Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Soos Creek Water Department's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Soos Creek Water Department

  14616 SE 192nd St Renton, WA 98058

• 

  Soos Creek Water Department

  14616 SE 192nd St Renton, WA 98058-9420

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:03/09/2025

  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.

  Once again **** creek keep raising my bill with no explanation when in fact I use less and less water. Why?

  Business Response

  Date: 03/12/2025

  March 11, 2025
  
  Better Business Bureau
  PO ******
  ********************
  RE: Complaint ID ********
  
  Dear BBB Resolutions Specialist,
  
  We appreciate the Better Business Bureau contacting us regarding a complaint from ****** *******, account ***********, service address ****************************

  It is unfortunate that Mr. ******* did not contact **** Creek Water and Sewer District directly regarding his concerns about the increase in his  water and sewer bills.We welcome the opportunity to speak directly with our customers and would gladly discuss his concerns and answer any questions he has if he chooses to contact the District.

  Mr. ******* mentions in his complaint that despite using less and less water, his water and sewer bill has increased.
  

  Mr. ********* water consumption is at the very low end of the Districts 1-10 CCF usage tier 1, and he continually keeps his consumption charge within this lowest tier in the District. As he is in the lowest tier, he is being billed the lowest of our consumption rates, $2.55/CCF bimonthly in ******* 2024 he was billed $2.52/CCF bimonthly for water consumption.  
  

  An increase to his water consumption charge was made effective January 1, 2025, after a public Rate Hearing in November 2024 wherein the District reviewed rates for the upcoming year. Subsequent to that Hearing,the District implemented increases of 9% for the water consumption rates and base water rates, and 6% for the base sewer rates.
  

  In practical terms, for Mr. ******* these increases amount to $1.59 more per month for his base water rate, $1.38 more per month for his base sewer rate, and $0.11 more per month for his water consumption.
  

  These necessary increases are due to increased costs from ************************ for the water we provide and increased maintenance costs, costs of materials and of labor to maintain our water and sewer systems.
  

  It is important to note that more than half of Mr. ******** overall bimonthly bill, $122.11, includes charges outside our control which have also increased.
  

  Beginning January 1, 2025, the fee charged Mr. ******* by ************************************* for sewage treatment increased from $110.22 to $116.56 bimonthly. The **** Franchise Sewer Fee and Water Fee increased as well, going from $2.92 to $3.03 and from $2.45 to $2.52 bimonthly,respectively. All of these increases do add up. Mr. ******** bimonthly bills have accordingly increased from $205.02 in 2024 to $214.61in 2025.
  

  **** Creek Water and Sewer District strives to keep our rates as affordable as possible for our customers. We hold annual Public Rate Hearings with advance notice on our website at ********************************, to provide the public transparency to our rate determination process.
  

  Mr. ******* has been an excellent customer since 2017, and we greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide him with reliable and safe water and sewer services. Respectfully, we are unable to provide him with the $1,000 refund he requested in his complaint. **** Creek Water and Sewer District has provided him with services in full and he has been billed for and paid for these services appropriately.
  

  Thank you for the opportunity to address this concern.

  Sincerely,

  **** Creek Water and Sewer District

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/17/2025

   
  Complaint: 23041665
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I'm certail I'm being over charged. There is no way I'm using this much water. 

   

  I would like to be provided the state and federal departments where I will file a complaint so **** Creek can be investigated by the goverment, as I know I'm not using this much utilities and I can prove it.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/28/2023

  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.

  **** creek water has shut off our water with no notice and we have pets in our house and I am type 1 diabetes and it is vital to have running water and I also have a teenager in my home as well that is a sort of special needs!! I would probably like to file negligence!!!

  Business Response

  Date: 12/04/2023

  We have received the BBB complaint stating that **** Creek Water & Sewer District has shut off our water with no notice.
  
  We bill our customers for water and/or sewer service bimonthly. Our records indicate that account *********** related to ***** ********************************, is in the name of property owner *******************************, who is set up for auto pay and paperless billing (communication routinely provided via email not paper bills) through our Invoice Cloud payment system.
  
  Unfortunately, payments to this account have routinely been declined beginning on April 28, ************************************************************ stolen. Each invoice has eventually been paid manually by the account holder or someone on his behalf,and these payments have been made after the due date. Here is the recent invoice history:
  
  Feb/******** due 4/28/23 auto pay declined, card lost/stolen. Invoice was paid late on 6/21/23.
  Apr/May bill due 6/20/23 auto pay declined, card lost/stolen. Invoice was paid also on 6/21/23.
  June/July bill due 8/20/23 auto pay declined, card lost/stolen. Invoice was paid late on 9/12/23.
  Aug/Sept bill due 10/20/23 auto pay declined, card lost/stolen. Balance remains unpaid.
  
