Can they put a lien on the home if you don't pay like is this a way to take a home from a senior citizen? Obviously it would have to hold water in court but could the senior citizen afford the proper representation for that to actually be found and proven to be erroneous. If the city won't play game without the news being the bigger kid on the playground? It all seems like a scheme to take ownership of his home.
The saddest thing about these stories is that nothing is done to the bill until after the media gets involved. This bill could have been corrected immediately and everyone could move on. Instead it gets dragged out, which can affect the mental and physical health of a person due to the stress of such an outrageous bill.
Agree. What an embarrassment for that department. Now everyone across the nation is ridiculing that utility dept for their heartless and inhumane abuse of an elderly man.
Their customer service people have probably been told to tell everyone the same thing: Yes, you owe that much. Those guidelines don't account for obvious mistakes. This call should have been escalated to someone with brains and authority to fix the issue.
@@DarqJestor Water company is typically government owned. Gas and electric are private, but in California the company managing the pipes or wires is appointed by the government and cannot sell gas or power. The companies selling gas or power are private, and they pay a transport fee to use those pipes or wires. This one is entirely on the government.
@@DarqJestor I live in PA all my 63 yrs and never once was the water supplied by a govt entity, it was always a private supplier, which is generally run far better than any govt entity. Govt = waste and inefficiency.
@DarqJestor PG&E is regulated, and we have had rate increases of 56% in 3 years and 110% in 10 years. Regulators have been paid off by the power company.
Yeah, but remember, this area often gets no rain at all for 9 months...obviously, this was snafu....i used to live in a big city and had a big garden. I was double charged for water, as sewage was billed off water usage.
He should be compensated for losing sleep over it. And the water company should be fined. Why isn’t there a law for such fines? At the very least it breaches the implied covenant of good faith.
The City of Chicago Water Department is guilty of the same scam of overcharging residents. One resident had a $26,000 water bill and his property was boarded up and had no pipes.
Omg! So stressful! Poor guy! Thanks news guy for helping him get this problem resolved! These people need to do a better job servicing their customers and in doing their jobs!😡
This the problem with America, when the customer calls they're treated badly and probably even threatened to pay their bill and of course no adjustment and no one will listen. However then the media gets involved and then someone takes notice. Customers shouldn't have to rely on the media to get answers and companies need to have been customer service and if they know they have a problem really listen to fix the problem. This is terrible that an 84 year old man had to worry about an overcharge of over 24,000 dollars. That's terrible but companies and corporations have the power and ignore their customers...
He said his bills average to about three hundred a month. Most of that would be watering his lawn. Where I live, even if we want to pay for it, there are restrictions regarding when and how long you can water lawns.
I don't understand why it has to take public shame by a news outlet for any utilities contract to even acknowledge, review and correct their mistakes in any department of that business? Shame on them.
After my mil died in 2006 her house set empty while we worked through going through her things and legal change of title, etc so we left the utilities on so that a waterline wouldn't break and we could go in and out without being cold or hot but very minimum use. Imagine my surprise when I got a gas bill for $13,000 for one month house less than 900 square feet.. Oh my! Thankfully when I called in I got a older experienced customer service rep and she knew immediately what they had done since the gas meter had barely moved they rounded it up somehow I ask "did we pay for the whole neighborhoods gas bill? Glad they were able to get it fixed.. this was in Ohio. Anna In Ohio
same thing happened to my older sister years ago in Chicago burbs....she was using literally one light bulb and a flashlight for three months. they told her the meter must have circled all the way around and billed her well over a thousand bucks. too bad for her.....i hate these companies
I live in the Netherlands and worked for a period in my life as a meterman, I read gas, electricity and water meters. One day I visited a deaf man who had his watermeter replaced a year before and discovered that since that day the tap next to the meter had been running for a year, under the floor. The technician that replaced the meter had forgotten to close it! I reported it and got fired. But I had also told the elderly man to go to a social advocate, after all, they are supposed to do a last check to make sure they made no such mistake, and that guy could not hear the water running under his floor!
Regulatory commission needs contacted, they should be fined for this. The fact they were handing out huge bonuses clearly shows they were trying to compensate themselves by charging customers more.
