In July of we were new to the neighborhood and our house water was not good. I went online to find a water delivery service. The only one available to my area was DS Waters of America, LP, dba Crystal Springs. They had a promotional going and I requested a "room temperature" stand. I wanted to store everything on the back porch. When the delivery person came he delivered the most expensive/top of the line cooling stand. I told him I didn't want this. My refrigerator was three feet away through a door in the kitchen and I couldn't see paying for an additional cooling unit that would only drive up my utility bills. He said the high-end electrical stand was on my order slip. I told him to take it back and cancel the whole thing. He went to his truck, came back and told me that the company was "temporarily out of room temperature stands" but that they had authorized him to leave the expensive one and I could use it WITHOUT CHARGE until the room temperature ones came in. With each delivery I asked him about it and was told that the correct stand hadn't come in yet.
A couple of deliveries went buy without my receiving a bill. Then, suddenly, I received this very large bill that included charges for the high-end electrical stand. I called the company and got nowhere with them. They wanted the money and weren't about to listen to anything I said. This told me that I had been caught in a bait-and-switch. I sat down on the bill and told them no payment until they proffered a corrected statement. This account was kept in-house for some time with only occasional attempts at contacting me. I know that only bills over one hundred dollars are eligible to be sent to a collections bureau. Crystal Springs held the account in-house until their compounded fees made it eligible for outsourcing to a credit bureau. Today, I received a phone call from just such an agency claiming nearly two hundred dollars in past due amounts. I have filed a report with Angie's List that has, at my request, forwarded my complaint for mediation. It is my intention to file a report with the BBB and, if mediation cannot resolve this matter, to take it up with my attorney.
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