Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/30/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

  
  

  Better Business Bureau:

  
  

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  Regards,
  

  
  

  
  

  *** ******

  
  

  
  

  
  

   

  it is right for this company to charge me a fee for paying my bill. I cannot trust to US Mail to get their check to them. I asked them to waive the fee and they would not. I don’t think this is right.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/09/2024

  BBB of Northeast Florida & Southeast
  Atlantic
  4417 Beach Blvd., Suite 202
  Jacksonville, FL 32207
  
  RE: BBB Complaint ID ********
  
  
  Dear *******,
  
  We wanted to take the opportunity to provide
  a reply regarding the complaint received from Mr. *** ****** of *** *******
  **** in our ***** service area.
  
  We had the opportunity to speak with Mr. ******
  regarding his complaint in having to pay a $1.99 payment processing fee for
  credit/debit card payments.
  
  The following is an explanation of the customer’s
  concerns for reference as part of this reply:
  In April 2023 we acquired the ******** *****
  ******** (***) ***** system. Mr. ****** was previously billed on an annual
  basis by ***, and he was accustomed to paying his bill by check or in-person. He
  recently tried to make a payment to Utilities, Inc. of Georgia with a
  credit/debit card and was told he would be assessed a convenience fee for the credit/debit
  card transaction. This fee is charged by our vendor that processes these types
  of payments. This fee is passed on to the customer. It is visible to the
  customer when paying by credit/debit card. We understand this is a new fee for
  Mr. ****** and as an act of good faith we are going to credit a $1.99 to his
  account. We have also passed on the customer’s feedback to our team.
  
  In addition, we discussed other payment
  options with the customer. The customer expressed that he is upset with the
  mail time in GA and the fact that we don’t offer a location to pay in-person.
  We will take the customer’s feedback to the team and explore the possibility of
  an in-person payment location. The customer chose to send in a check.
  
  We appreciate the opportunity to respond and
  to credit back $1.99 to the customer’s account. If Mr. ****** has any questions
  I can be reached at ***** ********.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  ******* *** ****
  President, Utilities, Inc. of Georgia

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/23/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Utilities, Inc. of Georgia took over water services for our subdivision in late 2022 and
  promised water bill early in March 2024.
  That date has long since passed.
  I have called 5 or 6 times and still have not received a water bill.
  Service support agent always promises me that the bill will go out within 3 to 5 business days and promises to contact me back when the bill will be issued.
  That has never happened.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/02/2024

  BBB of Northeast Florida & Southeast
  Atlantic
  4417 Beach Blvd., Suite 202
  Jacksonville, FL 32207
  
  RE: BBB Complaint ID ********
  
  
  Dear ********
  
  We wanted to take the opportunity to provide
  a reply regarding the complaint received from Mr. ******* **** of ** **** ***l
  **. in our water service area.
  
  We have left a couple of messages with Mr. ****
  in hopes to speak with him regarding the challenges he experienced while
  attempting to obtain his monthly water bills.
  
  The following is an explanation of the customer
  service issues for reference as part of this reply: In April 2023 we acquired
  the American Water Services (AWS) water system. Mr. **** was previously billed
  on an annual basis by AWS. He was due to be transitioned to monthly billing starting
  in February of 2024. This change in billing was communicated in May of 2023 via
  a welcome letter. In January his meter was read and expected to be billed in
  February.  The meter that was installed
  at his residence was old and at end of life. 
  It prevented any reads from electronically being submitted into our
  billing system.  His meter was replaced
  on 3/29/24. There continued to be challenges with configuration of the new
  meter.  The configuration of the new
  meter into the billing system was fixed on 4/29/24.  His new bill and any catch-up bills are ready
  for him to review on his account.
  
  As an act in good faith, we are going to
  offer a credit of one month of water service to Mr. ****.  If Mr. **** has any questions I can be
  reached at ***** *********
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  ******* *** ****
  ********** Utilities, Inc. of Georgia

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/28/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

  
  

  Better Business Bureau:

  
  

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  Regards,
  

  
  

  
  

  **** *******

  
  

  
  

  
  

   

  the letter was sent again 7 days later. This letter provided full detail on our position. The letter advised them our records show that 100% of all invoices from the previous provider were paid in full, including all overage charges. The invoices were paid on time every month for the prior 2-1/2 years. . This letter was sent to them twice. Again, no response was received to these letters that were sent.
  
