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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'm going to report this because this is really a consumer dogfight and not a caregiving issue.

Admins: please delete this post.
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Isthisrealyreal Jan 10, 2024
Admins, please ignore geatons request.
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You are all right that there is more going on than we can possible help with, I'm betting the new neighbours assert/believe the tank and well water are theirs and theirs alone and have informed the installer of this.
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AlvaDeer Jan 10, 2024
Oh, wow. I bet you have something here. Water right. The new coming wars.
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You should probably start by contacting your county's Public Health/DEP departments, since they are the ones who usually oversee water issues. Explain the situation to them and be guided by their advice.

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.
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I would call the police, it is illegal in many states, if not all to cut water services, especially with vulnerable people, which is what seniors are classified as.
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Geaton777 Jan 10, 2024
This is not a case where a utility company did the shut-off... it is a consumer dispute between the OP and a private installer who may have screwed up and isn't admitting it, OR the OP isn't giving us all the details. I don't think the police have any power in this type of dispute. It's a dispute, not a crime. I searched online for quite a bit and nothing about calling the police came up.
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Did this contractor not get paid? Otherwise what is the reason they give for not turning the water on?

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.
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I live with my mother. She has been in the same home since 1979,

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.
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Geaton777 Jan 10, 2024
So, the neighbor is getting water from this same new tank but your parents aren't?

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?
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Clearly there is a whole lot more to this dispute than any of us on Forum could imagine or know. I honestly don't see what input we could have on this. I would be very careful in YELP reviews not to libel or defame a company; things often go South from there in a bad way. These companies can afford lawyers often enough much better than their Mom and Pop customers.

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.
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