Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Review

Won't release a final statement because my name is no longer on the bill. It's a "final statement" for a reason... Horrible work ethics!

If I could give LESS than a 1, then I would. Why would yall lazy tails put a number out there if you wont answer. It's NO WAY I should be on the phone for this long, listening to this pathetic ring back tone.

BEWARE: if you call you will be treated like garbage. Worst customer service ever. I was given attitude, unprofessionalism at its fullest. I was hung up on and transferred to a survey 4 times before i got someone patient enough to help me.

Maybe if people paid their water bill the city could afford to hire better employees!!! Constantly see on the news people trying to get out of a shut off. Pay your damn bill like most people and you don't have to worry about it.

I m on hold for a long time it feel like one person work there

They stopped sending email invoices without notification

A residential water service broke in my neighborhood and took 8 days to fix meanwhile water was flowing all over the place and created a pond out front. This is not the first time the water board has taken over a week to fix a service on their side of the shut off valve in my neighborhood.

If I could give negative stars, I would. Dealing with DWSD has been horrible. From being given incorrect information to being on hold for long periods of time to refusal to refund my deposit. We will not work in Detroit any more.

Called and was on hold for 22 minutes. No one ever answered. Unacceptable.

Stayed on the phone for 2hours waiting for someome to answer and then a lady came to the phone and hung up. One month they charged me for illegally using when my water was NEVER shut OFF never got a shut off notice and I always paid my bill. And now i have an issue because my house caught fire and I haven't been at my home for 2 months. And I've gotten billed for both months and not just that.. The 2 bills are higher than it was when I was actually in the house!!!! IM ON MY WAY TO THEY OFFICE NOW!!

Extremely long wait times and incompetent/rude employees. Service is awful & good luck on getting any questions answered. Yet another reason to avoid living in Detroit.

Much better than the office on grand river. The office on grand river is much slower and the reps talk to people any kind of way. They are more helpful at this location and faster.

Very rude in person. You are called being loud for asking for disability acommodations. Then guard was very loud and loudly told me to leave. It was my pleasure to do so.

I'm disabled and I received quick and great service

Welcoming from the security guard to the customer rep who was very understanding.
Not a lot of people waiting which I credit to the multiple methods of payment kiosks and online payment systems. Less people. More technology. Better service.

You can never get someone on the phone to help you. I would love it if you could do everything online.

This is the worst bussiness ive ever dealt with they all need to be fired

Ive been calling this place for over a week each time dtaying on hold more then a hour no one never answers. I have the screen shots. Ill be filing a report with the better business bureau they make you give a star to comment it today os 9-9 ive been on hold since 8am its 8:40 now

They have absolutely ZERO regard for anyone's time.

I was double charged on my water bill when I went onto the payment site and paid with my debit card...double payments came off my card because of a computer glitch and now they are telling me I can not be refunded for the over payment...and that they do not see the double payment even though my bank statement proves this...and to make the matter worse the CSR acted like she could not hear me and disconnected the call. Have to call back and wait on hold for a long time again... I would like to speak to the commissioners office!!!!!

SERVICE IS GARBAGE. I HAVE A PROPERTY IN DETROIT AND IVE LOST OUT ON THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS BECAUSE AFTER 20+ PHONE CALLS NO ONE HAS EVEN ATTEMPTED TO COME TURN OFF MY WATER. THEY ARE TERRIBLE! I TRIED TO GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT IN THE BEGINNING BUT THAT WAS THE WRONG MOVE ON MY PART. ALWAYS ON HOLD FOR 45 MINUTES PLUS AND WHEN SOMEBODY FINALLY PICKS UP THEY TELL ME SOME BS LIKE SOMEBODY WILL CONTACT YOU WITHIN 24 HOURS BUT EVEN THEY KNOW THATS A LIE. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE WORKERS.

Again and again I have contacted DWSD about a water bill on a water bill on a property I no longer own. It has been almost a year since the property closed, paperwork filed and STILL I get water bills. I hope they resolve this issue.

THE STAFF IS GREAT. KENYA SMITH WAS NOT HAVING IT, SHE WAS NOT LETTING ME LEAVE WITHOUT AN ANSWER AND A SOLUTION. SHE TOOK TIME OUT OF HER BUSY DAY TO GO UP TO HER SUPERVISORS OFFICE AND GET OUR MATTER CLEARED UP. HER SUPERVISOR IN TURN WENT TO HER SUPERVISOR AND PRESENTED KENYA'S SOLUTION AND GOT US ANSWERS. ITS PEOPLE LIKE HER WHO MAKE THIS CITY A WONDERFUL PLACE!!! THANKS AGAIN!! WERE LUCKY TO HAVE YOU WORKING FOR US!!!