  When a bill is not paid by the due date, we send a Past Due notice by **** mail to the service address the day after the payment was due. This notice is sent even on paperlessaccounts. This notice was sent to account holder ******************************* at ****************************, ******, and it was not returned to us undelivered.
  
  
  If payment remains outstanding after the date on the Past Due notice, we send a Disconnection notice via **** mail advising of the date payment must be made to avoid disconnection. This notice was sent to ******************************* at ****************************,******, and it was not returned to us undelivered.
  
  We also send out automated phone calls to all past due accounts scheduled for disconnection. We have ************ on file as the contact phone number for ************************, and this number was contacted three times regarding the most recent unpaid bill and disconnection of service. Records show the response was a busy signal at each call attempt.
  
  All of these methods of contact were used to advise the account holder that the bill was unpaid and service would be disconnected on November 27 if the balance due remained unpaid.
  
  We understand that pets,children, and medical conditions can make a service disconnection more difficult. However, we are not a for-profit utility. We provide water and sewer service to all our customers through the rates paid by our customers. When customers do not pay for water services, our only recourse is to discontinue service until payment is made.
  
  The name ***************************** and the phone number and email provided through the BBB complaint are not in our files in relation to service at ***** *********************************************** is ********************* on the title to the property, if she is a tenant at this property,she should advise the property owner to contact us at ************ and request duplicate billing be set up for her as a tenant. This will allow her to pay for and monitor the account directly.
  Service to the property will be resumed when the delinquent balance of $265.06 is paid. 
  

  Please be advised this account now has a total outstanding balance of $475.15 which includes service through November 30, 2023. 
  

  Thank you for contacting us with your concerns regarding this account and disconnection of service.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/04/2023

  Please be advised the address we have on file for the account in question is ************************************************. Any bills, invoices, past due notices or notices of disconnection were sent to that specific address. Please contact the District at ************ if an updated mailing address for this account is required. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/09/2023

  Type:Billing 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.

  ***** charges late fees for payments that are deposited on time. I became suspicious in August 2022 when they charged me 2 late fees ($28.20) and then in October another one late fee ($14.10). On December 21 **** told me that I'm a liar who doesn't pay on time and that I tried not to pay a late fee before. She went to look in payment slot and didn't find my payment. ******** called me later to say she found my payment just now. However I submitted my payment on 12/14 which is way before the due date. **** didn't want to check security cameras to verify that I paid on time). They have done this multiple times to me and charged me five late fees this year for payments that are turned in on time. They deliberately say that "payment not found" in their notes to justify charging late fees and refuse to check cameras that show people turning in their payments on time so that they could make money off the late fees. I was too scared not to pay, because they put liens on people's properties or shut off the water like they did to multiple people in ***** I request that all my late fees are refunded ($70.50 is how much in late fees I paid in ******************************* a late fee for December payment that they deliberately misplaced) and that all customers are treated with dignity and respect without their bogus derogatory remarks. They didn't only steal money from me, they also labeled me as a "liar". I expect an apology from **** for disrespecting me. I have all the copies of the checks cashed by ***** available upon request.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/12/2023

  ***** to receiving this complaint we responded directly to ************** email to us regarding the late fees on her account. We are attaching a copy of the letter sent via **** to ************** on January 4, 2022 and include the text herein:

  This letter is in response to **************' email of December 22, 2022 regarding **** Creek Water and Sewer District Account #*****438900.
  
  The District places a very high priority on providing prompt, courteous customer service via phone and email in every situation, including issues regarding past due accounts.
  
  I have reviewed your account history which documents when payments were due and when they were received. Consistent with all utilities and businesses, we cannot use a written date on a check as a determination of when the payment was made. We can only verify when a payment was received at our office, whether dropped off in the night deposit box or via ****. The most effective way to ensure that your payments are received by the due date is by using our Invoice Cloud electronic payment system.
  
  When using the night deposit box, please be aware that we retrieve all material from our deposit box at the beginning of each business day, and generally process any payments received accordingly for that day's date. Payments left in our deposit box after hours or on a weekend will not be processed until the next business day. The date on a check cannot be used as the date payment was received.
  
  These methods involving paper checks as payment are less efficient for our customers as they are dependent on mail delivery (which is often unpredictable) and on the day of the week and time of day a customer chooses to use our office night deposit box.
  