I’m a veteran and I only have fridge stove and phones plugged in no tv or microwave nothing else is plugged in and I don’t use lights until 6pm and my bill is 384-400 monthly even when I go on vacation
I have multiple rentals in San Diego. Had most of them on a "held bill " status. Before that, I had one property that the 1st 3 bills were over $ 4000 each, which was more than 10 times normal. I stopped paying. they later took about $ 13,000 off and sent more. In the last few months, I finally got an accumulation of bills on other properties that were in a similar situation. Now ,finally, back to normal billing.
A long time ago I knew a retiring teacher. She said Michigan denied her request for her retirement. They had no records on her. She had saved ALL her payroll stubs, which showed her contribution to the retirement system. So she was finally able to retire.
Our HOA has 9 accounts, for some reason. They stopped billing half of them for no reason and our management company didn't tell us for over a year. I call them and they are suddenly able to calculate the bill and voila we owe over $100k. No way to verify that's correct. Their bills make no sense.
Seems to me the state needs a law to prohibit this kind of behaviour from utilities. If a bill is held more than a week over any kind of irregularity then the utility should have to right it off. If there is an issue then the person expected to pay the bill needs to know about it in a timely manner so it can be addressed appropriately.
I’ve been living at my current place with roommates for nearly two years now and my water bill has consistently been in the $45-50 range the entire time. So it would take nearly 600 years worth of water usage to even come close to $28.5k.
This happens everyday and in every city. We give them our tax dollars and they make our lives more difficult. You cannot argue or even fight them since your always wrong.
$200 a month for water? That’s why I’m glad I live in the country and have a water well I pay like 20 bucks a month for the electricity to run my pump.
Sometimes a problem with overly bureaucratic systems is the "not my job" effect. That is where strange/unique situations don't have many people with the necessary seniority to actually solve the problem -- I doubt the person I can reach in 10 minutes on the phone can adjust my bill down ~23k. Often it ends up in an infinite loop where it is like hot potato but everyone yells "not my job, not my problem!" and passes it off to the next person.
Not in San Diego but quite a number of years ago, my spouse and I conserved so much water that our municipality sent out someone to test our water that it wasn't tempered with. It wasn't
this seems to happen a lot. and people can't seem to get it fixed until the new gets involved. They need to start holding utilities responsible. People have a LOT of stress with the way things are right now..they don't need this crap.
With the high prices we pay, them doing their jobs correctly and on time is not asking that much. It was not a problem 20 years ago when you had to have a person read the meter, go back to the office and process the reading into a bill.
This just happened to us. In February there was a “meter read error” and they stopped billing us and said our account was frozen with no explanation. Then in September we got a bill for $1,200. The city said it was their error and they couldn’t “release the bills” until the end of August. Over the summer I sent four emails and two messages using the city water portal and they never once responded. I finally called this month (November) and they took over half an hour to research the matter and explain everything to me. I can see why many are in favor of privatization. And now they’re saying water costs will increase 9% next year.
Here's another thing that slipped through the cracks: The Independent Rates Oversight Committee, or IROC, has served as the official advisory body to the mayor and City Council on issues related to the Public Utilities Department’s operations since 2007. Yet the committee has met just twice this year - even as residents face rising water rates. inewsource had an article on this a week ago. There is more to this than just rising water rates. The city's infrastructure is facing a meltdown.
If they wanted $300/mo for water I’d have it turned off. Install a 1000 gallon tank and get my own water from the river 4 miles away. My water, sewer and garbage was $47/mo in 2008 now it’s $95/mo in 2025.
we dont really own our property. you would think he could have a well drilled on his lot!! i put in a deep well on my farm for $14,000.....unlimited water, un tainted by the city too.....
@ that figures. It’s another read to avoid California. I’m a retired Truck Driver and early in my career I started refusing loads to California. I won’t even set foot in there now.
Do you guys travel north? Our water was taken over by a neighboring county's PUD that raised the rates times three, without any improvements in service or quality. In western Washington state, where it rains a bit, I am paying as much as Mr. Mudurian, in San Diego, where they have to pipe the water in from the Colorado river and northern California. I don't think $100+/month is fair up here!!
That is nuts. Even the normal bill is outrageous. I’m in Atlantic Canada and my city water bill is about CA $150 and that’s every 3 months, so about $600 a year. Granted we’re a senior couple so a family would use more water. But my water use would be comparable to this guy.
