The saga of the water meter
Sep. 24th, 2014 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchWarning: Rant ahead
So, when we moved in a year ago, the strip of yard to the side of the driveway heading down to the woods had been allowed to go pretty wild. There's a drainage ditch through that section that doesn't get a lot of water, but gets enough to support some healthy plant growth and to make it difficult to get a lawnmower through there.
So, we ignored it for about a year until we finally got a heavy duty weed whacker that could take on all the tall grasses through that area. In July,rackham tackled the area and hacked everything back... and it looked pretty good. He also discovered a water meter buried under all that grass. So, you can imagine our surprise when, the following week, we got a notice from our water company that access to our water meter was restricted by plant growth and we needed to clear it out or face a $40 fine.
We puzzled over it for a bit and finally decided that the note must have been sent out right before the great grass clearing the week before (although the timing was a bit weird considering it had been growing wild for a *full year*) and got on with our lives. Until our bill came earlier this month with a $40 charge on it for not having cleared away the meter. We walked back out and checked the cleared area and the thing in the ground very clearly labeled "Water Meter" and I placed a call to the water company, where I was told the inspector had been out recently and it was overgrown and needed to be clear. I asked to speak to the inspector and my call was transferred. I left a very polite message saying we'd really like some clarification on this, because although the area had been wild for a year, we'd actually been keeping it clear for almost two months at that point.
I never heard back from him and not quite a week later we got ANOTHER letter from the water company telling us that they'd come out to inspect the meter and it was still covered and we'd be receiving ANOTHER $40 fine if we didn't clear it. Starting to go from being puzzled to being ticked off at this point. I called again, left ANOTHER message and, once again, didn't hear back. So yesterday, Rackham called and gets told he can leave a message with a supervisor (which he does after voicing his concerns that this message will get ignored too).
Amazingly, while getting breakfast ready this morning, I saw a water company car pull up in the driveway... the water company guy got out and headed over to the meter. Rackham is, of course, home since he got laid off, so he went out to talk to the guy. Turns out, there's more than one water meter on our property... in fact, there are THREE (the other two belonging to people much further down the hill from us). All this time, we've been clearing the water meters for other people. Ours was buried under a small bush and was completely out of view.
Honestly. How the heck were we supposed to know that the water meter on our property that we've been keeping clear all this time wasn't our water meter and did, in fact, belong to someone who lived a quarter mile down the road! All it would have taken was for *someone* to call us back when I first left my very polite and puzzled message several weeks ago. The water company employee was going to report the issue back to his boss and the extra charges should be removed.
Now, call me cynical, but I do find it interesting that my phone calls and messages on the subject were completely ignored, but my *husband* calls and leaves a message and the very next day we have someone out here to resolve the situation. Yeah.
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
So, when we moved in a year ago, the strip of yard to the side of the driveway heading down to the woods had been allowed to go pretty wild. There's a drainage ditch through that section that doesn't get a lot of water, but gets enough to support some healthy plant growth and to make it difficult to get a lawnmower through there.
So, we ignored it for about a year until we finally got a heavy duty weed whacker that could take on all the tall grasses through that area. In July,
rackham tackled the area and hacked everything back... and it looked pretty good. He also discovered a water meter buried under all that grass. So, you can imagine our surprise when, the following week, we got a notice from our water company that access to our water meter was restricted by plant growth and we needed to clear it out or face a $40 fine.We puzzled over it for a bit and finally decided that the note must have been sent out right before the great grass clearing the week before (although the timing was a bit weird considering it had been growing wild for a *full year*) and got on with our lives. Until our bill came earlier this month with a $40 charge on it for not having cleared away the meter. We walked back out and checked the cleared area and the thing in the ground very clearly labeled "Water Meter" and I placed a call to the water company, where I was told the inspector had been out recently and it was overgrown and needed to be clear. I asked to speak to the inspector and my call was transferred. I left a very polite message saying we'd really like some clarification on this, because although the area had been wild for a year, we'd actually been keeping it clear for almost two months at that point.
I never heard back from him and not quite a week later we got ANOTHER letter from the water company telling us that they'd come out to inspect the meter and it was still covered and we'd be receiving ANOTHER $40 fine if we didn't clear it. Starting to go from being puzzled to being ticked off at this point. I called again, left ANOTHER message and, once again, didn't hear back. So yesterday, Rackham called and gets told he can leave a message with a supervisor (which he does after voicing his concerns that this message will get ignored too).
Amazingly, while getting breakfast ready this morning, I saw a water company car pull up in the driveway... the water company guy got out and headed over to the meter. Rackham is, of course, home since he got laid off, so he went out to talk to the guy. Turns out, there's more than one water meter on our property... in fact, there are THREE (the other two belonging to people much further down the hill from us). All this time, we've been clearing the water meters for other people. Ours was buried under a small bush and was completely out of view.
Honestly. How the heck were we supposed to know that the water meter on our property that we've been keeping clear all this time wasn't our water meter and did, in fact, belong to someone who lived a quarter mile down the road! All it would have taken was for *someone* to call us back when I first left my very polite and puzzled message several weeks ago. The water company employee was going to report the issue back to his boss and the extra charges should be removed.
Now, call me cynical, but I do find it interesting that my phone calls and messages on the subject were completely ignored, but my *husband* calls and leaves a message and the very next day we have someone out here to resolve the situation. Yeah.
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-25 03:24 pm (UTC)This is why I ask my husband to deal with building maintenance requests. I'd put them in and they'd get completely ignored. He'd put in a request and someone would be up to fix it in less than twenty-four hours.
I hope they take those charges off!