California American Water

"Absolute worst experience in my life! I've owned my home for 4 years. My bills have NEVER been over $200. I received a bill of almost $800, I was told my account would be placed on hold, my automatic payments stop and given steps to take to get it resolved. I followed each step, contacted my homeowners insurance to have someone come and look for a leak, which was found and fixed. Submitted all my documents to show proof. This was handled within 4 days of receiving that bill. The $800 was STILL taken out my account. I called to have it reversed, it was reversed and 3 days later taken out again! My account went into overdraft so I inquired numerous fees on top of that. I've called several times and NO ONE could help me. I got a bunch of run around. After 2 weeks, I am finally told I would receive a check in the mail in another 2 weeks. I am extremely upset, you took the money out my account and reversed it back into my account but now I have to wait for a paper check that will arrive in 2 weeks! I wish I could find another company to work with. An entire month to wait for money that should have never been taken out my account in the first place! You are quick to take our hard earned dollars but take your time to resolve our issues. Disappointed!"

"No issues with them so far! Bills are decent for a 3 bedroom home! Had 1 issue with a overly high bill throughout the last 5 years. Customer service was quick to respond and had me complete a form to get money back due to the meter being wrong."

"Horrible customer service. You will wait forever on hold. They have a call-back system but it may be hours later when you’re not expecting it. You can only make phone payments during office hours. According to them, we had a leak in October that cost us nearly $900. On the phone they were very nice about it and told us submit a form, and we would get an adjustment. But it didn’t occur. The website doesn’t work for payment. First they said they were working on it , then they said I was using the wrong browser. So I changed my browser and it still doesn’t Work. I can see my bill, but the page is grayed out Out, so I can’t do anything. If I had any other choice, I wouldn’t work with these crooks."

"American Water is an absolute nightmare. In between months of trying to contact them so I could start service (it was ineligible online for whatever reason) and dealing with other life chaos, they came & shut my water off without notice. Which means my pets & I are stuck without water bill am left unable to shower and brush my teeth before work tomorrow, let alone use the restroom. I also cannot refill my pets water! I talked to two different customer service reps who said they didn’t see my water was disconnected…but there’s no water coming from my faucets! So i will be using water bottles till I am able to know when my water will be back on…as customer service said “just because it’s an emergency to you, does not mean it’s an emergency to American Water.“"

"Worst company ever. I have prepaid my balance for the last 8 years, that is they have me with a credit for at least 8 years for at least $60 in their favor. They held my extra money for all that time. Last month I requested an extension for 30 days on an outstanding balance of $32. Laughable was they denied my extension request, charged me a late fee and threatened to turn off service! Incredible doing this to people during the pandemic and being a monopoly as there is no other choice. You are at their mercy and poor customer service. Try to contact anyone helpful let alone you have no choice but to eat it!!!!"