This past day, my water services for the City of Glendale, AZ (COGAZ) was shut off, for roughly the tenth time in residing in that city for 15 years. This problem has become so chronic and maddening, I think it ought be noted on a watchdog site. Its services have been set up to force customers to remember payment, without warning, or their water will be shut off promptly. Each shutoff imposes a $50 service restoration fee.
(In contrast, I have not had one incident with the area's other utilities, APS for electric, and Southwest Gas. Mainly because they have reliable auto-pay options, and used them for years. I have also had almost no trouble with utilities in other localities.)
Here are the issues that I have in regard to COGAZ water services.
1. The COGAZ only method of warning customers of shutting off water service is via mail notice, which usually arrives less than a week prior to the pending disconnection date. There are no courtesy calls. The warning letter either does not arrive or arrives late at its destination roughly one-third of the time.
2. The COGAZ only method of signing up for automatic payments is via a hand-written form with voided check, to be sent via mail. (The other utilities offer on-line auto-pay options on line, and are painless to set up.) The big problem is I've submitted about five such forms with voided check over the years, and COGAZ claims to have never received an application from me. So this having to remember payment has gone on indefinitely. (I sent yet another form recently. I might hand-deliver the form to the office if it comes down to that.)
3. For a brief period of time, I used my bank's "bill pay" system to send bank checks to the COGAZ via mail. But once again, on occasion, COGAZ claims it never receives the mail payments. (I've had no problems paying other services with "bill pay".) Since this resulted in seeking refund from the bank for unused checks, this method of payment was soon terminated.
Furthermore, COGAZ does not accept any checks that deviate from the exact amount due. So automated "bill pay" checks from the bank is not even an option. (APS and Southwest Gas have offered electronic payment options through the bank, which withdraws the exact bill amount automatically. But not COGAZ.)
4. Aside from the unreliable mail letters, COGAZ will shut off water service promptly without warning. And leave a door tag stating that service was shut off.
5. The COGAZ payment website does not function properly on occasion. This last shut-off occurrence was partly result of the website being down.
6. If one were to arrive home after 5 pm, and a door tag is present notifying water service shut off, there is no option to have emergency service restored until the next business day. Emergency contacts provide voice mail, but never return calls.
7. If one were aware of pending shut off of water within a day of deadline, and the website were down, there is no option to extend the deadline. (Phone payments were once an option, but this option was terminated a few years ago.) The only option to avoid shut off is to hand deliver the payment with bank check at the COGAZ central office.
I truly believe the City of Glendale AZ payment policies were set up expressly to induce as many service shut-offs and accompanying $50 "service restoration fees" as possible. Penalizing anyone who forgets to submit a payment merely a month past due. Often without warning. For the normal means to automatically pay the bill (online auto-pay or bank bill pay) is not an option, the warnings for shut off are unreliable, the shut offs themselves are prompt and swift, and the mail applications for automatic payment never get processed.
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