Business License Renewal: In March I blogged about being worried that I had not received my renewal bill for my business license. I called several times and was told they had a problem entering some of the renewals and to check back. I was so delighted to receive the bill on the 31st of March. It is usually due the 1st of April so I was really happy to see that they had put a new due date of April 15th on the payment. I mailed it in the first week of April.
Last week I received a bill for penalties and interest for late payment of the bill. That bill was printed on April 16 and reflected my payment. So they charged me a late payment anyway. Love these guys.
The Water Department: I mailed my March payment in advance of the due date and was sent a final notice 10 days later. My check was found and posted 2 weeks later of course accruing late charges in the meantime. The Water Department is blaming it on the Post Office. I'm a little pissed.
For April, I tried to pay my bill on line through my bank and mistyped one number on the PO Box number and was issued a final notice two weeks later. OK, so I paid with a credit card, apologized and ate the late payment on that as well. Now I'm pissed at myself. I did a stop payment on the bank check because I had entered the wrong PO Box number. That check was put in the Water Dept's PO Box two days later and was presented to the bank to be paid. When the check was returned a note and a $30.00 returned check fee was placed on my account. Now, I'm more pissed off. I print off an appeal letter to fill out arguing the returned check charge. The Water Dept is blaming that on the Post Office too. The envelope should have been returned to me.
This last Monday night I received urgent emails from my neighbor at Java
Vino. They had turned his water off and when he called, was told that
was a mistake and they were trying to turn off Babette's water. I headed to the restaurant Tuesday morning at 8:30. My neighbor had turned his own water back on ...with the City's permission. My water was still on, but I made a call to check. They confirmed that there was a work order to turn my water off today. When I tried to get an explanation as to why, I was told that I still owed money and that a check had been returned. My eyes started to glaze over. I know I was talking to a wall.
My husband and I coordinated our attack. I put on a bright red sweater for when the TV crew showed up that my husband was contacting by phone. He brought $1000.00 in cash so he could bail himself out of jail when he was arrested for preventing the city worker from turning off our water. He proceeded to the restaurant and parked his big blue pickup truck directly over the water meter. I headed downtown. It's now a little before 9:00 am. I decided I would just try and start with the City Council Offices instead of talking to the wall in person. Within 22 minutes the stop work order was being recalled, an emergency work order was issued to restore my water in case the first work order did not get seen. My bill was straightened out, the $30.00 returned check charge was reversed and I even got an apology. But of course no explanation for the Disconnect order. Seems it was a mistake. No kidding.
It seems each City Councilperson has a contact in the Water Dept with whom they work. This woman, Bridget Mason, rocks. Thanks to my council person's chief of staff, Jay as well.
A city worker arrived two hours later to turn off my water. Mel called me at home and put the guy on the phone. After a few minutes of me trying to explain about the canceled work order and the other work order meant to turn the water back on, the city worker said "The heck with it, I'll just leave it on". His eyes had glazed over too(I could just tell).