I find it hard to believe the water company thinks 28 thousand for a single residence is somehow legit! They should be totally embarassed, and it should have been immediately corrected! No ifs, and, or buts!😮
Wow. Our water bill is actually from the "conservancy district" which handles water and sewage. We live in a protected wetland environment too. Our bill is only $35/month.
Utilities companies could care less about their customers. They claim their computer blue tooth system are flawless. Its always the customers are always at fault.
This is not an isolated case and it’s happening all over the country especially in Atlanta where there was no meter, but they said they used $30,000 worth of water in two months with the water turned off and they double down even though they proved, there could be no water used by them. They finally found out that they had a leak in their system half a mile down the road.
Because of this mess and the Covid drama, the water dept was not allowed to shut off or penalize for non payment. I refused to make ANY payment till the bills were sorted out.
Even if they stopped charging him for a year to two years the bill shouldn't have been $28k. The city was trying to take advantage of the elderly.
Can they put a lien on the home if you don't pay like is this a way to take a home from a senior citizen? Obviously it would have to hold water in court but could the senior citizen afford the proper representation for that to actually be found and proven to be erroneous. If the city won't play game without the news being the bigger kid on the playground? It all seems like a scheme to take ownership of his home.
Average yearly water bill $3,000??!!?? I'm so glad I live in COLORADO with my own well..
They didn't do anything until the news got involved..🤬🤬🤬🤬
@@tammathashade1334my Mississippi water bill is $42 every two months…and that includes 2x weekly garbage pickup.
@MamaMC4950 ,I 'm Lucky My Dude owns 5 acres in the mountains and he works for the trash company.. I don't pay for water or trash..
The saddest thing about these stories is that nothing is done to the bill until after the media gets involved. This bill could have been corrected immediately and everyone could move on. Instead it gets dragged out, which can affect the mental and physical health of a person due to the stress of such an outrageous bill.
This is exactly what I came to say. And to be told on two separate occasions he had to pay that. Absolutely ridiculous
And it is impossible to afford an attorney
Sounds more like an immediate audit needs to be conducted.
Lawsuit. Infliction of mental distress.
@Steve-mk6rq Lawsuits won't do anything. You financially and criminally hold the people responsible. That'll stop all their idiocy.
This water department knows damn well that this man did not use $ 28,000.00 in service. They are just being abusive and pricky.
Agree. What an embarrassment for that department. Now everyone across the nation is ridiculing that utility dept for their heartless and inhumane abuse of an elderly man.
Their customer service people have probably been told to tell everyone the same thing: Yes, you owe that much. Those guidelines don't account for obvious mistakes. This call should have been escalated to someone with brains and authority to fix the issue.
If they stop sending bills willfully then the water should be considered a gift because they didn’t want payment.
Never.
$300 a month for water is robbery. Must be run by the same people that run the power company. Both are crooks!
Utilities and resources should not be privately owned and controlled. But at least they are somewhat regulated. At least for now.
@@DarqJestor Water company is typically government owned. Gas and electric are private, but in California the company managing the pipes or wires is appointed by the government and cannot sell gas or power. The companies selling gas or power are private, and they pay a transport fee to use those pipes or wires. This one is entirely on the government.
@@DarqJestor I live in PA all my 63 yrs and never once was the water supplied by a govt entity, it was always a private supplier, which is generally run far better than any govt entity. Govt = waste and inefficiency.
@DarqJestor PG&E is regulated, and we have had rate increases of 56% in 3 years and 110% in 10 years. Regulators have been paid off by the power company.
Yeah, but remember, this area often gets no rain at all for 9 months...obviously, this was snafu....i used to live in a big city and had a big garden. I was double charged for water, as sewage was billed off water usage.
You made a large institution own up to one of it's problems. He said it the best ! Thank you Team 10 for helping this honorable veteran.
Still isn't right!
He quit watering long enough for most of his yard to die but still ended up paying for "average usage"
water company should be forced to lay sod for him
Great reporting and helping out our Seniors ❤
im single lol
It should be illegal to stop sending bills! Ridiculous
agreed!! no bill, no payment required!!
It's harrasment
Thank God for Team 10 Investigates
How completely sad to do that to Anyone... MUCH LESS an elderly person. Terrified the old man for no reason.
