DS Waters is screwing me over - advice?

[Jezebel]

Ok, so I have a water delivery service through Sparkletts/DS Waters/Whatever other names they go by. Since I got the service I've had numerous issues with the way they've handled my billing/payments. I call in to put the account on automatic payment, then they never charge my card. I call back to complain and pay my bill, then ask them again to put my account on automatic payment. They confirm that it's done. Time passes and suddenly I'm not getting my water. I call them and they say my account is past due. I remind them that I've called in like eleventy billion times to set my account on automatic payment and they say they have no card on file. The process continues again, except this time I decide to follow up sooner. After a call they say that they DO have my card on file and the account is being automatically paid each months. Awesome - finally. Then my water stops showing up... I call AGAIN and they say that they don't have my card on file and my bill is overdue.

So I decide - fine. @#$A% this stupid company. I'm paying off the bill NOW and changing to Ozarka or something. I complain to the lady about how I've tried to pay my bills and they are too incompetent to charge my account. She assures me that she will take care of it. I give her my card number again and tell her to pay off the account in full. She puts me on hold for 45 minutes and comes back to tell me their credit card system is screwed up and that she will call me back when it's working again.

Not too surprising, she doesn't call back... so I call her back the next day. I get a new customer support jackass who tells me they're going to correct the problem. I'm put on hold for a half an hour. She comes back and tells me that she can't charge my account anymore because they moved me over to internal collections. WTF?? I'm still trying to be nice at this point, but I'm pretty ticked off - so I asked to be transfered to internal collections so I can pay my bill. I'm left on hold for 30 minutes and disconnected. I call back and am left on hold for an hour before voicemail picks up. I leave a message. Nobody calls back. I call the next day and leave another message... nobody calls back.

So I decide to call the main line again and do some serious bitching. They apologize, act all nice, pretend they'll fix the issue, then transfer me to internal collections again. After sitting on hold for about 45 minutes someone picks up and tells me they transferred me to the wrong department. They give me another number to call, along with the extension to a specific person that's supposed to be extremely helpful.

I call the new number, get a voicemail. I leave a message explaining my whole situation.... surprise surprise... nobody calls me back. I call back again the next day and leave another message. I ended up being busy for the next week and during that time nobody returned my phone call. I call back again today - another voicemail. I leave ANOTHER message... though I don't know why. They won't call me back or take my calls.

What the hell do I have to do to get my bill paid? I feel like I'm THROWING money at these people and they are ignoring it. How many times do I need to say PAY MY BILL - HERE IS MY CARD NUMBER for them to actually do it?? The fact that they've moved my account to collections has me @#$%'ing miffed.

Sorry for the really long rant, but this has been going on for a while and I'm not sure what to do at this point. Is there another route you take after you've been down these avenues? Do I file a report with the BBB? I am clueless and PISSED!

[Spec A!]

Is there a local office you can go to? There's gotta be someone high enough on the food chain to take care of it. Threaten legal action- they're already claiming you are in collections with them which can possibly lead to harming your credit. That's what would concern me most. Screw the phone, get in their face!

[J Eddington]

Stop calling and put it in writing. Document all the times you have called and what has happened. Then contact the bbb.

[Bella]

Also tell them you're going to report them to the Better Business Bureau, and then do it. The BBB will step in and help get the issue resolved for you.

-Cindy

[studiocygnet]

I had this happen with Sprint cell phone service. My bill got screwed up when I bought my wife a new phone and it was supposed to be added onto my program but it was not, so all her minutes were charged for. I called a number of people, all of whom said they were fixing it. Never got changed. After 3 months, I wrote a letter detailing every customer service rep I talked to, the time and date of the call, how long the call lasted, and what they said they were going to do. I finally got results after the letter. So I would recommend writing down all the stuff you just told us, and sending it to the company. If you have it all documented in writing, and say that you have intended to pay all along, they may get more serious about it. And if some collection company calls you can just send them the letter too.

[Angelo]

Beth, get a reverse osmosis machine setup and youl'll have great water without having to deal with them.

[kyeoman]

I have been having the same problem with DishNetwork. Some people are too stupid to remain in business for too long. Good luck with your deal.

[Jeff_Green]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...

[Torrey]

Ask to speak to a manger. If they don't satisfy you, ask to speak to their manager. In the majority of companies, people at the top usually care enough to get a little pissed that they're getting a call from a customer over some petty crap that should have been resolved several rungs down the ladder. I've never been in your situation, but I have seen the effects in various companies of upper management having to look for answers. If you threaten the lower people with this, they usually get moving.

[LonestarMan]

"Good Morning Sparkletts"
"I want to speak to someone who makes enough money to fix my problem"
"I can help you mam, what seems to be the problem."
I'm sorry...you don't make enough money to fix my problem. May I speak with someone that does?"
"Please hold"
Don't stop until you get someones DIRECT phone number that you can call back. Go to at least the second tier management. before you explain the whole story.

[lucian]

A few years ago a friend had a similar problem.

He called and set up a tape recorder. He made the announcement that the phone call was being monitored for quality assurance (used the same rap that the credit card company used when they called him).

He swears the problem was solved with that one call.

[Jezebel]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've been unsure of which direction to take here.

Jeff - Not sure what you're implying there but it doesn't sound like helpful advice. Do you suggest that rather than calling to complain that I sit back and let them screw up my credit?

I think I'm going to look into a local office as somebody suggested. I've called so many numbers and spoken with so many people that I'm at a loss now. Unfortunately I'm not very good at documenting my calls, but I'm pretty sure that I have IM messages on all the days when I was bitching about it. I guess that gives me some sort of timeline. Hahaha.

[Jeff_Green]

It is VERY helpful advice! It happened to you 4 times hun. If they do it to you a couple times then chances are they will continue to do it because they have people working there who could care less. I try to get my Dad to understand this with his AT&T service. If they continue to screw up your account, cut ties because it will continue to happen.

Most people complain all day long about a service they receive. They call up and the person on the other end punches some keys and then the customer ends up staying because it's "too much of a hassle" to change.

[Jezebel]

I think perhaps you didn't read my post. ;)

The whole point is that I want to cut ties and go with another service, without getting screwed even further. I asked for advice on where to go next because calling them is useless. Some people did give me some helpful tips on the next step to take, so that's what I plan on focusing on next.

[Dobick]

I personally would make a call to the corporate headquarters, and explain the situation.

Their information can be found http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/110/110333.html

See if you can't get this guy

President Retail Division: Patrick Goguillon

on the phone, or at the very least, get his email address. At this point, you've worked around at the bottom for a while, maybe you can start up at the top -- who knows, maybe you can get a free years worth of water out of the deal.

Also, the southeastern bottled water association is based in Austin, so you might be able to get some names and numbers from them, as well as maybe find a consumer advocate on their staff... worth a shot at least?