Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Pennsylvania American Water Company sucks

A few weeks ago we came we came home to our street and sidewalk being torn up by the the water company and we had no water in our house. We called the 800 number and someone came out and gave us our water back. I asked for a telephone number for a local manager and the technician said there weren't any and you had to call the 800 number. Bullshit. She had no record of our house being a target for repairs and we would have to call the 800 number the next day. A few weeks later the sub-contractors did a nice job of fixing the road but did a less than good job fixing our sidewalk. After various contacts with this company the answer I get is that is that we're a monopoly and we will will do what we want. Live with it. This may end up in court if we can beat the Republicans restricting our rights to sue big business when they fuck us over.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

They had put in new pipes on our avenue but since we live at the bottom of the road, our water pipes got so backed up with debri and they refused to unclog it. we been out of water for days and still they refuse to help us.

Anonymous said...

This company is no more "American" than the Man in the Moon. A couple years ago, it was bought by Germans. They are ruthless; one example is leading you on to think that you can pay them automatically from a credit card online. Comes out, at the very end of entering all this infornmation, that you will be charged ADDITIONAL if you use a credit card! Paying them is from the stone ages of paper checks. They Stink and they ought to go back to the Fatherland.

Michelle HD said...

I googled a few of my utilities at work to get contact numbers so I can call and change my address. I just thought you'd like to know this blog entry is the 5th entry when you google "pa american water". Way to rock google, Gort. It made me smile.

Anonymous One said...

Hey, I used to work for American Water in the customer service call center. That is the worst company that I have ever worked for. They REALLY do not give the call center the local numbers...they made us email our supervisor and then they would email some liason in the district and then THEY would contact the local office. That is the most fucked up company I have ever seen...the customer service reps are treated like total shit, so please pass it on that the rules there are horrific and to please not yell and curse at the reps...they are not allowed to do shit! I have all of the inside numbers to the call center itself...I would be more than happy to give those out as well as personal email addresses to the regional liasons and the call center director...

Anonymous said...

OH BOY, THEY DO SUCK. I PURCHASED MY HOME ONE YEAR AGO AND THE SELLER GAVE ME A COPY OF HER BILL SO THAT I CAN SIMPLY CHANGE THE NAME. THAT WAS O.K., I WAS PAYING MY BILL EVERY MONTH ON TIME AND I GOT A LETTER SAYING THAT THEY NEED TO REPLACE MY METER, SO I CALLED THEM, LET THEM KNOW WHERE THE METER IS, OUTSIDE MY HOME AND THEY SAID THEY'LL SEND SOMEONE AND IF THERE'S A PROBLEM THEY'LL CALL ME. ONE DAY I GET HOME AND GUESS WHAT; NO WATER. I WAS SHOCKED, SO I CALL THEM UP AND THEY TELL ME THAT THEY HAVE'NT BEEN ABLE TO GET ACCESS TO MY METER. WHEN I ASKED THEM WHY THEY DID NOT NOTIFY ME THERE WAS....UM, UM, SORRY. ANYWAY I HAD TO TAKE OFF WORK TO WAIT FOR THEM AND I WAS WITHOUT WATER FOR 4 DAYS AND IT WAS THEIR FAULT. CUSTOMER SERVICE HAD NO CLUE ABOUT ANYTHING. I D I O T S !!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well I work for the company that you slander and it is really not that bad, We r Not owned by Germans, we are publicly traded! American Water is not a monopoly they are governed by the Public utility Commissioner and we do not make any of our own rules, we are puppets on a string. Every rule is passed by votes. The local #'s are not given out b/c there are allot of crazies in the world and threaten to blow people up. For the normal citizens it would make sense for them to have the #'s, but b/c of the few that make threats and pull guns we have had to do away with giving them out. Don't believe all the posts on here, most customers are only telling their side of the story and usually over exaggerate.

When it comes to restoration issues it is contractors that come in and do the repairs, not American Water and they are held responsible for the restoration getting back to its prior status. Out of the millions of customers that we have we only hear from 6 %, so I think we r doing really well. Continue to bash if you would like, I know it feels better to just point the finger the opposite way. Until I worked for a Utility I had no idea how many customers would say what ever it took to blame the opposite party.

