Suburban Water Systems

Their self imposed water surcharges target individuals that are abiding by the state mandates. Their appeal process is a joke and their customer service is worse. I asked for a phone call from one of the appeal board members so I could explain my situation and they assured me it would happen… NEVER DID. I’ve cut my water use by 70% from the previous year and am still paying surcharges to make up for other customers that fail to abide by the mandated cuts. When I did speak with a lady at their office she explained to me that the stage 2 limitations weren’t state mandates, but their company’s way of making sure their state mandated overall customer use dropped at least 25%. Apparently they had been warned by the state that if their customers fail to meet the 25% cuts, Suburban would be fined.
Suburban’s blanket policy regarding their self-​implemented surcharges based on meter size alone is unrealistic. They are mandating that someone with a 26,000 square foot property use no more water that someone with a 4,000 square foot lot. While I understand the grave nature of the drought we are in, I feel it is up to each one of us to conserve the amount of water that is mandated by the state (25% over last year’s use). By allowing Suburban Water to penalize those that are meeting or exceeding the state mandates is simply targeting those of us that have worked hard to purchase larger homes and properties in the city. I feel Suburban’s water surcharges are unrealistic, especially since they are targeting all customers and not the ones that have failed to cut the STATE MANDATED percentage. As a result of these restrictions, I will be forced to let my grass, plants, and 15+ trees to die and become not only an eyesore, but a fire hazard.
The kicker was that when I asked questions about their policies on the company’s Facebook page, I got banned from posting. I can’t even send them an instant message.

What’s up with all the negative reviews? Lol I had a pleasant as hell experience. The lady in the front was so nice and accommodating to my situation. Maybe I got lucky, but this visit (and the other times I’ve called for assistance) was definitely a 5 star experience!

I have never really had a problem with this company, we are serviced out of the La Mirada office. The people that I have spoken with both on the phone and in person when I have gone in to pay may bill have always been super nice and friendly; willing to give me a few extra days to pay. I just wish they would have online payments; I totally understand it is due to CA state regulations, I get it. I just wish the state would realize that it would be so much easier for us as consumers and I am sure for SWS as well if they could accept payments online.

This is the worst water company I have ever come across! They shut off my water by accident on a weekend and all the rude customer service lady said was I apologize we made a mistake! I seriously want to report these people. When u call they are all RUDE! By far the worst experience in my life! They don’t accept payments online, they don’t take ATM or credit card payments, it’s like WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE??? I would like to hear if anyone else had this type of issue I’m going to report them, officially!

By far the worst water company I’ve ever did business with!!! It’s 2015 and they do not accept credit card payments nor debit card transactions in the office come one now!!! Sounds shady to me… in addition there customer service is horrible and when I mean horrible they don’t even deserve a «STAR» I will report this company to the consumer affairs tomorrow morning!!! 9÷24÷15 once again I will pay off my balance if there is one and take my business else where.

They have horrible costumer service and even if you wanted to not talk to them and do it on Line you cant cause they are not up to date with technology cause you can’t make payment on line.

Horrible customer service! They talk down to you and they can’t even field verify their own meters.

2015 still can’t process Credit Card Payment on the website!!!

This is the absolute worst utility I have ever had to deal with. It makes me so mad that I don’t have the right to quit them and use someone else. They have extremely inconvenient payment locations and they live in the prehistoric era with their billing and payment options. Nothing online, over the phone, they don’t even accept credit/​debit cards! What company is like that these days? They’ve been telling me for the last 5 years that they will be going online within the year. What a line that is! They are also extremely rude and nasty when you talk to customer service. One time I got my bill and it was $ 400!!! Which is about 10 times what it usually is. They came out and all of a sudden I have a leak going down the street. That’s why my bill is so high the guy says… Well that leak wasn’t there BEFORE he got there! I wonder how it happened??? I hate this company and honestly If I ever move I would check to be sure I was out of their service area, it’s that bad! P. S. I gave them a star because Unilocal made me so I could be sure this was posted. It deserves negative stars!

My water has been shut off again for no reason. My bills are up to date. It is a Sunday night 9÷21÷14 and the water was shut of an hour ago. Last month the same thing happened. The water turned on again after a couple of hours.
Another annoying thing about this company is that they don’t allow automatic payment. So it is really annoying esp. when the mailman doesn’t deliver the mail properly. Other people get our mail but don’t bother to return it.

