CA Well Water Tank Service provider knows elderly parents' water is off following water tank service they completed. 12/30/23, I posted a 1*Review on Yelp. Provider called my mother 1/8/24 and demanded that my mother tell me to remove the negative Yelp review and that once the negative review is removed, they would turn my mother's water back on.
What CA water rights are they violating?
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I draw my water from a shared well. It feeds 4 houses, but the actual well is on my property. There is a well maintenance agreement between the houses that draw the water. In part, the home owners each agree to pay equally to repair, replace and maintain the shared equipment for the well - ie. the pump, the pressure tank, the relay switches/electronics, etc. However, each home is responsible individually for the water line that runs from the well to their house.
Additionally, since the well is on my property and the electric account is in our name, each home is supposed to pay $100 per year to offset the electrical costs, but frankly, my husband and I have been paying that bill without collecting the money for years. It's frankly not worth the trouble of tracking people down every year for the sake of $300.00; better to "waive" it for when the ***real*** expenses kick in, like when the pump has needed to be replaced.
A shared well is a real pain in the neck. I'm looking forward to the day when we no longer live here and only have to worry about us on our well.
And ITRR is very correct when she says it isn't legal to shut off water. For example, if we had someone on the well who refused to pay their share for equipment replacement or repair, our only recourse would be small claims court; we would not be allowed to shut off water to that particular house. And in the meantime, we would have to absorb the costs of the repair or maintenance until we got a ruling from a judge. We have been very fortunate that hasn't happened to us, but you never know when someone will get their backs up about not paying their fair share, figuring to make us take them to court to force the issue.
Do you live local to your Mother? Does she have any cognitive or memory issues? Is it possible she isn't giving you accurate information?
Please give more details. This is a global forum and mostly centers around caregiving issues, not consumer issues.
The tank provider services a shared tank/well that my parents jointly own with the neighbor.
Mom has had service with this provider since 1980 then all of a sudden in 2019 when they tried to overcharge her, and she asked for clarification, they started not talking to her and only talking to the NEW neighbor who moved in 2019.
Last service was 11/2023 and my mother paid 1/2 of the tank service bill, $175 in full. After that, her water from the tank to her home stopped.
She then called and paid the tank MANUFACTURER and they came out to the home and said the tank service provider cut and removed parts that was attached to the brand-new water tank.
Have you spoken to the joint tank owner, the neighbor? If so, what was the outcome of this conversation?
Was the provider who did the install approved or recommended or sent by the manufacturer?
There is a lot of disconnect in your story of the events. What reason does the installer give for not turning on your Mom's water when the neighbor is getting water?
Whatever is happening, an adversarial relationship with a provider is in general "not a good thing", and I doubt there would be any help from the law without a good attorney, though if you can prove you are having to provide hauled water to a tank on your property you may win in a dispute in small claims with excellent and documented proof that your water was turned off without reason.