My mother owed a large water bill. The dep sent out notices in march 2008, saying customers needed to come in before may 19 and come into a payment agreement or they would sell the water lien. She went on march 13 , 2008 and they told her she had to give 900.00 downpayment for an agreement & she had to do this before may 19. She went in on may 5 with the money, then she was told her bills were estimated & they needed to read the meter. They came out on the 6th of may & it was found that the meter was broken.They came on the 8th of may to install a new meter. When she called they told her that she needed to wait 31 days for a reading & they would adjust the bill. She went on may 12, 2008 to pay 1,200 dollars & make an agreement, they still would not allow her to do so.They took the money as a regular payment. On may 22 they sold the lien to a bank on estimated charges. What I do not understand is if she could not make an agreement on estimated charges , why were the able to sell the lien on estimated charges. Please help me. My mother has been to the hospital already for her heart. This is really affecting her health. I want to know how do I proceed to bring suit against them for what they did. She was not the only one who owed water bills, & she went in way before time to fix her bill. I don't think they were fair to her. I know she owes and she is willing to pay, but because of what they did the lien holder is charging a lot of interest and surcharges. Her bill was for 14,000, 6,000 of this amount was interest & late fees. Also if the way they proceeded was not legal can the lien sale be reversed. And what kind of lawyer does she need.

Did you even speak to anyone in person at the water company office about this? The kind of attorney she would need would be a general practice attorney.

Yes. I spoke to three different people in person. At both locations for the DEP. The one I dealt with the most was trying to help. Her and her supervisor spoke with someone in charge and explained that the meter was broken, that there was no accurate reading. Her supervisor said they should have taken the house out of the lien sale until the actual reading. But they refused.

I'm not sure you can sue, since you really have no grounds for it.

But I would contact the media on this. Most newspapers and TV stations have a consumer advocate. This is just the type of story they eat up.

What I'm having a hard time understanding is why the bills got so high. I live in an expensive area and I pay about $200 a year for water. So I'm wondering how someone can build up a $8000 bill.

After my mothers parents died, she took it pretty hard. She had quit her job in 1995 to go live with her parents and care for her mother who was going seenile, while her father was working. Then one day in 1996 her father got sick with high fevers, when she took him to the hospital he was diagnosed with leukemia and died 3 weeks later and her mother died 6 months after. I did not realize how hard she was taking it. She was really withdrawn, by the time I realized it, she had many bills backed up and I have been busy trying to fix them. I have everything else settled except the problem with the water bill. I was just trying to see if I can reverse the lien if they sold it illegally. How could they sell something for an amount that was not accurate. It is not like I didn't try to pay or make an agreement, they made things difficult.

Thank you for responding.

It is very likely she can sue anyone, they were not efficient, they were lousy business people, but the entire amount past due was owed.