PWD Con???

[goobee2]

Hi All,

Happy Rainy / Sunny Friday,

Did anyone in QV have a respresentative from the PWD come to their house to read the meter, yesterday??? I have an elderly relative that is staying with me who informed me that a PWD employee came to our house to read the meter. She rightfully asked for his ID and he produced some badge. I find this realy strange becuase the meter has not been read by a rep in about 10 years that i can remember. I found it more strange when I was told that the rep said he had an container ( juice) that he had to throw out in the kitchen. My relative told him, " that is ok leave it on the table and I will take care of it"

me

[robot]

I had a guy come out yesterday to change the battery in the meter. That is what lets it communicate with the trucks wirelessly. He said they need to be changed every 12 years or so.

[catmom3]

Is she sure he said 'read' the meter? I had the PWD come by last Saturday to replace my meter, which he said they do about every 10 years. He took a bunch of readings from the meter and then put a new one on, it was all done in about ten minutes. No juice box to throw away, though.

[goobee2]

I had a guy come out yesterday to change the battery in the meter. That is what lets it communicate with the trucks wirelessly. He said they need to be changed every 12 years or so.

That is good news. I am sure that was the case and she got the information confused or just thought the PWD only comes out to read meters.

thanks

[catmom3]

I wonder why they replaced a battery for robot but gave me a whole new meter? Maybe mine was an older type, though it is wireless. In any case, the whole deal was done quickly and the tech was very polite, showed me his photo ID at the door without me asking for it.

[ShoshTrvls]

I got a note on my door earlier in the week that PWD had come by to change the battery.

[Jam2]

We had a guy out to change the battery in the meter on Thursday. Not sure why PWD doesn't send a notice that someone will need to come into your house. I wasn't too thrilled that my wife let him in while I was at work.

[palvar]

I had a guy come to do the same thing about 6 months ago in Passyunk Sq.

[concourse]

We had a guy out to change the battery in the meter on Thursday. Not sure why PWD doesn't send a notice that someone will need to come into your house. I wasn't too thrilled that my wife let him in while I was at work.

I know their billing system is horrible, but I'd love to see an email saying "we're coming to your house in the next day or two". One can dream.

[PhilaCap]

PWD lies! I have a Google!

[catmom3]

Don't get me started on billing. I haven't gotten a bill in months. Every month when I am paying PGW and PECO, I go to the city website and get my water bill today to pay online through my bank. Of course you have to know your account number for that, the city has no look-up function, or alternate search by address so I have a year-old bill tucked away that I use to enter my number.

[yc123]

A guy came by my house this week asking to change the battery on the meter. He handed me a pamphlet that described what they were doing, and the pamphlet stated that the technician will carry a PWD ID, drive a PWD marked van/truck, and will be in uniform. Item # 1 was true....he had an ID, although in this day and age, its not very hard to come up with a fake. He said his van was parked around the corner and he was not wearing a uniform. To say the least, I was skeptical. I called PWD and they confirmed this person was legitimate so I let him in to do the work and it took about 5 minutes.

It's crazy to me with all of the scams and home invasions that you read about, that PWD would send people around knocking on doors without any proper notice.

[thegreattwizz]

I saw the PWD meter reader truck on Front the other day, and looked as though they were having trouble with readings; kept stopping and backing up.

[Jayfar]

We got the door hanger about the meter battery replacement last week. Actually, they rang our 3rd floor buzzer, but I ignored it, since I wasn't expecting anyone. No matter, as basement access in my building is through the first floor apartment only.

[Dave]

Yeah, we got a visit this week. The guy was dressed the same way as some guy who came by a while back trying to get me to switch energy providers, and I also didn't see a PWD truck, so I was pretty skeptical. If you do a google search, there's a PDF document, and a PS thread for another neighborhood that links to the document, which explains the situation. It said we'd received an insert with our water bill that explained it, and I don't remember seeing one. I tend to throw out the inserts without looking at them, though, since they've always been worthless in the past.

[mixiboi]

Yeah...Maybe i they text everyone then people would know.


and at the guy who got mad at his wife judgement skills...

[Dave]

All I ask is that they send a separate mailer that only contains an announcement about the meters. If they're going to include junk inserts with the bills every month, they shouldn't be surprised when people toss the occasional important one in the recycling bin without reading it. That's assuming they did send one, which I've heard/seen no evidence that they actually did.