Anonymous said...

To all: Apologies in advance for the use of "Pennsylvania American Water Company" everywhere instead of 'they' and 'them'...just trying to do my part for SEO...

Hey Anonymous, thanks for admitting you work at Pennsylvania American Water Company so we can all ignore the obvious BS from a Pennsylvania American Water Company shill. Anybody with this pack of jackholes for a water utility knows Pennsylvania American Water Company sucks!

I have never had any utility of any sort that sucked ass the way Pennsylvania American Water Company does. My water bill tripled from my previous home - in New York...and we know how much more expensive Pennsylvania is than New York City, right?

Pennsylvania American Water Company customer service is useless and worthless. Every time I call I have to give them my phone number... the the account number, then the name, then the address, then the account number again, then the phone number again... after which they basically have never been helpful or able to do anything for me. I'm sorry if the Pennsylvania American Water Company reps are poorly treated (I don't doubt it), and I don't yell at the Pennsylvania American Water Company reps, but it's still worthless.

The whole thing with Pennsylvania American Water Company only taking checks in the mail for payment is ridiculous. Welcome to the 21st century folks, why don't you come join us?

How about the way Pennsylvania American Water Company pumped up the system pressure to a ridiculous extent so Pennsylvania American Water Company could feed more distant areas without putting in more pumping stations? And don't you just love the multiple main-breaks all the time...that have "NOTHING" to do with the higher pressure?

Shall we discuss the fact that Pennsylvania American Water Company customers' homes are getting flooded all the time as PAWC puts out 120+psi that no home plumbing system was built to take? That's not speculation - I personally know quite a few folks in that situation. You either go out and get a whole-house pressure regulator installed, or you risk having your pipes, hoses, toilet valves, etc. turn into fountains at any moment.

So yes, Pennsylvania American Water Company sucks big time. This page is great. But bottom line: you want to REALLY make an impact, write a letter every time Pennsylvania American Water Company does something stupid and cc: your local/township politicians. Then write a letter to the local politicians telling them you'll vote against every incumbent (them) who does not work hard to kick PAWC out of your town and get a better option... and cc: the PAWC executives on those. I'm born-and-raised on Internet, but it makes a paper-in-envelope letter stand out even that much more...

The Pennsylvania American Water Company contacts you may wish to use for this are:

Dan Hufton
Vice Chair & Regional Director, American Water Southeast Region
724.743.3117, dhufton@pawc.com, PAWC, PO Box D, New Cumberland, PA 17070-0229

Deborah Lippert, President, PAWC, 724.746.6412, dlippert@pawc.com, 560 Horning Rd., Bethel Park, PA 15102-3720

Daniel Kelleher, Executive Director, PAWC, dkelleher@pawc.com, 560 Horning Rd., Bethel Park, PA 15102-3720

Anonymous said...

Worst customer service in history of customer service. Customer terrorists is more proper. These guys think they can waste anyone's time for any reason. If they would quit buying junk meters from China they would not have to get into your house when you have to work.

Anonymous said...

water bill jumped from 5100 gallons, to 8200, called them, they looked said no problems. Hershey-meters wireless. Conducted a test, filled 1 gallon jug, meter read 1.25 consistently. called them up reported my meter was reading bad, sent the same guy out, he said 1 gallon jugs not that accurate, i thought about how much extra milk i had gotten over the years. He replaced the meter, I figured well, ill test and see. conducted the same test, consistently read 1 gallon per gallon filled. Now i know i need to check my own meter for accuracy. Pennsylvania American water, Warren, PA.

imran said...
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Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

I have been dealing with Paw for eight straight months. They are totally incompetent and are unable to correct their errors, paper+ online. They cannot handle a change of address nor a change of phone number. When asked to turn the water off at the street they say it is done and then they do not do it. Isn't there some legal recourse???

Unknown said...

LO sad L. Wait seven or eight months.