Consolidated Utilities Inc

What a horrible experience. I moved to Savannah 7 months ago and cannot get consistent billing from this company. First a HUGE bill two months after we moved in when nothing had changed with our water use. They will not even discuss that there is a problem--you just have to pay it. No help whatsoever. When the bills come they are due within two days so it is impossible to mail the check in on time. Then I just noticed they have not sent a bill in over two months. I probably would have noticed earlier if it had not been the two busiest holiday months-Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I called them I was told I had to drive downtown right away and pay it or have my water shut off. Christie also told me many people were calling in that have not been receiving bills. Then 3 other people came in while I was there saying they aren't receiving their bills. Of course CU will not remove the late fees although there is obviously a problem with their billing system. Joanne, the manager, told me they walk the bills to the post office and what happens from there is not their problem. So it is mine? I don't believe the post office would only lose this one bill each month, or all the other customers there complaining. At the very least this utility company has a big problem with billing. Consequently, it is quite a lucrative problem with all the late fees they are raking in with a ""no waiving of late fee"" policy. Hmmmmmm..... I am writing a letter to the City although the employees and manager at CU would not give me their last names or superior's names. They are unprofessional and poorly run. Welcome to Savannah. more

This company is by far the worst company I have ever had to deal with. They over charge for everything. Their customer service is horrible. I spoke with Lillian which by far is the rudest of them all and then Jaime was scared to even fix my problem. Oh and if you are told that Joan the office manager is going to call you back don't hold your breath. I had to call back to try to fix my bill because they were charging me a disconnection fee and my water was never disconnected!!!! Incredible how this company is still operating after all of the bad reviews and bad service, to bad I don't have an option to go with another water company. I will be contacting the city of savannah ...somebody has to put an end to the abuse consolidated utilities has been getting away with!! more

I am so frustrated right now! I have been trying for 45 mins to get through to find out what my bill is for the month. It keeps sending me to the water company answering service. Every time they transfer me I am hung up on. After 3 times of being hung up on I asked what is going, the lady said she didn't know and that she talked to the technician and he said the lady was there but that if she was out of the office she had the phone transferred to the answering service. This sounds like a very unprofessional employee who is being lazy. The business hours are stated on the recording from 830-4pm. This is ridiculous, i have had nothing but problems with this company. Not to mention they are behind the times, they only except check! Seriously! Get with the damn program! more

Consolidated Utilities had better start investigating possibility of online billing; when the postal service shuts down, people will not be able to mail their payments in and more

We don't have a choice who we get our water from but the company should be required to maintain 21st century business practices. I would like to encourage this company to improve their billing practices. Begin accepting credit cards at least, online billing or direct debit would be even better. Check writing is a thing of the past, please catch up Consolidated Utilities! more

This water company is TERRIBLE!!! They are over charging their customers and they are getting away with it. My light bill is a couple of dollars more than my water bill. The Surcharge is CRAZY and if anyone wants to protest against this company, I am willing to help. Also, if anyone knows any information about what we should do to bring this company down, please reply to my review. more

I think someone should investigate the water company in savannah ""Consolidated Utilities located on 119W Oglethorpe Ave. There a monopoly in savannah, And charging way too much for water. I got billed a surcharge of 33 dollars also base rate of 31 dollars plus how much water i used which was 66 dollars. Totaling around 136 dollars. thats not fair. i dont even use 100 dollars of water but im getting charged for it. Check there reviews out online. There Terrible. why are they charging us soo much money. Im about paying over 100 dollars a month on water. Its crazy. They have bad reviews. And im on a tight budget as is. My husband works so hard for his family. He got laid off last year and finnaly gotten a new job 4 months ago, and were trying to catch up on the bills. Hes a securty guard at the sugar factory. And has been working over time allot on the weekends. But it still is hitting are kids the most, when they ask for snacks or drinks. We have to be very conservative with our water. Iv been very very conservative. Even less showers. But still our bill is over 100 dollars. Thats not fair. We dont even use 100 dollars on water. There charging TOO much money. The low class and middle class are getting hit hard. My husband deployed 2 times and even came back injured in the war. i feel this company doesnt care for the citys lower class. We work so hard and try to save. But with bills like this running high, how can we.!!!! more

Consolidated Utilities is the worst company i have ever dealt with not only rude but theifs and liars. Since they changed out our water meter our water bill has doubled not only are you charged a base rate,per usage and a surcharge i went from paying $ 50.00 a month to $125.00 amonth had them check meter the first to guys that was sent out verified meter was off by 2/3s of a gallon well nothing done so i call and complain and they older lady in the office says it was right ,then i go into office and argue with the lady again and before i got home she had someone here checking the meter and he was done when i got home straight from the water dept so i have him check it again and he says it's right well if you have a 5 gallon bucket and it does not fill 5 gallons it's right??? it is like 3 to 4 inches from top of bucket so now i'm 2 water bills due so i call the same old lady and informed i will pay my bill friday cause i had to buy school clothes and supplies and was told ok if you are not on the cut off list for tommorrow not even bothering to take a few seconds to check and see so i don't know what is going to happen tomorrow if i'm on the list guess my water will be shut off more

