Imagine my surprise when I received a water bill for $10,600! I naturally assumed it was a spam call since my account is always on Autopay. I called the Water Department to determine if the scammers had my correct account number. The woman who answered replied curtly: “That is no scam call. That is your current water bill!” How could that be possible? I had no idea.
It turned out that the account was connected to a credit card that had been replaced because of a fraudulent transaction. Unfortunately, it is all too common for seniors my age to be scammed and cheated in any number of ways. When did the first missed payment occur? Unbelievably, it was in December 2024!
Normally, when a credit card defaults, a company will call and inform you that you need to provide an alternative credit card. This could take a week, two weeks, even a month before they serve notice. They may even threaten to cut off their service (e.g., gas, electricity, or whatever) if you do not respond in a timely fashion. So how long did it take the City of Santa Barbara water department? From December 2024 until June 2026! Why did they wait for 16 months while the owed amount sky-rocketed before letting me know?
They could easily have reached me any time in that year and a half had they simply attempted to do so. My contact information had not changed so they had no difficulty getting in touch with me when they finally decided to send me that final exorbitant bill. I can only conclude that failing to let me know was a simple case of negligence on their part.
Shouldn’t they take some responsibility for such a clearly unprofessional manner of treating a long-term customer (or any customer, for that matter)? Receiving such a huge, unexpected bill has had major adverse consequences for me. Not only would the charges have been more affordable at the time they were originally incurred, but I would also have had the opportunity to lower my water use back then, as I am doing now.
Accordingly, I appealed to the city to adjust the amount owed and/or to extend the payment period to make it more affordable. Although it took them 16 months to send me my bill, they wanted those 16 months paid off in 12 months on top of the current water bills.
What was their response to my requests? They refused both requests and thereby refused to take any accountability for their negligence.
Perhaps a situation like this has already happened or could happen in the future to some other unsuspecting homeowners in Santa Barbara. I write this letter to alert you. This is the kind of service you may expect from the City of Santa Barbara Water Department. Is this why we pay such high taxes? It is a travesty. Beware!
