Recent Comments
- JS said “When a reporter writes "Those entities are collaborating to move high-tech research and development to ...” on Looking at the Third Frontier
- Ed Morrison said “JS. You've lost me.” on Looking at the Third Frontier
- JS said “"a firm" Yes, anyone can do a search and find one firm. It would be ...” on Looking at the Third Frontier
- Ed Morrison said “Well, JS, it took me about five minutes to find a firm that is using ...” on Looking at the Third Frontier
- JS said “It's not just getting a product out there, but competitive advantage. Why does it seem ...” on Looking at the Third Frontier
- About BDP Comments
Meta
George Nemeth · Why are people complaining about the Cleveland Water Department?
April 21st, 2009
Per Joel Libava’s tweet:
After living in my present house for over 12 years, and paying my water and sewer bills perfectly, I get to experience the thrill of joining over 2,000 other Cleveland Water Dept. customers who have been sent bills that out of nowhere, have gone up over 700% in one quarter.
There is a problem. It’s getting bigger. Are you one of the folks who have received these outrageous bills? If so, it is time to band together and demand real answers, and get some real solutions….NOW!
Here is what I think may be going on:
The Water Company is in trouble. The recession affects every business, and every consumer. This is a public utility, I believe, but it is being run by the City Of Cleveland. I really think that they are hoping for a 20% payday. What I mean by that is that if 20% of the customers that they overbilled just pay their bills without a fight, they can recoup their losses.
It’ll be interesting to see how this gets resolved. Suffice it to say that the Water Dept has enjoyed a special status for a long time.
via NEO Biz Blog: Cleveland Water Department Is Looking For Suckers.
Last 5 posts by George Nemeth
- A tale of town city workers - February 8th, 2010
- O Opens - February 5th, 2010
- I high rec seeing CityMusic CLE - February 4th, 2010
- The Ruse of the Econ Dev consultant - January 20th, 2010
- Dear Cleveland, It's really hard to love you sometimes - November 5th, 2009
April 21st, 2009 at 10:09 am
I have never paid for water/sewer living in Cleveland and the surrounding areas. But my boyfriend just moved here and got a house on Cleveland’s west side and will have to pay for water. He had to pay a $375 deposit just to get the water transfered into his name! Supposedly this deposit can be used toward future bills, or returned after stopping or changing service. I have never, ever heard of a utility company charging this much money as a deposit to turn on an essential service, even when your credit is great.
- om4padme1
April 21st, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Count us in on the Water Dept. suckers class action suit.
We got a water bill last summer for 6 times our normal bill and we’ve been fighting it ever since. They say we must have had a leak or something that billing period (and if we can show them a plumber’s bill proving we fixed this fictional leak, they’ll give us a discount).
We’ve lived in this house for 14 years. Why won’t they accept an average of all the billing periods before and since? We’ve had numerous letters back and forth with no resolution.
Just recently we also started receiving our neighbor’s water bill as well, with his name on the bill but our address. Something is definitely broken.
So Joe, where do we go from here?