Every time you call you wait for at least 20 min. They don t tell you before they are coming they say 24 hrs and don t give you updates. Would give no stars if possible.

They are liars, poor customer service, not for the people

The people who work for the Detroit water department are the worst people that wprk for our city we've had tjem out to check our meter and all they did was look at the outside line when i told them to check the basement one because it spins when there is no water being used. We have never had a bill over 100 dollars now after 2 months it jumped to 1600$ they want to say thats what we owe and have to pay it.

Our service was turned off, for absolutely no reason. We ve never missed a payment.
Someone came by yesterday, while I was home, and turned off our service. Without ever knocking. I can t get a hold of anybody on the phone. Have been on hold for an hour and a half.
This is unacceptable. I ve never dealt with worse service.
If someone from the department is ever checking this, please email me directly. I am going to be filing a formal complaint.

Shame on the DWD, been on hold for 1 hour and 47 minutes and no answer. Shame on Detroit

I don't know where they investing their million dollar of fund when still with more broken system. Hour long waiting time on customer service line. Never get expected service while in service center in Downtown. No case or reference number has been given regarding the matter. So there are no clue that what happening with your issue. Every time need to start from beginning.

Went into the Grand River office the security guy was very helpful and the wait was only a few minutes and the staff member was very helpful and provided me with everything I needed and answered all my questions.

Called 3 days in a row water leaking in basement. From street they claimed some one was coming out still waiting have to vacum water up carpet in basement had to throw out going to call office and see what happens if not going to take action if nothing is done. My furnace hot water tank freezer and other. Pothwr is in tge oath of the water worst servuce i ever had but tgey have bo problem turnibg off your water

So I see that all of a sudden City of Detroit Water has taken some of the bad reviews off, and had a few people put on there some good reviews. This isn't helping because there is still so many bad ones. Why not just fix what is wrong so you won't have so many complaining about you guys?!! I seriously do not usually take time from my busy schedule to sit up writing bad reviews unless a business has TERRIBLE service. Like it has to be multiple times of bad service. The only way that someone can get threw over the phone to customer service (sometimes !!) is to call as soon as they open. Over 6 times have I sat up waiting for over 30 minutes to have their phone just disconnect and hang up. Who has the time for this?!! If you live out of Detroit, how do you contact them? Is this some type of scheme to be able to turn off someones water when you cant get information on your account or take someones house for not paying a bill? Hey city of detroit water, read these reviews. DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!! I KNOW YOU HEAR AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON

In line 5 hours to pay bill. People passing thought they were giving away freebees.its inhumane and cruel treatment. Thanks Gary Brown. He dies not care about people. Hanicapped and senior citizens standing in line. I threw up so bad when I got back to my car.

I think it would be nice if the contracters and who ever it is that's working out on the streets would tell us they are turning the water off BEFORE they do it!!!

DWS is the worst company to deal with. I never in my entire life seen a company so slow in recieving a payment by money order. Then i was told that they are going to charge a late fee because my payment is late. Its not my problem that they are slow! I just notified the BBB, and told them the whole story that I hope that they will help. I don't drive! What part of that don't they understand? They keep telling me to go to a payment center to pay for the bill, how can i get there if i don't drive? I also have to take a cab to the local store that pays all bills not just one! I am NOT going to three different payment centers spending $250 each month in cab rides, in detroit to pay for three separate bills just to make people happy. Then they tell me to pay by card. I don't have a bank or a card for that.
Why should i spend more money than i half too just to get a stupid water bill payed. It costed me money to have a bank account back then, and also to have a bank card. I'm not that rich, other wise I would not be living in Detroit at all! DWS don't even give a Grace period to the people who are late for whatever reason why! DTE & AT&T does! but DWS don't BS! BS! BS! and more BS! They need to get their priority strait, and give people a chance to pay their bills! Not threaten to charge for a past due balance just because they are one day late or ten days late. They should be happy that they are getting paid at all!

ZERO STAR! If that was an option they'd be my choice!
Long hold times when you call and the phone reps are extremely rude. The company needs to educate their phone reps on customer service. I hate companies that feel as if they can treat you any way they please because you don't have another option for water in Detroit. You have no choice but to deal with this company and I HATE this company and how the people in the city are treated by their staff!

Terrible service terrible, they never answer the phone, I havent received a bill in 4 months, I have to go the office on Grand river and its 6 people behind the window loligagging and the line is backed up

Incredibly slow and inefficient. And they lock their doors early. The lack of customer service skills is almost impressive.