  There has been no answer to the calculations for this charge, no meter readings provided, and our position is that if they cannot substantiate the charge on the invoice by providing our meter readings showing usage and alleged overage, the charge is not legitimate.
  
  Requesting a full credit on of the overage charge of $34.26.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/06/2023

   BBB Complaint ID ********
  
  
  Dear ********
  
  We wanted to take the opportunity to provide
  a reply regarding the complaint received from Mr. **** ******* of **** *****
  ******** ***** in our water service area.
  
  We have spoken with Mr. ******* regarding the
  challenges he experienced while attempting to obtain an explanation for the
  $34.36 customer overage adjustment that was applied to his 7/10/23 bill.
  
  The following is an explanation of
  the charges for reference as part of this reply: In April 2023 we acquired the
  American Water Services (AWS) water system. To transition customers from AWS to
  Utilities Inc. of *******, we received end meter reads from AWS. Mr. *********
  end read was ****** on 4/6/2023 and is reflected on his last statement from AWS.
  We read his meter for the first time on 6/3/2023 and obtained a read of 785040.
  This totaled 11,060 gallons used for the almost two-month billing period. The first 1,500 gallons of monthly
  water usage is included in the base facility charges. For two months this
  equates to 3,000 gallons in base facility charges and included
  8,060 at $4.25 per thousand gallons which equals the $34.26 that he was charged
  for the customer overage adjustment.
  
  We were able to provide the explanation above
  for how the $34.26 charge was calculated. We also apologized to Mr. ******* for
  the confusion with our previous responses as well as for the time it has taken.
  
  As an act in good faith, we removed the
  $34.26 charge from his account.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *** ************** *
  ********* **** ** *******
  
  *** *******
  ******** ** ***** *********** ********** **** ** *******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/28/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  
  
  

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

  
  

   Complaint: ********

  
  

  I am rejecting this response because:

  I see Ms. *** **** chose not to address the fact that when an abnormally high water usage bill first occurred in June, the company elected to Not send me a bill for that month and their customer service rep stated that they wanted to see if the trend continues during the next month. Unsavory, unheard of practice in the business world. Also, I cannot fathom why Ms. *** **** believes that the three month average usage is SIMILAR to historical usage when June and July 's bill are both twice the amount of normal use and their own website reflects 74% more usage than the previous year. As for them applying my deposit without my knowledge or consent, again unsavory practice based on their handling of this situation in general. Not only did they tarry in getting a representative to come to my house to check the meter and determine there are no leaks at my house, they also took about a month to respond to the BBB complaint. I would add a screen shot from their website confirming my usage is as stated above, but this system is not allowing me to do that.

  
  

  Regards,

  
  

  ****** *****

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  23 and complained that no one had been out to check meter yet. The rep apologized and stated they would escalate the repair request and the repair tech would be at my house by the end of the day. By 07/27/23 10am, noone from Utilities Inc has reported to my house. I called them again to complain and request resolution to the service request. The rep asked me to hold them came back on the line and advised me that the area Manager for my area was not at work and that they were escalating this to the Area Managers Supervisor to handle. It is now 6:08 pm. And I still have not heard from or seen any rep from Utilities Inc at my house.
  The rep I spoke with on 07/17/23 told me not to worry about the June Bill as they had taken my deposit (without my prior knowledge or approval) and had applied it to my bill.
  Unethical manner of doing business from failure to bill or notify one month, not sending a service tech to check the potentially faulty meter and applying deposit without consent!

  Business Response

  Date: 08/18/2023

  BBB of Northeast Florida &
  Southeast Atlantic
  4417 Beach Blvd., Suite 202
  Jacksonville, FL 32207
  
  RE: BBB Complaint ID ********
  
  
  Dear ********
  
  We wanted to take the opportunity
  to provide a reply regarding the complaint received from Mr. ****** ***** of
  *** ********* ** in our water service area.
  
