Orange County Utilities Dept Reviews

I would put 0 if I could.. they wouldn't know customer service if it killed them , both the representative and the manager were extremely rude with absolutely no sense of compassion or understanding. I was put on hold for over 15 minutes while waiting for a manager only to be told at first that there wasn't one only after insisting there must be SOMEONE else I could speak with besides the utterly rude and seemingly clueless "kimberly" i spoke with originally and waiting an additional 10 minutes to speak with someone only for her to ADMIT that they had recieved received my paperwork from the landlord and she didnt know why i hadnt been contacted back yet when i spoke with someone earlier who just needed a payment im not sure how it advanced to needing 3 business days before i can start my service and now my family has to wait at least the weekend without water because someone forgot to do their job.... wonderful! A real treat ocu

I always have problems when calling OCU. First, the automated guy thats answers first cuts out so we can't hear the full menu. Then there is always a long wait which is fine because there is a call back service so you don't have to wait listening to that awful elevator music lol unfortunately when it called me back I sat on hold for 5 min then it just hung up on me? :(
Anyway, the reason I was calling in the first place was because the trash collection truck drivers are so lazy on my street they're always knocking over bins so there is trash in the street. Then it's like they pick and choose which bins to unload. I follow the 3 feet rule yet I come out to find my recycling bin full? Sorry about the ramble.

The customer service is sooooooooooooooo BAD, they get on each other nerves. I asked a very direct question, the lady behind the counter was so rude that a lady that sit at the desk came over and answered it. How do we get them to fire EVERYONE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE and hire someone worthy of the jobs?

Service wasn't bad, I was on hold for a moment before the representative answered the call which was my only complaint. She was professional and processed my payment quickly.

I have never had a long wait I have always been greeted and treated with respect and a smile

Our experience over 2 decades has always been positive.

Nothing is EVER their fault/responsibility!!! Plus, they charge $34 to come out and check it!! Terrible customer service!!!

I have been waiting for almost 2 months for a trash can. The response I get is We can put in a request for them to pick up your bags without the bin .

They almost always miss picking up my trash bags that are out by the road and they sit there for days.
Why am I paying taxes for a service I m not receiving?

I know it s your own fault for not paying your bill on time and getting your water shut off, but it seems like a horrible way to do business by having somone leave a note and then have to come back. Why not try and have the owner, if home, settle the account so you don t have to come back. Also, the phone menu is a nightmare. Got disconnected 8 times just trying to go through to customer service. No calls back as was offered.

Its amazing that service is this bad. An hour or more wait times to get someone on the phone . Orange county utilities is absolute garbage.

Very poor company and customer service skills with all of their employees in person and over the phone. I worked for a call center before and I have to say that every single person they have there needs to be retrained or tbh FIRED THEY ARE SO TERRIBLE AT THEIR "JOBS" AND SO UPSET WITH THEIR JOB POSITIONS THAT THEY INSPIRE TO MAKE YOUR DAY Miserable as well whenever you call or go in office.

My father spoke to one of the representatives and she was so rude.

I'm sorry to see the many negative reviews for this company. I've dealt with Orange County Utilities 3 times in the past month over the phone and have had great and prompt service with them.

Can you have the e-mail send the paper to collection pls thank you. The first call to customer service is terrible.

SHAME of you guys! My neighbor is 80 years old and needs a walker to walk. Your new trash rule is that trash needs to be in a can to take it. She puts a little tiny shopping bag of trash out and your guys will not take it because its not in the special trash cans. She is so old she cant even roll the can to the cirb because its so big... SHAME SHAME SHAME on you. Public company finding ways to do less work for more money.

worst service ever. They turned my house water off with no notice and i called the customer support to check what was going on. They said my documents ID and SS were rejected by their system. i drove 40 mins to their office and a young lady was so tired(for my surprise) to solve my problem. She said was my score which i proved that was not opening the FICO app in front of her. After she said my SS was new (5 year old). Finally, no reason found they are ok to turn the water on again for $16 fee. For my surprise, it is scheduled 2 days after the water is off. it means, 2 days with no water at home with a 3 years old daughter living at the house. My conclusion, actually those lazy people work for us, right? I am their boss since i contribute for paying their salaries and why they treat us with no respect. In a private business, it is called low performance and most of the cases they are being fired for that reason.

