Santa Margarita Water District

This letter is in response to your correspondence dated 3/9/2015, wherein you have requested the District to reply regarding complaint ID#***. Per instructions stated in your previous letter dated February 23, 2015, the District has not initiated any contact with this customer regarding
this matter, nor has there been any additional activity on that account. As listed in the filed complaint, the customer claims we did not adequately notify him in advance in order to prevent disruption to his service He states that we should have better communication with our customers regarding pending service disruption, due to delinquent account statusHe has also stated that we should not rely solely on our current preventive shut off measures which he lists as: an automated delinquent reminder call, a Final Notice reminder via the postal service and a door hanger notice hung on the customers front door In the complaint, he also mentions that we should not rely on the postal service to successfully deliver his final notice to him or to blame the postal system if he has not received the notice in his mail delivery. The customer has requested an immediate refund in the amount of $150, stating that besides his recent delinquent payment that caused his service to be disrupted, his account was otherwise in good standingThe charge for this amount includes a shut off processing fee of $and a $deposit placed on the customer’s account. Please note, Santa Margarita Water District does not require any deposit fee when customers submit their application to begin new service However, a deposit is requested in the event of service disruption due to non-payment As a courtesy to our customers, we do not hold the deposits until they terminate their service with usInstead, we are happy to refund that fee back to them in form of a check payment following consecutive on-time payments to their account or when they terminate their service, whichever is sooner. We are sorry to hear this customer does not feel we have made adequate effort to notify him of his delinquent account status and avoid disruption to his service. However, our process for handling SMWD customers who are delinquent in their payment for service, is based on providing ample opportunity for an account to be brought current before disconnection occurs. SMWD is required to follow the California Government and Water Code sections that are specifically related to customer notification. To that end, customers receive at least five notifications before service is interrupted. Customers receive two bills through two billing cycles, followed by an interruption notice. If the customer’s account is still not brought current by the cut-off date listed on the Final Notice (approximately days after the initial delinquency; approximately days) an automated call is made, followed by a live phone call and/or email from a customer service representative. Please note, the final attempt via phone call and email is strictly a courtesy to our customers and not a required process. For security reasons and because service interruptions follow a long effort of contact, the SMWD Operations staff does not accept payments in the field at the time service is actually disruptedThis is why the District provides a door hanger notice notifying the customer of the disruption and requesting they contact our Customer Relations Department for assistance in restoring their service. It’s interesting to note that, of the 54,accounts within the Santa Margarita Water District service area, fewer than accounts typically reach the level of service disruption in any given month. Thank you, *** ***Customer Service RelationsSanta Margarita Water District

Review: SMWD shut down water supply to my house seemingly to me without notice. According to customer service their system will automatically send out final notice and an automated phone call prior to shut down. Final notice and phone call was never received. The account is in good standing since 1998 and this is the first time that this happened. Non-negotiable payment of $50 reconnecting fee and deposit of $100 was required to have the water turned on. As a single source supplier this makes it very easy for SMWD to uphold their requirements. Would there be an alternative source, the seemingly non-caring service of SMWD would have led to a switch of suppliers if available.Desired Settlement: - Immediate refund/billing adjustment of $150 as account was otherwise in good standing.

- Customer Service system review to allow for better communication with end consumer, not relying on automated system to relay information

- Last notice door tag rather than relying on mail and blaming postal service (if late and/or final notice would have actually been received, bill would have been paid)

Business

Response:

This letter is in response to your correspondence dated 3/9/2015, wherein you have requested the District to reply regarding complaint ID#[redacted]. Per instructions stated in your previous letter dated February 23, 2015, the District has not initiated any contact with this customer regarding this matter, nor has there been any additional activity on that account. As listed in the filed complaint, the customer claims we did not adequately notify him in advance in order to prevent disruption to his service. He states that we should have better communication with our customers regarding pending service disruption, due to delinquent account status. He has also stated that we should not rely solely on our current preventive shut off measures which he lists as: an automated delinquent reminder call, a Final Notice reminder via the postal service and a door hanger notice hung on the customers front door. In the complaint, he also mentions that we should not rely on the postal service to successfully deliver his final notice to him or to blame the postal system if he has not received the notice in his mail delivery. The customer has requested an immediate refund in the amount of $150, stating that besides his recent delinquent payment that caused his service to be disrupted, his account was otherwise in good standing. The charge for this amount includes a shut off processing fee of $50 and a $100 deposit placed on the customer’s account. Please note, Santa Margarita Water District does not require any deposit fee when customers submit their application to begin new service. However, a deposit is requested in the event of service disruption due to non-payment. As a courtesy to our customers, we do not hold the deposits until they terminate their service with us. Instead, we are happy to refund that fee back to them in form of a check payment following 12 consecutive on-time payments to their account or when they terminate their service, whichever is sooner. We are sorry to hear this customer does not feel we have made adequate effort to notify him of his delinquent account status and avoid disruption to his service. However, our process for handling SMWD customers who are delinquent in their payment for service, is based on providing ample opportunity for an account to be brought current before disconnection occurs. SMWD is required to follow the California Government and Water Code sections that are specifically related to customer notification. To that end, customers receive at least five notifications before service is interrupted. Customers receive two bills through two billing cycles, followed by an interruption notice. If the customer’s account is still not brought current by the cut-off date listed on the Final Notice (approximately 15 days after the initial delinquency; approximately 50 days) an automated call is made, followed by a live phone call and/or email from a customer service representative. Please note, the final attempt via phone call and email is strictly a courtesy to our customers and not a required process. For security reasons and because service interruptions follow a long effort of contact, the SMWD Operations staff does not accept payments in the field at the time service is actually disrupted. This is why the District provides a door hanger notice notifying the customer of the disruption and requesting they contact our Customer Relations Department for assistance in restoring their service. It’s interesting to note that, of the 54,000 accounts within the Santa Margarita Water District service area, fewer than 100 accounts typically reach the level of service disruption in any given month. Thank you, [redacted]Customer Service RelationsSanta Margarita Water District