My neighbor called in a water leak and a company rep went out and determined that the leak was coming from my service line. He turned off the water and talked to me over the phone and told me what the problem was. Luckily I was able to bypass the leak temporarily while I repaired the problem. When I called to let them know I had repaired it and turned the meter back on, the young lady on the phone was very nice and I got through in no time. They were very helpful.

They have the worst «customer service» representatives. They talk down to you just because you do not understand the process of turning on water. Sorry I do not work for the water company as well? Am I supposed to know these things because the «customer service» reps are sure acting like I am when they respond to me with such bratty and standoffish tones when I question a situation.
I called one morning to turn on service and the woman who helped me then was nice and informed me it would take «24 hours to establish service». I thought this meant the water would be on within 24 hours. When I called back 24 hours later because it was still not on a different woman told me it would be between 8 – 5 today and was basically talking to me like I was a 5 year old she was punishing. They should always be telling customers 24 hours does not mean 24 hours it means sometime the next day between 8 – 5. When I asked to speak to a supervisior the first day about a question I had the woman put me on hold, asked the supervisor herself, and then proceeded to tell me what this person said. This is not how companies give good customer service as I have been working in the customer service industry for a long time.
I know they probably don’t read these reviews because people do not have a choice about what water company to choose but please, please talk to your customer service people about how to give actual CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Can’t say the customer service was bad, but this company has to be the most expensive water company around, first off the water is bad in many respects and I really don’t think they truly read the meters, my water bill here is twice the amount of any of my utilities… isn’t water suppose to be the lowest bill??? Whats going on, and on top of it, you get a bill monthly, maybe that’s how they get away with charging so much, most of my friends pay the same and get a bill every other month… outrageous

This is a nightmare. I just moved out and tried to terminate my account and I have been calling for 4 days. I called both the toll free# and their regular customer service phone# but it doesn’t go through. Meanwhile the new renter is using my water!!! Until I remove my name from the water bill on this place I will be paying for their water! *&%$##@%##

This company still lives in stone age, they do not allow setting up online payment directly from their website as other utility companies offer nowadays, you need to download application form, fill it in and mail it to this dinosaur company for online payment application, they also do not provide customer with paperless billing option and they would still mail the water bills to your home regardless, they prefer papers, papers, papers

If I had one word to describe this company it would be HATE! I hate this company with every bone in my body! The most unprofessional incompetent «customer service» representetives you will ever encounter at the La Mirada branch. I wish we had a choice of water companies. When I buy my next house it will not be in the La Mirada area. They shut me off because they lost my payment when they realized they messed up they sent someone to restart the service only to have the idiot standing outside for 45 minutes while he fought with his wife before he turned me back on. This isn’t the only incident I have had with these idiots I am going to complain to any & every organization that will listen! It is beyond me how companies can operate like this for God’s sake I DO NOT live in a 3^rd world country!

Finding it nearly impossible to reach someone or to get service. Called 6 times in a single day, with hold periods from 15 – 61 minutes. Twice I reached someone, only to have them hang up. First time I got through, after a 20 minute wait, the girl answering said «hello», then I said «hello», and she had already hung up. Second time I got through, I asked the girl to complete an account transfer that my nephew had already spoken to their office about. She seemed confused and said she would ask the person he spoke with, and then simply hung up.
I called back again, waited on hold for 61 minutes, and had the line disconnected at 4:25pm… 5 minutes before they were supposed to close!
I’ve also tried emailing them about the issue, but haven’t received a response.
These people are terrible!

We recent moved from Los Angeles to La Mirada. We had to change our water company from LADWP to Sububan water Co. Oh man water is hard and water from LADWP is softer than Suburban water. Oh well I need to get a watersoftner.

They gave me letters of late notices of how they would shut off my water services because they apparently did not receive payments for which i have proof from my online banking that I did in fact pay. Not only did they cash the check but then they claim they have never received the payment. They would not accept a fax from my bank that would show that I have paid but instead, they require me to have the bank send me a check and for me to personally deliver it as show of proof. Now I have to waste time going over there to correct a problem they made. To bad this is the only water company around the area, otherwise i would have switched