He should be compensated for losing sleep over it. And the water company should be fined. Why isn’t there a law for such fines? At the very least it breaches the implied covenant of good faith.
The City of Chicago Water Department is guilty of the same scam of overcharging residents. One resident had a $26,000 water bill and his property was boarded up and had no pipes.
Insane
Often happens if pipe to house from street breaks and water spills out of pipe never reaches the house or property.
It didn't even cost me 28k to have a well drilled.
Now this is BS, why does it have to take you a news station to fix this?
Exactly
not really gov't walks on individuals all the time, until exposed to the public, this is why most major news stations have expose' segments
because thats what media power does it forces pressure
Absolutely shameful actions by the water company.
They're trying to replace money that they mismanaged
Omg! So stressful! Poor guy! Thanks news guy for helping him get this problem resolved! These people need to do a better job servicing their customers and in doing their jobs!😡
This the problem with America, when the customer calls they're treated badly and probably even threatened to pay their bill and of course no adjustment and no one will listen. However then the media gets involved and then someone takes notice. Customers shouldn't have to rely on the media to get answers and companies need to have been customer service and if they know they have a problem really listen to fix the problem. This is terrible that an 84 year old man had to worry about an overcharge of over 24,000 dollars. That's terrible but companies and corporations have the power and ignore their customers...
That same problem is happening in areas of LA County too - - Ive been hearing complaints for years
3000 dollars for water for a year? Good grief
He said his bills average to about three hundred a month. Most of that would be watering his lawn.
Where I live, even if we want to pay for it, there are restrictions regarding when and how long you can water lawns.
@ glad I don’t live in California!
Wow. Anything to try and put a lien on your house .
I don't understand why it has to take public shame by a news outlet for any utilities contract to even acknowledge, review and correct their mistakes in any department of that business? Shame on them.
After my mil died in 2006 her house set empty while we worked through going through her things and legal change of title, etc so we left the utilities on so that a waterline wouldn't break and we could go in and out without being cold or hot but very minimum use. Imagine my surprise when I got a gas bill for $13,000 for one month house less than 900 square feet.. Oh my! Thankfully when I called in I got a older experienced customer service rep and she knew immediately what they had done since the gas meter had barely moved they rounded it up somehow I ask "did we pay for the whole neighborhoods gas bill? Glad they were able to get it fixed.. this was in Ohio. Anna In Ohio
same thing happened to my older sister years ago in Chicago burbs....she was using literally one light bulb and a flashlight for three months. they told her the meter must have circled all the way around and billed her well over a thousand bucks. too bad for her.....i hate these companies
Typical these "mistakes" get fixed only AFTER they appear in the news.
They should waive his bill for the heartache and yard damage!
I hope they fired the incompetent idiots responsible.
Wait until code enforcement tickets him for an unkempt front yard.
Held bill for unusual water usage…then send a technician to investigate, so water isn’t being wasted, like their brain cells
200 to 300$ for WATER???😮
Check your meter on a regular basis. Leaks do spring up. But this is crazy.
I live in the Netherlands and worked for a period in my life as a meterman, I read gas, electricity and water meters. One day I visited a deaf man who had his watermeter replaced a year before and discovered that since that day the tap next to the meter had been running for a year, under the floor.
The technician that replaced the meter had forgotten to close it! I reported it and got fired. But I had also told the elderly man to go to a social advocate, after all, they are supposed to do a last check to make sure they made no such mistake, and that guy could not hear the water running under his floor!
That's insane.
what'd insane is that people think billions of people living into there 80s around the world at the same time we are in population overshoot
@didforlove the city screwed up a guy water bill by 25,000, and you think his age has something to do with it?
@ yea that’s what I’m saying
@@didforlove that's an odd thing to take away from the story.
@@didforlove You must really enjoy being stupid.
...and we wonder why bullying is at an epidemic everywhere, including schools.
California is the most predatory state there is
commiefornia
Regulatory commission needs contacted, they should be fined for this. The fact they were handing out huge bonuses clearly shows they were trying to compensate themselves by charging customers more.
Since when is $3000 a year, a "normal" water utility bill? Thats crazy. Who the hell can afford that? Our country is irreparably broken.