  Our records for your account show the following information, also found on the enclosed account history:

  11/30/21: Invoice for Oct *Nov 2021 issued, due 12/20/21.
  
  1/12/22: You visited our office to pay the overdue 11/30/21 bill in person, provided a check dated 12/10/21 as payment and requested the late penalty assessed to your account be removed. As a courtesy we removed the penalty and you were advised that this courtesy will only be extended once every two years per District policy.
  

  1/30/22: Invoice for Dec 2021 * Jan2022 issued, due 2/20/22.
  
  2/9/22: Payment for 1/30/22 invoice received timely in our deposit box in the form of a check dated 2/2/22.
  
  3/31/22: Invoice for Feb * Mar 2022 issued, due 4/20/22.

  5/11/22: Payment for overdue 3/31/22 invoice received in our deposit box in the form of a check dated 4/5/22.
  
  5/31/22: Invoice for April * May 2022 issued, due 6/20/22.
  
  7/13/22: Payment for overdue 5/31/22 invoice received in our deposit box in the form of a check dated 7/12/22.
  
  7/31/22: Invoice for **** *July 2022 issued, due 8/20/22.

  9/6/22: Payment for overdue 7/31/22 invoice received in our deposit box in the form of a check dated 8/29/22.
  

  9/30/22: Invoice for Aug *Sept 2022 issued, due10/20/22.
  
  10/15/22: Payment for 9/30/22 invoice received timely in our deposit box in the form of a check dated 10/7/22.
  
  11/30/22: Invoice for Oct * Nov 2022 issued, due 12/20/22.
  
  12/20/22: Payment for 11/30/22 invoice received timely in our deposit box in the form of a check dated 12/10/22. This payment was processed approximately five days after receipt due to an unexpectedly large number of check payments requiring processing at the same time.
  
  As you can see, four of the past seven invoices for your account were not paid before the due date, thereby incurring late fees (the first occurrence then waived at your request per District policy).
  
  I understand that the option of writing a check and delivering it to our office drop box at your convenience is your preferred payment method. To ensure timely payments and avoid late fees I encourage you to consider the convenience of online electronic payments, particularly if incurring late fees is a concern.
  
  I appreciate the chance to address your concerns. Our staff is available Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4:30 pm should you have any further questions regarding your account.

  Sincerely,

  *****************************, PE

  General Manager

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/15/2023

   
  Complaint: 18637892
  
  I am rejecting this response because:Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is not satisfactory to me.  I wish your customer service representative **** was honest and polite with me.  She told me that I'm a liar, I never turned in the payment for December and that I have previous history of lying.  I never lied.  I did turn in my payment on Dec. 14 and became concerned that the check was not cashed on 12/21.  **** told me that she's not going to check the cameras to ensure that I paid ontime because there was no problem with the drop box.  She told me that payments get collected every morning and they never get misplaced or lost.  ******* later called me and told me she found my payment and I must have turned it in the day before (12/20).  That is not true and I am concerned about dishonesty of your staff.  I expect an apology from **** in a written form for disrespect, false accustaions and contempt.  I'm also concerned that the late fees go toward deactivation of water for customers who are not paying their water bill.  This is dehumanizing and absurd and I refuse to contribute to someone else's misery of living with no running water!  Late fees need to go to the fund to help low income families to pay the water bill instead.  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/27/2022

  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.

  Due to the financial strains of the pandemic as well as an unknown water leak I have an unpaid outstanding balance with Soo's Creek Water and Sewer district. On Tuesday the 19th of July I received a phone call from the office manager stating that if I paid $600,00 dollars by the next morning my water wouldn't be shut off. At the time I am unemployed and supporting four minor on my own. It was going to be a challenge to even be able to come up with $600.00 in less than 24 hrs. The next morning I was scrambling to make it happen. Unfortunately, the technician arrived at my home before I was able to make the payment and my water was disconnected for non-payment. From there it only got worse, because Soo's Creek now wants the entire outstanding balance in the amount of $2800.00. My family has been without water for a week now. I have called 211 every other day and No One has help with water funding. My daughter just came down with Covid and we are in the middle of a heat wave and I can't even properly take care of her without water. I have been told they are cutting off elderly people with balance's as low as $100.00. They are cutting off mothers with newborns, and people who have just had major surgery and need water to keep their wounds clean. Power can't be shut off right now, garbage service can't be suspended, why is it okay to shut off family's water when it's essential for living?

  Business Response

  Date: 08/01/2022

  Please see the attached response which has also been provided to your office by **** mail. Please contact me if you have any further questions. Thank you.