1st Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against The City of Cleveland's Division Of Water

I wonder if this will get Mayor Jackson's attention;

"Angry in Shaker", someone who has been following this site, just informed all of us, via a comment, that a Class Action Lawsuit has been filed against the Cleveland Division Of Water.

Read it below;

"For your information, a class action lawsuit was filed against the water department on June 16,2009 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Case no.09 695860, Judge Brendan J. Sheehan. It asks that the water department be required to establish rules concerning the regular reading of meters and a regular schedule for the delivery of bills. Currently, there are no such rules and the water department is not even regulated by any State agency."

Is this the first you have heard about this?

Comments

[Angry in North Olmsted]

Yesterday, a Cleveland Division of Water (CDW) technician arrived at my home. After he read the outside and inside meters, he had this really concerned look on his face. He then informed me that the meter outside was reading differently than the meter on the inside. Of course, neither reading even remotely reflected the "estimate" on my current bill, and my quick calculation based on his comments and the amount of time we've been living in the house, leads me to believe the adjusted bill will be over $9000.

Like many others, I pay all of my bills on-line, including all the utitilies --- EXCEPT water (because their website is way behind the times). As such, I can go on to any of the sites, and request a historical record anytime - something I will need to do in order to ascertain when they've actually "read" versus "estimated" the bill. Given some of the comments, I don't feel comfortable they will be able to provide this information.

I haven't yet called Customer Service, but I can't believe that they can just assign a value of what I owe without proof that we've actually consumed the water.

I think a reasonable approach is as follows:
-- monitor ACTUAL usage over time, and develop an ACTUAL baseline for usage
-- determine the "read" versus "actual" bills and adjust for $$ already paid
-- use a fair and reasonable rate for the difference, not just today's rate

This approach will ensure that the CDW is not gouged in the process (even it's their fault). It is also fair to the Consumer, since the adjusted bill is based on ACTUAL usage.

Anyway, I would be interested in joining the Class Action Lawsuit.

[Joel Libava]

James,
Way to go...

I am glad you finally got your erroneous water bill fixed!

JL

[James Moran]

I just got my revised bill it was $1663 now down to $275

YAHOO

[Teresa]

Hi! I just discover that my parents are being charged for over $5000 worth of water and sewage on a building that's been vacant (but leaking according to the Water District). Can anyone help me find help to rectify this?

[df]

got my sewer yesterday 102 dollars, now lets see what happens after they install my new meter on Aug 8th.

[Joel Libava]

Good for you!

My revised bill came, and the sewer bill was delivered the next day.

YAHOO!

JL

[df]

I got my revised water bill yesterday 97 dollars, down from 881 dollars. still no sewer bill though.

[Lila Hanft]

We're still waiting for a promised hearing with the Water Review Board .... It's going on 2 months and we aren't even on their schedule yet ...

[df]

Let me know how it works out for you. I can't believe these people

[JL]

I just tried to call the customer service line. A 23 minute wait.

Now, that's service!

JL

[JL]

Hi,
About the same. Now they are saying we owe $1120 total. I am not sure if that is for 2 quarters or 3 quarters. Still wrong. By a lot!

JL

[df]

Hi JL
How bad was the revised bill compared to what you usually pay?
I normally pay about 65 every 3 months

[JL]

Hi df,

I just received a "revised" water bill, also.

I don't understand it. Looks like the numbers were drawn out of a hat. And, it's still way out of line!

JL

[df]

I just got my water bill today 7/7/09. 881 dollars and 274 sewer bill. called water department and was on hold for 15 minutes. They told me to ignore bill and they will send out revised bill.