We need to protect seniors aginst this this is water God giving water
Criminals do things like this, and we can't do anything else but fight in court.. right?😂
I really get angry when they insist its correct until the news gets involved.
I’m a veteran and I only have fridge stove and phones plugged in no tv or microwave nothing else is plugged in and I don’t use lights until 6pm and my bill is 384-400 monthly even when I go on vacation
Do you have electric heat and water heater?
@@windturbinesyndrome1067 no I don’t
3:10 the council should force the issue and give an ultimatum - present a solution or be fired.
That is awesome news. Thank you for getting under the crawl of a big company, gov't entity or not. You guys are the best!
There needs to Bebe some kind of law that protects the public from the actions of these companies.
I have multiple rentals in San Diego. Had most of them on a "held bill " status.
Before that, I had one property that the 1st 3 bills were over $ 4000 each, which was more than 10 times normal. I stopped paying. they later took about $ 13,000 off and sent more.
In the last few months, I finally got an accumulation of bills on other properties that were in a similar situation. Now ,finally, back to normal billing.
Someone is paying someone elses bills stealing funds
Usually family members of the people working for the city getting their bills paid 😂
Yes it's been a thought of mine too.
A long time ago I knew a retiring teacher. She said Michigan denied her request for her retirement. They had no records on her.
She had saved ALL her payroll stubs, which showed her contribution to the retirement system. So she was finally able to retire.
Our HOA has 9 accounts, for some reason. They stopped billing half of them for no reason and our management company didn't tell us for over a year. I call them and they are suddenly able to calculate the bill and voila we owe over $100k. No way to verify that's correct. Their bills make no sense.
Should be 100% get their bill on time.
Seems to me the state needs a law to prohibit this kind of behaviour from utilities. If a bill is held more than a week over any kind of irregularity then the utility should have to right it off. If there is an issue then the person expected to pay the bill needs to know about it in a timely manner so it can be addressed appropriately.
I’ve been living at my current place with roommates for nearly two years now and my water bill has consistently been in the $45-50 range the entire time. So it would take nearly 600 years worth of water usage to even come close to $28.5k.
:) you stopped your math too soon....$50 per month is $600 per year, $30000 divided by 600 is 50 years..... :)
I would love to know what information they looked at that made them come to a $28k bill.
This happens everyday and in every city. We give them our tax dollars and they make our lives more difficult. You cannot argue or even fight them since your always wrong.
That is because they are evil and corrupt. You know it. Everyone does.
I’d sue them anyway for his mental health
Shameful
28,500??? That's like 5 years of water!
$475 a month for water 😢
9.5 years to be exact.....he said his normal average was 250
Finally they fested up. They should also repair his lawn.
$200 a month for water? That’s why I’m glad I live in the country and have a water well I pay like 20 bucks a month for the electricity to run my pump.
In my town you get ONE large water bill abatement per ownership of house. Glad you were able to help.
This is going to kill the poor old man
But he is alive and well. Air Force veteran and with alot of fight left in him.
They got large raises??? Fire these folks and hire new ones for a lot less!!!
Sometimes a problem with overly bureaucratic systems is the "not my job" effect. That is where strange/unique situations don't have many people with the necessary seniority to actually solve the problem -- I doubt the person I can reach in 10 minutes on the phone can adjust my bill down ~23k. Often it ends up in an infinite loop where it is like hot potato but everyone yells "not my job, not my problem!" and passes it off to the next person.
Not in San Diego but quite a number of years ago, my spouse and I conserved so much water that our municipality sent out someone to test our water that it wasn't tempered with. It wasn't
That's ridiculous!
this seems to happen a lot. and people can't seem to get it fixed until the new gets involved. They need to start holding utilities responsible. People have a LOT of stress with the way things are right now..they don't need this crap.
Whomever the customer service agent is that acted that way should be fired.
With the high prices we pay, them doing their jobs correctly and on time is not asking that much. It was not a problem 20 years ago when you had to have a person read the meter, go back to the office and process the reading into a bill.
I haven’t gotten a water bill in the past year plus.
Hope you’re saving the money that’s going to come due.
Better check on that.....soon!
best get prepared for the next bill. put the news reporter on speed dial!
@@palehorse4447 And you haven't bothered to call about it?
