Pintmaster

Here is my ongoing transcript of my correspondence with the City of Houston. They wont let me pay my water bill. That is really smart for their accounts receivable. I’ve escalated it to the Mayor. Lets see if that works!

Update: They fixed it and set me up on a direct debit on my new bank account! Thank you City of Houston for realizing that sometimes rules should be bent when they are silly!

—–Original Message—–
From: Colin Nederkoorn
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 6:48 PM
To: customer.service@cityofhouston.net
Subject: Delinquent Account #43277xxxxxx

I was advised to send a statement from my bank saying that my account had been closed when the automatic transfer was scheduled to go through.
Where should I send this statement?

Also, I have asked 3 times to have a fax sent to me with the information required to change the automatic payment - but it has not been sent.
Please send this document to: 713-979-xxxx in case it does not go through to the previous fax number.

Thank You,
Colin Nederkoorn

—–Original Message—–
From: PWE Water Customer Service
[mailto:Customer.Service@cityofhouston.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 11:11 AM
To: Colin Nederkoorn
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #432770xxxxx

Dear Colin Nederkoorn,

Thank you for your recent inquiry. The fax number to send the bank letter is 713-371-xxxx. I apologize that you have not received the bank draft application I will send you another copy via fax today.

Tayonna Hudnall
Utility Customer Service

—–Original Message—–
From: Colin Nederkoorn
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 9:38 PM
To: PWE Water Customer Service
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #432770xxxx

Good Day,

I have sent the statement from my bank on December 15th. Please advise the status of removing the lock on my account so that I can pay my bill.

Thank You,

Colin Nederkoorn

—–Original Message—–
From: PWE Water Customer Service
[mailto:Customer.Service@cityofhouston.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 3:04 PM
To: Colin Nederkoorn
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #43277xxxxx

Dear Colin Nederkoorn,

Thank you for your inquiry. In order to have the returned check fee and stauts removed from your account, a letter from your bank advising the payment was returned due to a bank error must be submitted. To date we have received only a transaction history, which is not sufficient to lift the check restriction.

Sincerly,

Tayonna Hudnall
Utility Customer Service

—–Original Message—–
From: Colin Nederkoorn
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 3:19 PM
To: PWE Water Customer Service
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #4327xxxxx

The payment was returned because the account was closed, not due to a bank error. The “Transaction History” is what the bank provided to me, signed and stamped to verify the authenticity of the information. This CLEARLY shows that the payment was rejected because the account was closed on 09/30/2005. This is enough information for your purposes. If
you need further confirmation that this account was indeed closed, please contact Leticia Guerrero whose information was also attached to my fax - 713-850-xxxx.

Please remove this block on my account without further delay.

Best Regards,

Colin Nederkoorn

—–Original Message—–
From: PWE Water Customer Service [mailto:Customer.Service@cityofhouston.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 4:09 PM
To: Colin Nederkoorn
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #432770xxxxx

Dear Colin Nederkoorn,

The fact that the account was closed is not in dispute and is not sufficient reason to remove the returned check fee and status. It is the responsibility of the customer to notify the City when a bank account is closed or changed when he or she has set up an automatic bank draft. You agreed to this when you set up recurring payments on the website on 9/20/05:

Terms and Conditions:

I authorize the City of Houston to deduct my monthly water bill payments from my account at the bank or credit union shown above. I also understand that the City of Houston or my financial institution may terminate the Recurring Payment plan (Automatic Payment Plan) at any time.

You must notify Utility Customer Service whenever your bank account changes.
Changes in your bank account require a new verification during which time you must send your payment to Utility Customer Service. Your Recurring Payment Plan will automatically be terminated if you fail to notify us when your bank account changes or if your draft returns because of insufficient funds. If your Recurring Payment plan terminates for these reasons you cannot reapply for Recurring Payment setup for six months.

A returned check fee can be removed in only one of two circumstances:

1) The City of Houston made an error in processing a check payment, or
2) The bank made an error and returned the payment by mistake.