  We regret the unsatisfactory
  experience Mr. ***** had with our company. We work hard to maintain good
  relationships with our customers and to deliver excellent service. We
  acknowledge that our team took longer than normal to reply to Mr. ******
  request. We apologize for this delay. Our operations manager will be reaching
  out to Mr. ***** personally to speak about this matter.
  
  Regarding the billing concern from
  Mr. ****** we determined that the higher-than-normal bills were related to the
  timing of meter reads collected and billed for May and June. The meter reading
  timing was impacted by operations personnel being out on PTO which required our
  team to shift meter reading timing.  
  
  Our team has investigated Mr.
  ****** account and determined there are no leaks at his location. We also determined
  the current meter read is correct. Further review indicates his 3-month average
  bill is similar to his previous billings. Regarding the deposit being credited to
  his account; this is our routine policy and is a process that happens
  automatically through our software. This indicates the good payment record of
  Mr. ***** and is purely coincidental that it took place during this time period.
  
  Again, we apologize for the delay
  in our response to Mr. ****** inquiries.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  ******* *** ****
  President, Utilities, Inc. of
  Georgia

  Business Response

  Date: 08/31/2023

  BBB of Northeast Florida &
  Southeast Atlantic
  4417 Beach Blvd., Suite 202
  Jacksonville, FL 32207
  
  RE: BBB Complaint ID ********
  
  Dear ********
  
  I wanted to take the opportunity
  to provide a follow-up reply regarding the complaint received from Mr. ******
  ***** of *** ********* ** in our water service area.
  
  We would like to reiterate how
  regretful we are about Mr. ****** experience with us as his water provider. We
  strive to provide good customer service and build relationships with our
  customers so in the event a customer has an unpleasant experience we can work
  through it.  I did reach out to Mr. *****
  several times in hopes that I could answer his concerns and take the
  opportunity to learn from what he had to say. 
  I unfortunately could not reach him. 
  I would offer for him to call me when he is available at (**** *********
  
  I acknowledge that our team took
  longer than normal to reply to Mr. ****** request.  Our normal procedures for replying to
  customers is not supposed to be that long. 
  We did however want to make sure we researched his account and met with
  our internal teams, in the field and in the office to make sure we all
  understood what happened, I am truly sorry if Mr. ***** felt his concerns were
  not addressed timely.
  
  In our first letter we used the
  example of a three-month average, I wanted to make sure that we didn’t confuse
  the situation and imply that further research had not been done to review Mr.
  ****** account.  I can see there was
  significant usage on his account for June and July, and I also see that his May
  usage was lower than normal.  A review of
  account history does show that June and July are larger usage months on his
  account.  The last time there was
  significant usage was in February of 2022.  With that said, we have confirmed his meter
  reads are accurate and would be happy to come out again to check his meter if
  there is still a concern on meter reading accuracy.
  
  I did want to explain our high
  usage process and what didn’t go right for Mr. *****.  When we read our meters and a read comes in
  triggering a high usage alert, the bill for the customer is pulled and a field
  activity is generated for the field staff to investigate.  This process should take a week or so, once
  the meter read is reverified.  If the
  meter read comes back as correct the bill is sent out as originally generated,
  causing a delay in the customer’s bill by the week or so.  In this case our staffing constraints delayed
  the process. I am truly sorry that it created an inconvenience and upset Mr.
  *****.
  
  Due to the delay of the bill not
  being issued timely, Mr. ****** refund was processed a month later than it
  should have been.  Our billing system
  automatically after the two years of good payment history applies the refund to
  the next generated bill.  I do understand
  Mr. ****** concern and would request any suggestions on improved communication
  to our customers on how a deposit on their account is handled, time frame and when
  it will be returned.
  
  I do apologize to Mr. ***** for
  his experience with us and I hope that he will give me the opportunity to
  discuss anything further with him.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  ******* *** ****
  President, Water Service Company
  of Georgia