An hour wait everytime I call! Even first thing in the morning? Need more people answering the phone or something

What a horrible company! Got a call saying that they sent a final bill to collection agency. Thank God I don t have to deal with this company ever again! They sent the bill to the wrong address and I never got it! I haven t lived at that address for over two years and it was in a different state. Instead of calling me at my number on file and asking why they never receive payment. They turned it into a debt collection agency.. How unprofessional!

Set up auto pay and never have an issue with my bill or service

Just pay your fricking bill on time and your water won't get turned off. It's not exactly rocket science. You can set up a payment plan. All the one stars are because the idiots don't pay their bills.

Absolutely horrible customer service. I was late 30 days on my bill . . . ok, my mistake, it happens. I came home from work and all I wanted was a shower, but they disconnected my water. I called up and spoke to a girl who was rude. She said her shift was over and hung up on me. Now they are closed and I can't get a hold of anyone to turn my water back on. Now I'm going to have to wait until they open in the morning and hopefully they turn the water on before company shows up tomorrow. What a bunch of crap. I'd rather them add late fees instead of disconnecting service, it's a big inconvenience for me AND the poor soul who as to drive out to my house to reconnect the meter.

Every year they read my meter wrong and when I call to get it corrected, I get blamed for their drivers not doing their job. Wendy says, sometimes people read a 6 as a 9 it's just human error. And I ask what the readings were? 122 changed to 111. So she tried to justify it by pointing out a mistake that my current wife missed from two years ago. Look look! we must be right cause we screwed you before and got away with it!

I don t know where they all have got all these negative experiences but I was there today with my little girl. And the employees were very friendly and patient with me. My baby was little noisy but I didn t notice any act of rudeness. They provided to me all correct information and helped me to get the best service. Thank you again!

They came out and quickly solved a blockage problem. Thanks!

phone service is the most annoying and feeble system I have ever encountered. Impossible to get to a representative. 30 minute wait time. Horrible online website presence. Have they ever tried their own system?

My water service was disconnected, on Thursday. 11/21/2019.I got paid on Friday 11/22/2019 I called and paid for services to be reconnected at 8am 11/22/2019. They said the technician will be out between 1pm-8pm on today 11/22/2019!!! Well it s 9pm and my water is still not on. They also, said the tech that is doing my service is off at 830pm!! I have 7 kids under the age of 18 in my home and we need our water on. If I don t get water I the next hour I m calling channel 9 because of the sanitation of this situation... It s the weekend and with 7 kids under 18, I would have to get a hotel room for the weekend for, safety and sanitation reasoning. If I do have to get a room for the weekend I will need to be reimburse for this!!!

Custumer service was not helpful so when I ask for a manager they put me on hold for 15 minutes and then said no one is available. I will update my review if someone from OCU calls me back.

Once I got through all of the press this and that's, the service was fantastic.

The city spends more time writing violations for incorrect watering days of lawn than providing water for our city. If there seems to be a shortage of water (there is not) then do your job and create a more efficient facility that can clean water. Last I checked Florida is basically a swamp.

Our utilities are too expensive to deal with city fines for turning the sprinkler on Tuesday instead of Sunday.

And stop standing outside of my house taking pictures of my sprinklers. You people are weird.

47 minute wait to speak to a rep to discontinue service! Glad I didnt have anything important to do today!

HORRIBLE SERVICE, waited on the phone for hours. Everyone was incredibly unfriendly and not helpful what so ever. I had to speak with three different people to get services started because no one was capable to get me the right account number.

Called them during business hours and was on the line until 5pm and no response.

The customer service representative are doing great work. But the billing system is fraudulent. The field guys do not have latest bill pay information so the will disconnect your utility even if you have deposit on account in excess of billed amount and or even if you have made payment before disconnect. They should step up enenforcement of back flow preventer. One of the highest excess fees if you use credit card to pay bill.

Bad business. Living in my house 10 years. Their service refuses to collect waste. Refuses to collect yard waste too after they misinformed me. Told me it is my problem. And that I need to be compliant. After they made mistakes. No sense of customer service at all. I even told these folks send the truck and I will lift the waste on my own with my 12 year old kid. And let you all collect a pay check for doing nothing. These people are sick. Refusing to work and getting paid and zero accountability.

