A 35-year-old man, Ashley Hudspeth, from a suburb of Oklahoma City (US), was shocked when he received an abnormal water bill.
The document claimed that he had consumed over 10 million gallons in just two months. The American told the event on the popular Reddit Forum.
When he saw the bill, Hudspeth thought it was a mistake. The last amount for payment was $ 47,580.58 – that is, almost 600 times higher than its usual expenses, which are around $ 70. In the 62 days analyzed, he would have consumed sufficient volume to fill 15 Olympic basins.
“I thought I received the invoice of someone else. But when I saw that it was on my behalf, I laughed – it was so absurd. What do I do, wet a tropical forest?”, The man said.
Attempts to clarify the situation were exhausting: to call the Customer Service of the Water Company was almost impossible. Only vocal menus and interrupted calls.
“I and my wife called all night, but no one answered us,” he said.
Desperately, Hudspeth has published a photo of the Reddit bill, and the post became immediately viral.
“Did you open Seaworld at home?”,
“This guy extinguished the fires of California alone” – the Internet users were joking.
However, among the jokes, useful tips also appeared: the users told how they managed similar errors in billing and suggested solutions. The support of the community gave the man the courage to continue to ask for an explanation.
After a few days of calls and a long conversation with a company representative, it was found that the error was caused by a mistake when replacing the water meter. The amount was recalculated, and Hudspeth had to pay only $ 119.
He said he felt relieved, but emphasized how serious the situation could be:
“Imagine if I had an automatic debit activated-tens of thousands of dollars would have been withdrawn.” He added, “he added.
