Columbus Water Works
reviews and complaints

So I was reading this PDF, and this person was talking about how Columbus Water Works went underground to do some work. And now, when she flushes her toilet, she hears this knocking sound. Can you believe that? I mean, who wants to hear knocking when they're trying to do their business, right?

But that's not all. When this consumer went to pay her bill, guess what? She's paying a bill that has the wrong address on it. I mean, come on, Columbus Water Works, get your act together! How hard is it to get the right address on a bill?

Overall, it seems like this person is having some real issues with Columbus Water Works. I hope they can fix these problems soon because nobody wants to deal with knocking toilets and incorrect bills.

I've been noticing a significant rise in my bill every three months. It's been going up by $14.00 or even more consistently for three consecutive months. When I called to ask about it, they told me that I've been using more water than usual. However, my bill remains the same for three months in a row and then suddenly jumps by $14.00. After that, it stays the same for another three months and then jumps again. It doesn't make sense that I would use the exact same amount of water for three months straight, then suddenly start using more, and then go back to using the same amount, only to use more again and keep increasing.

I got 2 bills in one month from Columbus Water Works, which I paid. But when I called them, they weren't picking up the phone. I called them multiple times to argue about being overcharged for 2 bills each month. The message I received was "This party ain't takin' no phone calls." 'Cause of Covid, I didn't wanna go there in person to argue. What else can I do with a company that has a monopoly to dispute my water bill bein' $88.85 for a month? I'm on a fixed income, 70 years old, and I know I didn't use that much water in a month.

CWW keeps billing me for my January bill. I have wrote to them twice and have sent a copy of my bank statement showing that the bank sent the payment on January 22. They are leaving voice mail telling me my bill is past due. On Friday someone had left a card on my door knob to tell me the bill is past due and to prevent Service interruption I need to pay the bill. How can February and March bill be current and January is not. Everything is right, account number is showing right on the bank statement. Please Help, I wrote a letter to them last Wednesday, have not heard anything from anybody.

I recently found out that our neighbors' bills are much less than ours, which is concerning. We only have one bathroom with a water-saving shower head and a high-efficiency washer. There are two adults in our household, and we are both disabled. To add to our worries, we noticed water coming up from under the road on our street, which makes us question the accuracy of our consumption. Despite being enrolled in notifications for our service, we have not received any warning about a pending shut off, nor have we been informed about any shut off at our residence. I understand that we have failed to pay our recent water bill, but considering our medical conditions, which sometimes cause us to overlook bills accidentally, it would be considerate to receive a warning email or phone call. Additionally, our monthly bills are excessively high, and we would appreciate an explanation for this.

I just bought a house and closed on it on April 8th. I've been trying to get Columbus Water Works to switch the water service to my name since April 21st. I called them twice on April 21st, once on April 27th, twice on April 28th, twice on May 3rd, and once on May 20th. They called me back on May 25th, but the person who called couldn't fix the problem. They said they would have to send my info to someone else in customer service. So, I went to their location in person on May 27th. They took my info and made a copy of my ID card. The person at the drive-thru said someone would call me back by the end of the day on Friday, May 28th. But I still haven't heard from anyone. No one has contacted me. I'm running out of options, and I might have to organize a sit-in at their location until they do their job and switch the water service to my name.

On January ***, I went on Columbus Water Works website to pay my bill in full so I could transfer my services to my new address. The total amount was 125. I paid the overdue amount in full, but the website told me to call customer service to transfer my service. When I called, they said I had to pay an extra $50 late payment fee that was added overnight. I told them that I had already paid the full amount this morning and the $50 fee wasn't there. The representative insisted that I had to pay it to transfer my service. I asked if they could waive the fee, but they said no. So, I paid the $50 and asked if I could dispute the late fee since I had paid before it showed up. Again, they said no, there was no way to dispute it. It's understandable that even reputable companies can make mistakes, and as customers, we should be able to reach out and talk to someone if we think there are errors or unfair practices. But instead, I was left with no choice but to pay or not get my water transferred because Columbus Water Works is the only option. I'm asking for the $50 charge to be credited to my bill. Please investigate this and in the future, give the people of Columbus a way to voice their concerns if they think there's a mistake.