As a follow up, my items were picked up on an unscheduled day from the same location. My trees were picked up as long as I picked them up and placed them in trash cans and the drivers only needed to lift the can to dump it.

Services turned on May 30th and moved in June 1st. First thing we noticed is a spigot has been running for who knows how long. All I got told was the tech didn't see the meter spin so tough

Paid our water bill late. It was shut off at noon. They were busy today but said they'd try to get to us today if not, tomorrow. Called at 830 pm and told them we have a whole family trying yo shower for school and whatnot. The manager I guess got on the phone and said he's going to send someone out and it's 10 pm and they still came!! Excellent service. Glad they care. It was totally our mistake. Best company!!

PHONE CUSTUMER SERVISE IS HORRIBLE!!!! I called orange county utilities to pay my bill, I asked Amanda which ways of communication they have in their system before disconnecting my service because I was already scheduled for disconnection, she said a phone number and email"""" which she gave me a email that it was not set up with our acct and she stated that was a email the system had for years ago""""" I told her if we don't pick up the phone or did not listen to the v voicemail, please a email will really work for us, I also told her we never provided the email she had in her system, SHE REPLIED "WELL WE CAN NOT PUT YOUR PHONE IN YOUR EAR TO HEARD THE VOICEMAIL OR TO PICK UP THE PHONE""""" AND I SAID EXCUSE ME ?? YOU DONT HAVE TO BE SARCASTIC OR DISRESPECFUL. ALL YOU NEED IS THE RIGHT EMAIL!!!! I ASKED FOR THE SUPERVISER NAME, AM LOOKING FOWARD TO SPEAK TO HIM.

Neighbor's tree branches are in my.power lines I've called 4 times and nothing has happened

Been with OCU a long time. Never had a problem, not sure what the complaints are for. I guess people cant pay their bills on time. Great service all around.

This company is a POS they really think since its ran by Orange County government they can do whatever they like. I was in the hospital the month of October and missed out on a lot of work. Told I had until Wednesday to pay asked for another week and was told nothing could be done. Asked to speak to a supervisor and was told I had until Friday I asked her why did your employee say I had until Wednesday? She then said no guarentee's but until Friday or your subject for disconnection. Is this how you guys treat people right out the hospital? Horrible.

I have OCU for Water and OUC for electric. OCU is at least 100 times better than OUC. I usually get a hold of people quickly at OCU and they're usually very helpful and knowledgable.

My neighbors house had a waterline leakage and the water was gushing out. This happened early morning right after July 4th. She called Orange County Utilities. Technician Meghan Martim came and checked everything on a very short notice and explained the problem.
Excellent service. Thank you.

Been waiting 6 weeks for yard waste to be picked up. Constantly have issues on my street that the yard waste truck doesn t come down our street and do pickups. We have to call or email to complain. And it takes weeks to see anything get done. Apparently it s the best job in the world. You don t have to do your route and still get paid! Never used to be a problem but past two years has been a consistent issue. Why are we expected to pay full bills on time when they can t provide the service they are supposed to?!

Customer service is absolutely horrible whoever Juan is and his damn supervisor is Felipe both need to be fired ridiculous how they speak to people

Had a power surge on my irrigation system when I was on vacation. My water bill was
600% over last years usage.
Asked them I d they would adjust my bill and they said no.
So $389 water bill for water that went back into the ground.
When called opted for call back, when I got the call back it put me on hold for 10 minutes
This is why the government should not be in any consumer type businesses.

Just started my service. The customer service representative I spoke with was so kind, very sweet, felt like I was talking to a friend. So far, my experience with OCU is great.

This is the WORST utility company I have unfortunately had. Their fees are outrageously high!! I pay more in their bogus fees than I do in USAGE!! I long for the days of $20 water bills, which was only a year ago.. Now I pay $27 just in the flat fees!! Certainly higher than any other utility company I had in the past, only wish I could PICK my utility company.

The water Dept are straight thrives! My property was empty between 12/15-1/27/2021 and the meter fixed charge was more than the consumption of water.
Not cool! Folks, check that out yourself on your bill.

