point.  Sincerely Tony Howard  Hecla Water Assoc. General Manager.       P. S. I would like Revdex.com response.