My Story
Well here is what has got me so angry that caused me to create this website.
On around January 22, 2010 I received a bill from Veolia for $734. My normal bill is about $35. This unusually high bill was a result of toilet 'running' silently in my basement and I am rarely in my basement. I did not know it was running. In fact, the only way I would know if I had a hidden leak is by the bill I receive. Due to Veolia's policy of not reading the water meter monthly this leak went unnoticed for more than two months. Once I received the bill, investigated and found the problem, fixed it and called Veolia. I told them what had happened, and that the problem was fixed. They said they would send out a service person to read the meter to determine the amount of 'wasted' water and would make an adjustment.
My problem was the fact that since they estimated my meter reading in December, it wasn't until late January that I understood the problem. Had Veolia read the meter on a monthly basis, I would have known about the problem in Mid December and my bill would have been much less. As I stated before, their customer service people just don't care. They said that is their policy and there was nothing I could do about it but to pay my bill.
I filed a complaint with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC). They called me and I explained what had happened. I talked to an individual at the IURC who used to work for the water company and actually seemed to be a friend of the President (I don't think that helped). The IURC person called Veolia and guess what? No changes; case closed.
I sent a lot of emails to Veolia's Board of Directors and the President of Veolia Indianapolis. No one called me. I got an email, eventually, from David Gadis with an excerpt of their policy for leaks.
In February, I got my adjusted bill. They made an adjustment of $315. I tried to move on. I scraped up $200 to pay part of the bill which was a total of $437. Two weeks later I received another bill with a disconnect notice and for a total of $438. They added back and additional $200 on to the bill. They used an estimated reading from February which was incorrect and used that incorrect estimate to determine the total amount of the adjustment. They did not use the reading that the service person obtained immediately after the repair.
Why? Because as they say, they can only make an adjustment during one billing period unless there is a mis-read. If there is a mis-read they can use an additional reading to determine the amount of the leak and therefor the amount of the adjustment. An incorrect estimated reading is not a mis-read according to them. An actual reading occuring during a non-reading time period is not a reading. WHAT???????
This is obviously BS. I have called and talked with Customer Service and our conversion just goes into the same loop, 'An incorrect estimated reading is a good reading and an correct actual reading is not a reading at all, blah, blah, blah... I filed another complaint to IURC. They would not accept the complaint because they said it is about the same problem and the case is closed. I have talked with the Department of Public Works, ...nothing. The Department of Water Works, ...nothing. The Mayor's hot line, ...nothing. The Governor's hot line, ...nothing. I have filed a compliant with the Indiana Attorney General, and more nothing.
My water and sewer service is scheduled for disconnection on April 1, 2010.
This situation is why I started researching this company. After I conducted enough research on this company, I realized that I am more concerned about this company as my provider for water than getting some money back. It's about sending this company back home to France.