As everyone else has mentioned and displayed by their single star reviews, this is the worst and most inhumane company I have ever had the displeasure to deal with. Yesterday, I was at work,doing a 24 hour shift, when my son called me at 6 p.m. and said the water spigot was flowing water but no water was flowing in the house. My immediate thought was a sprinkler line must have ruptured. He told me water was standing in the back yard, so he dug to try to find the pipe, with no luck. I told him where the sprinkler shut off was. As he tried to shut that off the handle broke as it was very rusty. I came home and tried to turn the sprinkler valve also, with no luck. I then looked in the meter box and saw a lock on the shut off valve! There was no notice on my door, they did not try to contact me in any way. As most everyone else did during the holidays, my wife and I got busy, so we forgot to pay the water bill that was due on Jan. 5th. It was 45 days late. I called consolidated and their answering service told me nothing could be done until the next day. I was furious. My kids were trying to get ready for bed, my wife had just gotten home from a long day at work, and my little girl looked up at me and said, "" Daddy, I'm scared, I need to brush my teeth and take a bath."" As any good daddy would do, I said don't worry baby, then I cut the #$%&ing lock off! I went the next morning to pay the bill, and surprisingly, the lady was actually pleasant at first, and even took my personal check, even though they have a sign posted stating they only take cash after water is cut off. When I showed her the cut lock, everything changed. I explained how my wife and I simply forgot, and that if they tried to contact me I would have immediately come in. She said, do you see this sign? ( It was a blown up copy of the back of a bill) It states, we do not have to contact you before we cut your service. I told her that no other company that I know of, would cut your service, especially w/o trying to contact the customer, in only 45 days! She said they would charge me $50 for the lock and $40 to reconnect. I told her I would give them $10 for new lock and since I already turned the water on, there should be no reconnect fee. She said if I did not pay the $90, they would cut off the service again, at which time I advised her I would be contacting an attorney ( which I have done) and I told her our conversation had been recorded. She told me that was against the law, and I advised her that as long as one party knows then it's legal. ( Georgia follows the ""one party law) I also gave her a copy of everyone's reviews from CITYSEARCH , and asked her if she knew or cared that they were rated so poorly. In fact, everyone rated them as 1 star except ""The Enforcer"" but of course, when you read his review, you can see that he meant to give them a 1. She did not reply. While I was paying my bill, 2 other customers came in and when they heard this, they asked for CITYSEARCH's website and I gave it to them. Additionally, while talking to these folks, one man stated that he knows they don't read the meter regularly because his meter is covered with grass and he only sees it uncovered occasionally, and I told him we experience the same thing. My next step, along with a letter from my attorney, is to contact the City of Savannah and see if they can help. More to follow............. more

This company customer service sucks and we need to do something about this, otherwise this type of service will continue. Lillian is the worst person in customer service that I have ever meet, she needs to be fired ASAP. Joann the manager is even worst for allowing this type of service. They want give me another person to contact, my bill is about $25 more than it should be and this has been for the past three months. June, July, and August of this year. Please review your bill and join me in the fight for right and due to me. more

Oh folks enough is enough. My water bill just tripled and I have had enough. Two years ago they were taking my meter readings and the ending meter numbers were way ahead of the current readings by the thousands. I could have filled a 75x25 ft swimming pool. That's over 40,000 gal one person used in 30 days. IMPOSSIBLE! Now they charge you a base rate and do not include that in your reading. And now a surcharge. Over $120.00 for a household with two people living in it. And now to add insult to injury they add a surcharge. They have ripped people off for years now and it's time they go by by for fraud. Pros: Get our money back and put these people out of business more

The $30 surcharge every month is ridiculous. My water bill has doubled since I no longer live in an area where the city provides my water. I'm not fond of the excessive water usage charges that accrues in the summer time either, needless to say these charges just drives my bill up even more. Basically, if you buy a home in Chatham county and Consolidated Utilities provide your water just bend over because you are going to get screwed. more

This place is behind the times, it's a hole in the wall that you can't find, and the customer service is horrible. Twice they have cut my service off and I paid the bill. I had to show proof of payment to get the service turned back on. On top of that, the women running the inside are just rude. They act this way because they know that they are the only ones to service the area. They need to be shut down. I would rather deal with the city to get water. Pros: There are no Pros!! Cons: Awful customer service!! more

I just bought a home in Pooler four months ago, and aside from the office being a hole-in-the wall basement on Oglethorpe, with nothing but a glass window, the lady was rude and uncaring. She said, ""Give me $100 for your deposit, and your check isnt going to bounce is it?"" What the @#!? I haven't been back there since, and if I could change my service, I would. It seems like everyone else has the same issues with this place. We need to report them to the Better Business Bureau. They suck Pros: nothing, they provide you water, thats it Cons: Rude, uncaring, uncourteous more

