Cape Coral Water Dept. Errors (Tampa, Okeechobee: bank owned, sales, 2014)

[equalrightsforeveryone]

Originally Posted by fiddelfaddel

Bad news!
I got a messages from Cape Coral Water-Department, that I have to pay the bill (113,000 gal Water), because the water-meter works correct and there was no leak detected. I don´t know, what I can do. It is impossible to use 113,000 gal water in a month. It´s also physicaly not possible. Did someone have an idea, what I can do???? (sorry for my bad English)

Well you can take them to court, something is wrong you have an average use of 3700 gal's per day.
That is incredible.
Get an independent inspector to check out your plumbing system. See if you can find any evidence of theft, my neighbor was stealing my water while I was gone.

To fight it though may well cost you more than you are trying to save.
Keep the up dates coming people need to know what is going on.

[fiddelfaddel]

Thank you for your help. Next week (Tuesday) we are going to the City (water-department). I think it is necessary to change the water-meter. I'll get back to you on that.

[fiddelfaddel]

Now I got a message from the water department. They changed the water meter and they want to check the water-meter again. But if the water-meter works correct, I have to pay the bill. There is no chance to get the money back. They said, that the water must be stolen. I can´t belive it! 113,000 gal of water, stolen: Impossible ! Nobody in the neighborhood saw trucks in front of my house. Now I locked my outside faucets and it´s no longer possible to steal water.

[cincha]

I was here in Dec. with my Mom and left on the 14th. My meter was read on Jan 10th. The water company saw that there was heavy water usage and determined since the house was vacant at the time they shut the water off. Bottom line, 59,000 gallons were used all because the toilet was running since I left. I got a plumber and found a bad overflow valve. Took the bill to the water company and only got a credit for $350 out of a $1100 bill. Seems they give 50%credit towards water but nothing off the sewer portion.

[fiege1224]

I always turn my water off at the street when I leave. That covers leaks small and large. I had a break in my line when I was gone one time and the county let it run for almost a week before they found out it was on there side of the line.I think they let it run just so they could charge me a lot for the break. They never called me and I later came back to my driveway that was 2 shades of concrete since they had to cut across it to fix there leak. At least it didn't cost me a dime.

[fiddelfaddel]

Oh my god. Today I got once again a water bill about $560.00 from CC Water department. I can't believe it. All faucets outside were locked, so it was possible that the water was stolen. A leak was not detected. Every 3 month we got the high water bill. We don't know what we can do. Did somebody have an idea what we can do. Thanks to all.

[nhkev]

See if they can turn the water off when you're not there

I don't have city water so i don't know how the system works. Do you have access to the meter? @ 1130000 gallons per month comes out to 2.5 gallons per minute. This is possible. A garden hose can pump out 5 gallons per minute. So a toilet that runs constantly could be a potential culprit. If you. An read the meter see if it is having that kind of usage when you have everything turned off.

[rgmart7]

I have also had major problems with City of Cape Coral. I've had my home inspected, taken every step to ensure water usage is kept to a minimum and still continue to be billed for water usage rates ranging fron 20000 to 50000 gallons e ery rwo to three months. High water bills until I complain then they go down for a couple months then shoot back up.

Ive contacted the Manager of City of Cape Coral Billing and he refused to return my calls. I had to resort to sending a letter with signature required to get a response. He sent a letter totally based on inaccurate information and stated his responsibility stopped at the meter.

His title is Manager. He is responsible for his department. He claimed a city employee drove by my home at 1:30 am and my sprinklers were running. My sprinklers have never been programmed to come at the time. What he doesn't realize is that I leave for work very early on many mornings and quite often I am awake at that time and was awake on the day he claimed to witness my sprinklers running.

This is only one of many of the untruths I have been told by this man and his department. I have tried desparately to straighten this mess out and have received zero cooperation from him.
I am a disabled war veteran and cannot afford the outrageous water bills. I dont know what else to do.

They know we need water and seem to believe they can do whatever they ws.t and we can't do anything about it.
Im desparate for help and would appreciate any help or advice!

[Billythepokerkid]

Originally Posted by rgmart7

I have also had major problems with City of Cape Coral. I've had my home inspected, taken every step to ensure water usage is kept to a minimum and still continue to be billed for water usage rates ranging fron 20000 to 50000 gallons e ery rwo to three months. High water bills until I complain then they go down for a couple months then shoot back up.

Ive contacted the Manager of City of Cape Coral Billing and he refused to return my calls. I had to resort to sending a letter with signature required to get a response. He sent a letter totally based on inaccurate information and stated his responsibility stopped at the meter.

His title is Manager. He is responsible for his department. He claimed a city employee drove by my home at 1:30 am and my sprinklers were running. My sprinklers have never been programmed to come at the time. What he doesn't realize is that I leave for work very early on many mornings and quite often I am awake at that time and was awake on the day he claimed to witness my sprinklers running.

This is only one of many of the untruths I have been told by this man and his department. I have tried desparately to straighten this mess out and have received zero cooperation from him.
I am a disabled war veteran and cannot afford the outrageous water bills. I dont know what else to do.

They know we need water and seem to believe they can do whatever they ws.t and we can't do anything about it.
Im desparate for help and would appreciate any help or advice!

Do yourself a favor and monitor your water usage at the meter yourself. Keep a log. It's very simple, right down your numbers and review the numbers on your bill, you might be surprised to see your actual water usage. If it is really that high, you most likely have a leak after the meter. The meters are not rigged as some on this forum believe.

[Robert Magnusen]

I own a home on Cape Coral for almost two years and in May 2013 I received a water bill for $800, the Water co. told me that they read that I used 45,000 gals of water IMPOSSIBLE and in Sept 2013 I received a water bill for $1,274.54 and again I was told that I used over 65,000 gals of water! This is an OUTRAGE !!! I was not at my property on both occasions and my good friend lives across the street from my home he walks my property daily and checks the inside of my home for any issues that might occur while I'm gone. He stated that on both occasion there were no leaks , no flooding, all toilets were shut down , and the water meter was not indicating water flow when the house main was closed, meaning there were no broken pipes My friend also said that there was no trucks hooked up to my main steeling my water. On June , July and Aug I had my normal bills around $85 which would indicate again that there were no broken pipes. The water co. stated that my meter was not malfunctioning and in fact at my request changed my meter. I'm waiting for another few months to pass and once again get hit with another huge water bill.
I believe the Cape Coral Water co. may have issues reading their meters because there seems to be this unexplained outrageous increases of water consumption on a few residential homes in the Cape Coral area, with no indication of fowl play or faulty plumbing what are the odds that we should all experience the same issue ? highly unlikely, something is wrong and we're paying the price for it.