Awful, awful service - I wish I could go to a competitor. The longest "hold times" I have ever experienced, and awful music to have to listen to - I am guessing some people hang up after listening to this music over and over and over. When rep got on phone, I told her I was having difficulty setting up "auto-pay" and could she walk me through it - no, she could not as she has not been trained on that process - I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told a supervisor would have to call me back....2 days later and I am still waiting for supervisor to call me back. Here I am trying to pay my water bills automatically - you would think they would be excited about this.....how incompetent can an organization be - The head of this organization and all of his/her lieutenants should be fired and start from scratch - with no experience at a public utility, I could do better!

Every time I have called I get the same message " we are experiencing an abnormally high volume of calls. Your call will be answered in the order it was rec'd.". After being on hold for a very long time I end up just just giving up. If they have inordinate amounts of calls on a daily basis that tell me they need to hire more peiplr I live in the far west section and find it is quicker to just go there. I've also tried calling to pay my bill over the automated system but all I get are screeching noises when I'm trying to enter my acct number. They really should fix this. I never have problems like this with the automated system at DTE

On hold as I am writing this no one has pick up the phone very unprofessional invery

If you guys keep acting like this we as people will be looking forward to a new water and sewage company else where!
They'll serve us better than you.

I am a Facility manager trying to report low water pressure to our fire pump system. I sat on hold for 30 minutes and finally started calling back over and over until I had someone answer. Ms. Kennedy was wonderful . We are a 160,000 sqft manufacturing business and water supply is critical for supporting life safety of our employees.

I started an account. Told them the house doesn't have water turned on. They told me they've never turned it off and to try checking indoor valves. I check everything. Call to report a no water issue. They tell me i need to be at the property for 24 hours for an emergency team to assess it. I have a life. I have responsibilities. And i don't live there because..... wait for it.... there's no water. #Democrats #walkaway

Update: Pipes burst during the vortex. 3 feet of water in my basement and electric appliances submerged They said it's illegal for me to turn it off myself from the curb and they could maybe come out within the next 2 days to turn off the water. TWO DAYS FOR AN EMERGENCY! 43,384 gallons on my bill. They said they don't do adjustments for burst pipes "otherwise we would have to do it for everyone". You should do it for everyone, actually.

This is the worst city I've ever lived in and the worst municipality I've ever dealt with. I'm sorry I ever invested in Detroit. I'm getting dumping this property and moving to a neighboring city ASAP.

Make sure you have all day to sit on hold. Over an hour now and i m still on hold.

I call them and I don't get straight answer from them , plus the act like little children when you put your foot down on them , & They can not face the truth when you tell them about the way that are acting . If I could give no Stars I would .

Horrible customer service. They give you the run around and do not want to do their job.

I waited an hour and nobody answer the phone. I was charged twice on my credit card

All I want to do is find out my balance and pay my bill. I don't have my account # available. I just waited a full 30 minutes on the phone and I finally hung up. When you say longer than normal wait times......you take it to the extreme.

Can't walk and they said I can't send someone else down there have to be me. AS LONG THEY GET THE MONEY .I DONT SEE THE PROBLEM!! I NEED HELP.

They owe me a refund for my deposit due to me never moving into the home I was suppose to. It has been 3 months and I still have not received my refund. I call daily, no answer. I have waited on hold for a hour and still nobody ever answered.

We was very please we knowlege attention and professionalism of the service provide by Carlos the cubic number six.

If very poor customer service was a form of torture in the 9th Circle of Hell, the DWSD is what the 9th Circle's customer service would be modeled after.

My experience was actually pleasant. The lady who helped me explained everything. The guard watched my bag that I forgot on the chair and was very nice to me. Even the woman standing outside the building helped me by guiding me to the right door. The wait wasn't long. It was my first time dealing with DWSD. Am glad I was there on a day when everyone was helpful and kind.

If I would give zero stars I would, 1. They gave a notice 4 days for shutoff (on a Friday) with no prior notices. 2. They then shut off the water a day EARLIER than represented in the notice. 3. I waited 30 minutes for representative who proceeded to "accidently" hang up. Waited another 30 minutes for a rude representative to give me no information on when they would send someone out to turn on the water.

Awful crooked department.

I was on hold yesterday for a hour and a half and gave up today so far ive been on hold 35 min today...

Honestly we have better services in Iraq and the sad part is there is no water there lmao! What a joke, i can t believe they re actually called city water

If I could've give them a zero star rating I would have. I've sat on hold for over 3 hours and still have not even spoken to a real person. Instead I've listened to the same soft pop instrumental for 3 hours. I don't know if there is a hell in this world or the next but the Detroit Water & Sewage Department customer service line comes very close to representing what I believe it would be like.

This department weights the city down. Employees don't care about you . You won't get help unless you yell at management for 6 months.