No one has been reading our meter correctly it's been covered by dirt and the glass fogged and scratched on the meter. However the supervisor told me that they don't need to clearly read the meters as long as it is close to the avg use. That is a pathetic system. I am now contacting news channels and setting up cameras to document the meter readers actions. Every employee on the phone was rude and transferred us to a different Dept. Orang County Water Utilities are thieves who should be audited.

Too bad you can't leave a 0 star review. You guys are literal garbage!

I called and had the water turned off as I had moved out and sold my townhouse. A month later I received a bill for $70.67 when I called there was not a Supervisor/ Manager I could speak to. Poor customer service and horrible how they can take advantage of people for a necessity.

Very bad Customer Service.. The ones who have written the good remarks are employees. I hate this company!! I have Nothing good to say about it. When you walk into the office, the workers don't acknowledge you they roll their eyes like they dont feel like being bortherd at work.... Lol

Went into this location today, expecting a battle to get services started at my new home. 1st person was the Gaurd. Very nice and respectful. I signed in, waited a min or two and was greeted by the very nice and informative account person that helped me set up. Im writing this to say thank you to the fine people at that office that helped me.

My landlord really dropped the ball and did not tell Orange County Utilities that we had moved in, so our water service was shut off . But ANTHONY from Orange County Utilities stepped up and helped us get water back on-- after hours... THANK YOU ANTHONY!!!!!!

had to update credit card info for auto pay. very smooth

I wish I could give them zero stars. They have disconnected our water in error six times. SIX TIMES. I have run outside to show my confirmation that we paid our bill, but the rude technician just tells me to take it up with their customer service line and then throws the stupid red card at my door. This is why we need to be able to change water companies.

The rudest and slowest people ever and im still on hold 1HOUR IN already

I call because I just move and I see a note in my door I wander if it s not a spam so I call , the guy ask me my name and then my social security, I start ask questions and he it s so rude and mad because I asking questions, unbelievable , they want our money for a horrible water and also I have to deal with these un respectful people

Great overall always helpful but one day the customer service representative called Anthony is horrible at his job, he didn t even pull up my info and already wasn t able to help me., then he hung the phone up in my face for me not liking his service lol

Your system to verify credit is flawed and antiquated. Using only one credit bureau, Equifax, whom does not update their information produces wrong data to you. We bought a house in Lake Nona under our real name (birth certificate and driver's license verified) and you changed it to someone else whom we do not know because of Equifax records . The other Credit Bureaus have her correct information but your management team refused to double check and will not change the owner's correct name because they are stubborn and says that is their only policy. Poor poor poor managerial decision making.

I have been a customer with OC Utilities for over a year now & my bill has been consistent but for the past two months (June & July), it has doubled. I requested a water audit which clarified absolutely nothing & this was done on 6/12/18. I was then told that a bench test could be done so I expected that to be done shortly after the water audit. It wasn't done until 7/20/18 & my bill is still high with no explanation as to why. I was told that I would have to wait about 2 months for the results but they would "try" to expedite my case. Originally I was told that it would take about a month to get the results of the bench test but this was based on it already being done mid-June. I called last week 7/16/18 to get the results of the bench test thinking that it had already been done & was told that the results were still pending. The rep never said anything about the bench test never being done which is upsetting in itself because I was expecting some results. They offered a payment arrangement on my June bill under the impression that the bench test was being done & I would have my results this month but what ending up happening is they added a portion of last month's bill onto this month's bill which only made it higher than it already was. In a year of service I never had an issue & now all of a sudden, I'm dealing with terrible customer service & the sad thing is that they aren't even empathetic to it.

This review is based off of my initial encounter with OCU. I called today to set up water in my name because the previous owner was still being billed. Due to extenuating circumstances on my part, I had to deal with multiple representatives in customer service. Every person that I came in contact with was informed and genuinely helpful. I wish I could remember all of their names to thank them personally. Here's a situation that could have been a huge hassle yet these people made it painless. Maybe, hopefully, OCU has heard these complaints about bad customer service and they are making some changes? Regardless I have zero complaints.

Very rude lady at customer services. Not helpful at all!!!

The only issue I had with Orange County utilities was promptly addressed by the most polite and helpful customer service representative that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Thank you Sandy!

