I am writing this because I feel like my Wife and I are victims of this cites corrupt financial system. Our water was turned off yesterday dude to no-payment. It may seem as simple as a customer blatantly not paying their bill but that's not the case. We have been trying to get on a payment plan for our outstanding balance with the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) for almost two years now and have been outright denied. Our outstanding balance as of today is over $2,900.00 due to the corruption withing PWD. The first application we sent was received but was sent back do to insufficient information provided by us allegedly. After getting absolutely everything they asked for (which was not required on the original application) we sent it back in only to receive a shut off notice a month later! This seemed a bit strange considering I watched my Wife spend 2 days copying paperwork and personal information of our family members all stuffed in to a large vanilla envelope. After spending another two hours on hold (It's 2hrs minimum wait time all day) my wife spoke to a representative who told her they never received any of the information! This is when I became suspicious, Followed by our water being shut off! At that time which was about 6 months in to this fiasco we paid to the tune of around $500 to have it turned back on. Third times a charm right? This time I sent the application via certified mail making sure to have every last bit of information they required stuffed in there! Three weeks go by and my Wife receives a cal from PWD with someone telling her we are still missing paperwork!! This was around Christmas at the end of the first year of our nightmare with these people. Things got put on the back burner at that moment after my Wife's Brother almost died and had been in the hospital for three months. My Wife and our family were going through a really hard time already and in late January My Brother In Law died due to the catastrophic failure and incompetence of the people who were supposed to be making him get better!
This as you can imagine would put everything on hold. I had to watch my wife's health deteriorate helplessly as she sunk in to the same type of depression I see on my fathers face every day since he lost his wife, my mom.
The amount of stress my family was experiencing was and still is unbearable. Only to have to the City outright deny us the same support so many others are receiving. Even as legitimate as our story is it won't matter because we are just a dollar sign to them.
We made three more attempts to arrange a payment plan. Two applications were delivered to their office and representative personally and still we were told the information was insufficient and on the final attempt we were told once again that they had not received it! Early on in this hardship the Philadelphia Department Of Revenue placed a Judgement on our home and has threatened to take it.
It has become all too clear that The City Of Philadelphia is corrupt. They would rather force us out of our home to take a lump sum payment rather let us actually pay the bill, which I have never argued not being liable for. It's the City's negligence, denial, and out right extortion that I refuse to pay for. We have contacted any and every emergency funding group and have been denied their services as well.
Today I gave my 4 year old daughter a hand towel bath out of a bucket of water that was collected from the other nights rain. I have worked nearly my whole life to come to this point and time only to keep repeating the words why? I am still a man but if I'm unable to provide for my family with the simplest of requests as water than why am I here? I will tell you why.. Because I refuse to be bullied by this City and the waves of tyranny that flow like the ocean through my God damn streets. The day this city attempts to take my home is the day I die.
Picking a fight isn't hard, standing your ground is.
C.Mayer Sr
If you have read this, Thank You.
This as you can imagine would put everything on hold. I had to watch my wife's health deteriorate helplessly as she sunk in to the same type of depression I see on my fathers face every day since he lost his wife, my mom.
The amount of stress my family was experiencing was and still is unbearable. Only to have to the City outright deny us the same support so many others are receiving. Even as legitimate as our story is it won't matter because we are just a dollar sign to them.
We made three more attempts to arrange a payment plan. Two applications were delivered to their office and representative personally and still we were told the information was insufficient and on the final attempt we were told once again that they had not received it! Early on in this hardship the Philadelphia Department Of Revenue placed a Judgement on our home and has threatened to take it.
It has become all too clear that The City Of Philadelphia is corrupt. They would rather force us out of our home to take a lump sum payment rather let us actually pay the bill, which I have never argued not being liable for. It's the City's negligence, denial, and out right extortion that I refuse to pay for. We have contacted any and every emergency funding group and have been denied their services as well.
Today I gave my 4 year old daughter a hand towel bath out of a bucket of water that was collected from the other nights rain. I have worked nearly my whole life to come to this point and time only to keep repeating the words why? I am still a man but if I'm unable to provide for my family with the simplest of requests as water than why am I here? I will tell you why.. Because I refuse to be bullied by this City and the waves of tyranny that flow like the ocean through my God damn streets. The day this city attempts to take my home is the day I die.
Picking a fight isn't hard, standing your ground is.
C.Mayer Sr
If you have read this, Thank You.