This just happened to us. In February there was a “meter read error” and they stopped billing us and said our account was frozen with no explanation. Then in September we got a bill for $1,200. The city said it was their error and they couldn’t “release the bills” until the end of August. Over the summer I sent four emails and two messages using the city water portal and they never once responded. I finally called this month (November) and they took over half an hour to research the matter and explain everything to me. I can see why many are in favor of privatization. And now they’re saying water costs will increase 9% next year.
Here's another thing that slipped through the cracks: The Independent Rates Oversight Committee, or IROC, has served as the official advisory body to the mayor and City Council on issues related to the Public Utilities Department’s operations since 2007. Yet the committee has met just twice this year - even as residents face rising water rates.
inewsource had an article on this a week ago.
There is more to this than just rising water rates. The city's infrastructure is facing a meltdown.
If they wanted $300/mo for water I’d have it turned off. Install a 1000 gallon tank and get my own water from the river 4 miles away. My water, sewer and garbage was
$47/mo in 2008 now it’s $95/mo in 2025.
we dont really own our property. you would think he could have a well drilled on his lot!! i put in a deep well on my farm for $14,000.....unlimited water, un tainted by the city too.....
In San Diego?
@@alitloff I live in Eastern WA State.
@@billbradley2480 the guy in the video lives in San Diego. Different animal ‘for, like sure, dude’.
He only called twice . It's not a senior thing. I would have been on that phone everyday.
Should have only called once. End of story.
@TerrenceSanders-c1s . You are wrong . There are many channels to go through
So he normally pays about $250 a month for water?!?!? That's "normal"???? 😱
That’s outrageous. I’m paying $95/mo for water sewer and garbage.
In SoCal? Not unusual
@ that figures. It’s another read to avoid California. I’m a retired Truck Driver and early in my career I started refusing loads to California. I won’t even set foot in there now.
heck yeah!!!! I LOVE JOURNALISM!!!!!!!!!!! KEEP YO Foot on their backs, team 10. NEVER LET UP EAT THE RICH
Good job. Absolutley Crippling.
THANK YOU ❤
Thanks for sharing!
Right. Thank you for your service.🙄💩
who licked the envelope and sent it out????????????????
Do you guys travel north?
Our water was taken over by a neighboring county's PUD that raised the rates times three, without any improvements in service or quality.
In western Washington state, where it rains a bit, I am paying as much as Mr. Mudurian, in San Diego, where they have to pipe the water in from the Colorado river and northern California.
I don't think $100+/month is fair up here!!
they withhold his bills and then charge him for not paying the bills he didnt receive, criminal
That is nuts. Even the normal bill is outrageous. I’m in Atlantic Canada and my city water bill is about CA $150 and that’s every 3 months, so about $600 a year. Granted we’re a senior couple so a family would use more water. But my water use would be comparable to this guy.
I find it hard to believe the water company thinks 28 thousand for a single residence is somehow legit!
They should be totally embarassed, and it should have been immediately corrected! No ifs, and, or buts!😮
Wow. Our water bill is actually from the "conservancy district" which handles water and sewage. We live in a protected wetland environment too. Our bill is only $35/month.
Mismanagement!
Something very fishy about that billing department! Need more investigation.
Water department jackasses.
Sue for charging for false charges and excessive fees. Then also sue for your lawyer fees.
Why they have to wait for the news tell them its wrong ,surely did not do their job fire those people lazy to do their jobs problem solve😂😂😂😂😂
Utilities companies could care less about their customers. They claim their computer blue tooth system are flawless. Its always the customers are always at fault.
This is not an isolated case and it’s happening all over the country especially in Atlanta where there was no meter, but they said they used $30,000 worth of water in two months with the water turned off and they double down even though they proved, there could be no water used by them. They finally found out that they had a leak in their system half a mile down the road.
Water and electricity should be a RIGHT not health care .
Shame of that water company! Ripping off people with ridiculous amounts on their bills!!!
Insider water theft.
Fired? Arrested? Mayor impeached?
Because of this mess and the Covid drama, the water dept was not allowed to shut off or penalize for non payment. I refused to make ANY payment till the bills were sorted out.
Keep Pressing!
That water depth needs to get it together
This is insane! That greedy company says “it was a mistake!” It would have continued if the TV Station didn’t get involved js
So who is getting fired
Mine is only about $50. How much water would you have to use in order to justify $28k?