As you have stated that there was no bank error, you did not notify the City when the bank account was closed, and as the City did not make an error, the returned check fee and status will stand.

Best Regards,

Noe Ontiveros
Utility Customer Service

—–Original Message—–
From: Colin Nederkoorn
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 4:24 PM
To: ‘PWE Water Customer Service’
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #43277xxxxx

I did notify the Customer Service through the online form and submitted my updated information for the automatic transfer. I did my part, but you guys did not update my records after I submitted the information. I do not have any record of this since I did it online in my account, but check back in your records and I am sure you will find my submission of my updated bank draft information. I then paid the next month’s bill with my new account while I waited for the automatic transfer to be processed. Check and see! I made a payment that processed from that account on 10/20/05.

I submitted new info for the automatic transfer, and when my account was not locked - while I assumed it was being set up, I was using this same bank account to make payments.

You made the error by not updating my information after I submitted it. I have been trying to express this since I first called a month ago! I was told that the only way to get the lock removed was to submit something from my bank showing the old bank account was closed. I DID!

You are now very rudely accusing me of not informing the City when my bank changed. I DID!

Please remove this block on my account without further delay.

Best Regards,

Colin Nederkoorn

—–Original Message—–
From: PWE Water Customer Service [mailto:Customer.Service@cityofhouston.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 5:45 PM
To: Colin Nederkoorn
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #432770xxxxxx

Dear Colin Nederkoorn,

It is not possible to change your automatic bank draft information online, which is why any information you may have submitted online after the original bank account information was submitted was ignored by the system.
This is why the statement informs you to contact Utility Customer Service
when your bank account changes.

The payment you made on 10/19/05 for $12.93 was a one-time payment and, could not affect the automatic bank draft information you had already entered on 9/20/05. The payment was accepted at that time because no returned check status existed on your account at that time.

Regards,

Noe Ontiveros
Utility Customer Service

—–Original Message—–
From: Colin Nederkoorn
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 9:57 PM
To: ‘PWE Water Customer Service’; ‘mayor@cityofhouston.net’
Subject: RE: Delinquent Account #43277094xxxx

Good Day,

Mr Mayor, if you monitor your email, I owe the city money and the bureaucrats at the Water department will not let me pay. This is really bad for the city. The rules in place at the moment extend your accounts receivable and reduce the city’s cash on hand. The city is not making interest on the money of all people in my situation because simply, we cannot pay our bills - the water department wont let us! In any business, this situation would be unacceptable. It should be as easy as possible for your customers to pay you. As you strive to unblock the freeways of our great city, please also take a look at the water department. Rules such as the ones I am experiencing create a sinkhole of wasted time and wasted money for all parties involved.

Thank You,

Colin Nederkoorn

—

This is my 10th correspondence with customer service on this issue. I have been trying to pay my water bill online with a check (where funds are verified online) for over a month now. Any utility run as a business and not a bureaucracy would have made it EASY for me to pay and would be chasing me down by phone. Surely people change bank accounts! It happens all the time. Some people forget to update their automatic bank draft. I did not.

If it is not possible to change the automatic bank draft information online, then the website shouldn‚Äôt deceive your customers into thinking that if they fill in the form and submit it nothing happens? It should not be on the shoulders of the customer if your system fails to fulfill your end of the bargain. I submitted my updated information on the form provided. I fulfilled my end of the deal: “You must notify Utility Customer Service whenever your bank account changes.” There was no indication given to me at the time of submission that it would not be processed. The fact that you tried to do a transfer on old information when I had provided an update - through the means provided me (online on the website) is NOT my fault.

I refuse to have to go in person to make payments for 6 months and I refuse to pay a fine when YOU failed to follow my instructions for updated bank draft information.

I submitted my updated information the very latest on 10/19/05 which was a month and a half prior to the date the direct debit was scheduled. This is ample time to correct it.

This level of customer service is ludicrous.

As always I am willing to pay my bill online. Please unblock my account and the payment will be made within 24 hours.

Best Regards,

Colin Nederkoorn

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2006 at 4:27 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.