Our water got turned off in November , and we got it turned back on on January 15th. Two weeks later, they took the water meter without telling us why. We had a move-out cleaning scheduled for January 14th, and the person who let us know there was no water at the house was the same person. This happened on January 15th, which was MLK Jr. weekend. The Columbus Water Works (CWW) office was closed from January 15th to the 18th for the holiday, but since it was a long weekend and we didn't have water, I called the emergency phone line to get it turned back on. I paid the current and past due payments on January 14th (and got an email confirmation from the CWW website). We don't owe any money to CWW. They told us that someone needed to be present for the water to be turned on at our property. Since my wife and I were out of state, we urgently asked a close friend, ***, to go to the house so we could get the water turned back on. She did, and luckily we were able to get the water back on over the MLK Jr. weekend. Fast forward to January 22nd, we had a service scheduled with Unlimited Lawn Care, and we were specifically working with a guy named Dustin. On Thursday, January 21st, he and his crew went to the house to clean the outside. The water was working fine. The next day, Friday, January 22nd, they came back to pressure wash our deck in the backyard. They sprayed an acid wash to help clean the deck. They only worked for an hour or two in the morning because the weather turned bad with heavy rain, making it impossible for them to work. They left everything at the house so they could continue the next morning. On Saturday, January 23rd, Dustin's crew returned to finish the job, but when they tried to turn the water on, nothing happened. After some troubleshooting, they checked the water meter compartment and saw that the water meter was cut out and the pipe was capped. I called the emergency line on the morning of Saturday, the 22nd, and spoke to the technician who works on weekends. He told me it wasn't cut out on Saturday the 22nd because he was the only technician working that day. A technician must have come the previous afternoon and cut the meter out. No notice, no heads up. I guess they require someone to be present at the property to turn the water back on, but they have no problem sneaking out on a Friday afternoon and cutting the whole meter out, leaving us without water for the entire weekend. I tried calling them on Monday, January 25th, and had to call 15 times just to reach an emergency line dispatcher. I left another emergency request on Monday, the 25th, but never heard back from a technician. Since then, my wife and I have been calling multiple times a day to try and reach a customer service representative. But if you follow the touch-tone guide on the telephone, the button you press to talk to a representative just transfers you to a dead line and the call drops. We still haven't been given a reason why CWW cut out our water meter, and it's impossible to reach a customer service representative to resolve the situation. The acid wash has been sitting on the deck for almost a whole week, and I'm not sure if the chemicals will end up damaging the wood if left for a long time.

The meter was not removed after the final bill was paid. Result, a $500 poor of water by a thief who attempted to fraudulently take possess premises. Columbus Water Works has been a family residence to us since 1989, where my parents resided prior to their passing. I live in Maryland, but still visit Columbus, which is my birth home and where family members still reside. From [protected], we had not visited as much, as my husband was ill (passed in April ). I need assistance in resolving a matter with Columbus Water Works. Here is a chronology of the situation: In April , we were issued a "FINAL NOTICE" from CWW. The bill was paid (5/14) and the account was in a closed status. Apparently, the water meter was never removed. On September 8th, we called CWW to have the service reinstated, as we were planning to come to Columbus. We were expecting a reconnect fee, but were told that we had a balance a little over $500. A partial payment was made, but we were certain that a trip to Columbus was necessary to discover what had happened. We arrived on 9/24 and discovered that all of the locks to all external doors to our home had been changed. We hired a contractor to assist us in gaining access to our residence, to discover that someone had indeed gained entry to the premises and appeared to be clearing the home of our belongings. Before leaving, we engaged the ADT system. We discovered what appeared to be a water key in the living room (did not belong to us) With no working water, we stayed with a family member who lives nearby. On the morning of 9/25, we received a call from ADT that the alarm had been tripped. My daughter, ***, went to the property and discovered the house open and two trespassers, a contractor and a woman, who claimed to be in possession of a lease-option agreement between me, Mary, and my father, Clint who has been deceased for 20 years (none of which was true). Police were called. o We had an appointment with CWW on that morning to reconnect water. o CWW came but could not re-establish service because the copper water pipes had been stolen from the crawl space beneath the home and water was pouring. o The trespasser appeared to have been responsible for turning on the water with the key (unauthorized) that caused the $500 poor of water. As the trespasser spoke, she made mention that she was aware that the pipes were gone. (At that time, we didn't know that information.) o Later that afternoon, our contractor confirmed that the pipes had been stolen. o The police were later called to include the stolen water pipes and water as a part of the report. o It was discovered that the trespasser had cut the ADT wires from the wall panel and the service box. (Our contractor discovered the wall panel vandalism; ADT discovered the box vandalism when he came to make repairs to the system the following week) We contend that we are the victims of a crime and should NOT be responsible for the $500 in water. On 11/11, we received a new water bill with new charges for service to a home with no water pipes, zero usage and a carry over balance of over $300 for stolen water. We were hoping a call to Columbus Water today would get us closer to resolution. We declined to speak with Manager Sonya B (after two months of attempting to get resolution with her, it did not seem productive). We were promised a return call from Becky B, a Supervisor, which STILL has not come. We further contend that a review of the water usage would show that there had been NO usage until the attempted fraud of the premises. It is further evident to us, that the account WAS closed because no billing had been received since the account was paid in full April and our inquiry in September .