ComplaintsforPace Water System, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Pace Water turned off my service for non payment without providing the cut off time for payment 5 minutes before the close of business on Friday afternoon August 11, 2023. They did not provide any instructions for cutoff times for payments. The date the service would be disconnected. The service was terminated with no prior issues on August 16th at 1:54pm. The payment was made in full for the account balance at 2:16pm. Pace water service refused same day reconnection even though their website states same day reconnection after 2pm has a 40.00 fee. When contacting them numerous times. Every representative disconnected the call without warning and refused to acknowledge that there are people inside the home with medical requirements to water. No former documents have been provided to Pace Water for this and at no time a process provided for such situations or any future situations and they refused to acknowledge any process for completing such requests. Pace water states that payments are required by 11am in order to prevent disconnection, however this also is not stated on their website or any documents that have been sent. Additionally refused to honor what their website states regarding reconnection. There is no dispute of the amount of the bill and had we known the date of service the services would be terminated or any such arrangements that could be set up, this situation could have been avoided. I request that you also obtain recordings of the many calls where you can hear the state of panic through anxiety attacks repeatedly while trying to explain the dire situation they caused unnecessarily as well at their representative telling me go to the ER. The company lacks professionalism and violates their own guidelines listed on their website and the lack of information that is provided on their website. Customer number 69342

  Business response

  08/17/2023

  PWS's delinquent account cutoff procedures do not cut off a member's account until they have failed to pay two months' bills and are in process of being billed for a third month.  The second month's bill clearly states " Your account has a past due amount of $X.  Your service will be disconnected and a $75 delinquent fee will apply if full amount is not paid by due date."  The due date is listed on the bill as the 10th of the month.  A courtesy callout was performed on August 11th notifying members of the late status and the pending delinquent turnoff to those with a current working phone number.  Additionally, delinquent cutoffs did not occur until the 16th of the month. A same day reconnection is offered for an additional $40 fee if the account is paid in full.  To date the account still is not paid in full as there is still an outstanding balance of the $75 delinquent fee.  While we are apologetic to the disruption of the member's service, PWS provides multiple methods to ensure bills are paid on time to avoid disruption of service.  Every member who is disconnected for a delinquent account has a story or issue as to their situation.  PWS can not place one members' situation above anothers.   

• Initial Complaint

  12/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was recent billed by Pace Water for 10/04/2022 to 11/04/2022 with an amount of $431.58. Said I used 76,960 gallons of water. My highest usage was dated back to May 2022 with using 7,767 gallons of water. And that was with running water to the house next door for renovations on top of living in a house of 4. I have had a toilet running for about 4 months now and my highest bill was back in May at $48.34. For my bill to just randomly go up $400 does not make since. I have reached out to the community and there have been others that came forward saying that their meter was running and it was faulted by Pace Water Systems and others that had the same issues I'm currently having. I have 5 people including myself in my house and it's been that way since about August and my bill was always around $30. I cannot make since of this and I will be having an extremely high bill next moth too because Pace Water does not notify their customers when their meter is running noticably more than usual. I'm not the only person having these problems and it us the only water company in Pace so we have no choice but to stay with a company that repeatedly causes problems with their customers. Something not right within this company and their management.

  Business response

  12/15/2022

  Ms. ******* did have a leak that begin in October and she noticed it with a high November bill.  When she called and it was verified that she had continuous usage, she fixed her leaking toilet. In September it was announced on our website that all members had the ability to receive alerts and monitor their usage via an app on their phone.  Additionally, the November bills included a flyer that described the same ability.  All of our members have the ability to monitor their usage and receive alerts of leaks.  The water system does not monitor accounts for continuous usage due to this member capability.  

• Initial Complaint

  08/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 8/17 at 9am cst I paid my water bill in full. Bill was late due family has been sick with covid and slipped my mind. 8/17 1030am cst water company turned off water. Spoke to workers and told them Bill was paid and offered to show proof. Was told I had to call office. After many attempts with no answer finally got through and was told that I WAS CALLED THE DAY PRIOR TO ALERT OF DISCONNECTION. I never received a call and customer service rep then said they didn't have a phone number on file? I pay through their app and have my phone number listed on there. I have asked for the $70 reconnection fee to be waived due to lack of ability to alert me with information in their system and the fact that I have never in 15 years required a reconnection. This company continues to be quick to turn of services for a min amount of payment due to charge a fee greater than what services are offered.

  Business response

  08/24/2022

  Pace Water System's policy is to turn off a member's service if the member has not paid their bill for two consecutive months. Bills are due on the 10th of the month. Mr. ******* last payment was June 7th. He had a monthly bill due on July 10th and another due on August 10th that was not paid. On the day of delinquent cutoffs, all services that have not been paid in full by the opening of the office that day are accessed a delinquent fee and turned off. The fact that Mr. ***** paid the bill in the time frame between the official opening and the service repair technician making it to his house is not relevant. PWS asks all members to update their phone numbers yearly to provide them with account information and courtesy phone calls regarding delinquent accounts. While Mr. ***** is correct in that he has not been turned off for nonpayment before, he is routinely late in his payments and as we frequently see, those that get behind in making their monthly payments typically wind up being an extra day late and getting turned off occasionally.

  Customer response

  08/24/2022

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  The mission of Pace Water System is to provide our member owners with dependable and quality customer service in water, wastewater, and reclaim water. We are committed to leveraging technological advancements in our industry to ensure our community continues to receive dependable, great tasting, and the healthiest water possible.
  
  Above is the mission statent of this company. My phone number has been updated online from the same website I apparently pay late "frequently". I have noticed the due date is the 10th now. I had it as the 20th on my reminder I set who knows how many years ago. Has it been the 10th for 14 years?
  
  You have failed on the "customer service" as well as "technical advancements" due to the fact your systems inability to use the phone number that was updated. Our family was all sick with covid the month in question and the bill did slip our mind. Quality customer service would have been to call/email anything with a reminder and/or maybe a one time reconnection fee waiver. Instead when I speak to crew who just shut it off with proof in hand of payment. I get attitude and they get same in return. Then when I call I receive and give attitude right back. After reading your comments that seems to be the culture of Pace Water. Just to me and to many of your customers your rigid stance leaves any sort of customer service far behind.
  
  I will collect my pennies and bring them to you on the 10th 10min before closing. I want to ensure you get every penny because that is whats important here.

  Business response

  08/25/2022

  The online payment processor is a third-party payment system that only updates the billing/payment amounts to the account number. Any changes to phone numbers on that site are not transferred to PWS's billing system. We are in the process of a billing software change that will include a customer portal allowing customers to update information such as their phone number that will be incorporated into the billing system. We hope this will improve the customer service experience for you and all of our members.
  
  With the progression to a fixed-base meter reading system, all billing due dates were moved to the 10th. This has been in place for over three years now.
  
  

  Customer response

  08/25/2022

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  I did not see a proposed resolution just an explanation of their systems inability to communicate and blame a third party system they have in place. A high percentage of customers do not even receive paper bills. Hence the reason I just go to the website and pay whats due, Update my information there with the expectation that is your site.

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