I have no choice of utilities companies. I have been a customer since September 30, 1998. With the advent of online payments, paying my bill has been made easier. However, after all these years I made a mistake keying in my account information. I was not sent an email but I received an automated phone call telling me my account was delinquent on January 1st. I was told on January 2nd that my bank assessed a fee they passed on to me. In the mail that day I was told in a letter my bank dishonored my payment and I was assessed a fee. The bank did not as it couldn't locate my account. A supervisor today explained their processing company assessed the fee. No courtesy write off here. I apparently was given two opportunities to check my info, that I was sure was correct, or a fee would be assessed. I am certain that because they are a government utility with no competition they don't have to make customers happy like a retail or a bank. I am as upset at being treated like a "deadbeat" as I am at being assessed a $25 fee.

It's to bad service I move to a new house and they said that I have my service on the next day and they never come I have a son with special needs

Do not call them! Go in person. It took me much shorter to show up and resolve my problem, instead waiting hours on the phone. Very positive experience, met nice helpful ladies. My issue became no issue within few minutes. Highly recommend to show up in person. Super nice people.

I wish I had options

I wanted to go and give one star, but I already did. Called to dispute bills, woman got an attitude and told me I can pay it or hang up. Pretty sure the customer is always right

ISSUE was due to faulty flappers. OCU worked with me to get the issues tested in a timely manner. The manager Joe went above and beyond in aiding us with this issue.

This is one of the worse companies that I have dealt with in all my years of using utilities. I work from home, and I am always trying to catch the meter person reading my meter, which I have yet to find. Customer services are not needed because they know and understand that you cannot use another company. I can understand why there are not positive reviews. This is my opinion of my service with this company.

They haven't collected our recycling for 2 weeks now. Totally unacceptable and unhygienic. Then I see a note saying they're refusing to collect my bin because it contains plastic bags. I've been recycling for 30 years and know perfectly well what is recyclable and what isn't recyclable. This company clearly isn't able to handle their city contract. I'll be contacting the city council and protesting. Update: I've contacted Penny Rich, city commissioner. And since I have no assurances that I nor my neighbors won't be billed for this month's services not rendered I will be filing a class action suit to reclaim said payments for this month.

Extremely high bill with no leaks, no sprinkler, no pool and no justification of why my bill is so high.

Wow, you send an email, nobody answers it!!! Even the customer service sucks!!!

Exactly this is been going on for years you go to complain and they treat you like you were a terrorist and they treat you in a very threatening manner I went there one time about four years ago and they treated me very poorly I went very peacefully to complain and they surrounded me with security officers.

I just moved into a new house who I took over from the previous owner. They cut their service off for being late so I set up water service in my name and they never showed up. They say no same day service but won't come out when supposed to. I have 9 people in my house including 3 children and I've been in here with no water for the past 2 days. This state has a lot of issues, I have never heard of the messed up things they do here. Compared to up north this state government is worse. Soon as I'm done school I am out of this crappie state. If no one shows up tomorrow I will take this to the media.

Anthony in the after hours emergency line is AMAZING. The five starts is going directly to him and his services. He went well beyond what he should do and really helped me. Thank you so much. Please show him recognition. I m not sure if there are multiple Anthony s but this was the night of 10/10/2018.

Usually customer service centers take "some" consideration in regards to a customer's needs. This company does not seem to account for that. Very disappointing that such a large company has such poor service.

The phone system is the worst system I have ever delt with, it is so sensitive to noise that even if you drop a peice of hay on the ground it thinks you're saying some random command and stops talking, on top of that there is absolutely no way to talk to a real person regarding a specific question on your account. 30 mins of yelling at the phone and I hung up never to ever try calling this god forsaken number ever again.

All I wanted to do was change the card on file for billing to charge the updated card. No I was not late, and no I didn't have a balance, and no it was not past due, in fact it was charged 4 days ago. The automated system is old, out dated, and cannot get to a live operator until 9 minutes into choosing your select options. It's horrid. I could of gotten a live operator and resolved my issue in 1/4 the time it took for your machine to do it's job. Mind you I was doing this from work so the last thing I wanted to do was to take longer, and try to do it online. Please update, as we are only in the flipping 2019 already!