Lets see.... I bought my first house, lord only knew i had to use this company and no one else !!! So, i call to see about setting up service. Told it would be a 50 dollar deposit. Once i get there, it turns out to be 100 dollars. I ask her when would i get the deposit back, she said when i move. I explained to her that i just bought my house outright, no mortgage and she laughed. Yes, it probably was unreal being that I am only 24. So i get my second bill and doubled since the FIRST. TELL ME HOW YOU PAY 54 just for water and sewer?!?!?! they dont provide trash. When i was living in hinesville, i paid 45 for trash, sewer and water !!!! so i call and ask whats up with my bill, she says if i dont like it, then move...ha what the hell?!?!?! so.....instead of calling again i proceeded to file a complaint with a company that i cant name . ive read many unsatisfied reviews, and if i can get enough behind me...maybe i will see about taking this matter to a courtroom. because, what they are doing is MONOPOLY !! ripping us people off just because we NEED water and have no other choice but to use this private, rude, arrogant, selfish, COMPANY !!!!!!!!! Pros: absolutely nothing Cons: Customer service, rude, hang up on you, liars, and monopoliz more

No online services, c'mon get with the 21st century will ya? Only in the last few months has our bill been jacked up(twice). That's out of almost six years. Not easy to find for those from out of town. Being a military member out of towners are fairly common. Go figure, not real accomodating for this part of their service, it's a military town! Took a month to figure out that the meter reading was bad, after I had to go out and read it for them. So much for the literacy rate of the employees, c'mon it's simple numbers, dude. Overall a decent experience, no real complaints. Pros: Good rates for water usage Cons: occassional hiccups with meter reading and billing more

If you can avoid doing business with this company do so by all means. First off finding the building wasn't the easiest thing. It sits off Oglethorpe with very little signage. When I called to let them know the I couldn't find the building, I was driving on Oglethorpe in my car the lady rudely said ""Get out of your car and walk maybe you will find it then."" When I finally found the building I greeted them with a Good Morning! Her reply was how can I help you with a blank look on her face. (Get some coffee lady) I was trying to start new service. The water was still on at the residence but I needed to put it in my name. However, the last residence left a bill behind. After showing them my lease to prove I had just moved in the place,they told me I would have to pay the outstanding bill from the last residence before I could start new service. I was shocked. I had never heard of this. I couldn't believe they wanted me to do such a thing. Is this legal? Needless to say I refused to pay someone else's bill. I left the office without paying the bill. When I got home after work, the water was OFF! Now that was rude. Unfortunately, I had no other choice but to pay the bill which was left behind by the last residence plus a $50.00 deposit for my account. The people that run this place are rude and unkind. They have you against the wall and they take advantage of it every chance they get. AVOID if you can. Pros: We have water Cons: No online payment, rude customer service more

The customer service is unprofessional. When you visit the office, you are not treated in a courteous manner and I have visited often. One time a broken pipe within twenty feet of my home, as well as many others, was being serviced. Not one of the four employees had the decency to knock on anyone's door to notify that the water would be unavailable for several hours. If I had the choice to change, I would have canceled my service long ago; but we have no choice in our area. Also, the water that is to be maintained by them is often very malodorous. As a result, our family chooses to filter our water before drinking. The staff is not very helpful and seems to be ""pro-company"" versus ""pro-customer"" when approaching any water related issue. The only beneficial aspect of the company is that the water and the monthly bill are provided in a pretty consistent manner. more

First of all I have only been with the company for a month. My mother is with them and it's not by choice. She warned me that they were aawful. They are very rude when you go in the building to talk to them. I went in to pay one day and I had to use the restroom so bad. They were going to close in about 15 minutes, so I asked the teller could I use their restroom. She said we don't have a restroom for non-employees. I said well I have to go really bad but I need to pay this bill before you close. She said, well it looks like you have a decision to make. I wanted to reach through the glass and choke her. Pros: At least I have water. Cons: No online ammenuties, horrible cutomer service more

Let me start by saying this is a privately held utility company in Savannah that has only a certain number of residences it provides water to. With this in mind it is believed that the owners of this company bid with homebuilders for rights to provide service, once they have aquired these rights they begin tearing the consumer a new one in misc fees and surcharges. I myself live on less than a quarter of an acre, and run my irrigation system for an hour once a week, my water bill AVERAGES $189.00 PER MONTH this is insane my water bill is more than my electric bill. Ive checked the meter and everything is fine other than the fact Im getting ripped off. Unfortunately we as homeowners have no choice in providers so let the monopoly begin. My suggestion is that if you move to Chatham Co please do yourself a favor no matter how beautiful the house always research and ask about the utility companies. If I would have I would have saved a lot of money. Pros: water Cons: water bill is more expensive than my electric bill.................. more