I'd wager that most of the folks in the lobby at 101 City Hall Plaza are waiting to discuss their…read moreinordinately high water bill with someone.
Parking is a bit of a pain but, once you find a spot (if you get desperate, just use a parking deck) and enter, take a number, and have a seat in the clean, modern seating area till your number is called. Bring a book and keep in mind that, if you come during your lunch break, you will most likely spend your entire break here, so plan accordingly.
The folks who work in the water management office are nice enough, but they only kind of want to help you. In fairness, if there were a lobbyful of disgruntled customers there to argue about their bills, I might be reluctant to help them, too.
My recent three visits were about attempting to bypass the $50 setup fee for our switch from a billing company to city water after our move from an apartment complex to a townhome. The water management office needs a really specific letter from your billing company to do this. It must be on letterhead and state that you have paid all of your bills on time, including the dates the service started and ended, and that you have paid your last bill.
This was a challenge for me to procure, because I had been paying my bills to Vertex, a billing company, not an actual service provider, and they do not provide letters. Vertex sent me a detailed list of all the bills I've paid (on time) since we began working with them in 2004, but this was not sufficient for the City of Durham. Vertex doesn't, however, provide letters on letterhead because, again, they are just a billing company. I then got a letter, on letterhead, from the property manager at my apartment complex, but all they were willing to say was that I paid my last bill.
That letter, even combined with my billing statement from the last six years, was not sufficient documentation to get out of the setup fee. That, in my opinion, is pretty lame. The City needs to have in place provisions for people like myself, who have been working with a third-party billing company for water services.
All that said, it is really convenient to have auto billing---although they advise against it, so you can review your bill to make sure you don't have any leaks, etc.---so bring a voided check with you to set that up. You can also pay online if you prefer that. Bills are bimonthly, however, which is why I prefer autopay, because I'm afraid I'll forget.
