Fountain Utilities Department - Fountain, Colorado

Joseph

Whoever the lady is that answered the phone needs a vacation or be fired. I test my tap water almost daily for my aquarium and there was a HUGE change in water parameters. The longer I kept my taps running, the higher the mineral levels were getting which indicated it's coming from the water supply, not my plumbing. Something is obviously off but the lady couldn't be bothered to check or just doesn't care. Give her a raise or something.

Edited to add~ the General Hardness test, which mainly measures calcium and magnesium, has been around 12 dGH or 215 PPM for the past couple months. The carbonate hardness test has been around 4 dKH or 71 ppm. 286 ppm total.

Well today, it's currently at 26 dGH or 464 PPM and 9 dKH or 161 ppm. 623, more than DOUBLE. These levels continue to rise if you keep the water running. That is a astronomical difference! If there's any aquarium hobbyists in Fountain, DO NOT USE THE TAP WATER!!! This water will literally kill and melt your aquatic inhabitants if not treated properly.

I don't understand how a company can make such a drastic change in the city's water supply without notifying consumers. If anyone has issues with calcium and magnesium, the primary minerals these tests check, I hope you're filtering your water heavily.

Edited again to add - Justin from this company decided to call and try to blame and insult me by saying I'm the problem. Apparently it takes sending complaints to the mayor and the attorney general to get this monopoly to do something. They had people out all yesterday checking hydrants. Low and behold, the water hardness is back down to what it was before. What a disgusting abuse of corruption these guys are.

Matt H.

Received a $40 "return payment" fee just for one declined credit card transaction (not even a bank insufficient funds return or something like that) and it occurred because of a fraudulent transaction on my credit card account had caused my bank to close the account. I called in to ask for leniency on it due to the situation and they were completely unflexible on waiving the fee. Fair warning to all under Fountain Utilities not to enter into their automatic payment program for this reason as they are very heavy on predatory junk fees and pricing tactics.

Response to below: It wasn't a bank error; they had closed it because of a fraudulent transaction for good reason. I worked for a bank in credit cards and I don't know of any bank that charges a fee to the intended payment recipient of a credit card being declined. I don't think you're giving me or the public the correct information on that as generally that is supposed to be for a direct returned bank transactions like non-sufficient funds in a bank account or a stop payment for example. If you really have a bank that charges a fee every time a credit card is declined though then you really should consider changing banks because your bank is just as predatory on their fees as you are in that case.

Update 7/24: I did eventually receive a call back where someone higher up the chain said they were finally able to refund the NSF fee for the declined credit card transaction so I updated the rating a bit just for that and am thankful they at least finally took that action on the issue at this point. Still overall not a great experience with this matter and I wish it wasn't like this to begin with though.

Sean H.

Most utility companies send out an email, mail or text to inform you of your bill. Most companies allow you to look up your current total so one can access it easily and set up payments. Fountain Utilities does not. Your bill might come a few weeks late long after the fact but at no point can you just look it up online they let you pay but won’t tell you what your total amount due is. Then when they decide to just shut you off with no notice and leave you in the dark all day and still make you pay late fees but again you can’t access your bills because you’re not important enough to merit such efforts by them. Sky high rates, terrible website, abysmal service. One thought that monopolies were illegal but not when it comes to utilities and these crooks know it and use it against the customers.

Justin W.

Definitely does suck that this is the only provider. Horrible technology on the payment and notification system. It's 2023 email should be common, and an electronic payment system that is efficient. What I mean is that you do not receive an email with an electronic connect to pay your bill (pretty standard stuff these days). Customers support is a joke. The people are very nice and read their scripts very well. Do not expect help from these people as they have no idea what is going on. It is very clear that fountain government as a whole is very old and dated. This is not just because of the horrible utilities but many aspects of fountain government is clearly retired.

Candace S.

My power got cut two days in a row. They found out my father died (22 years ago) and the bill was in his name so the account was disconnected even though the bill was paid. I had to go to their office and get the account in my name. The next day my electricity was cut off again. In error. This is completely unacceptable. I wish there were options other than moving from the area. These people are very nonchalant about turning your power off. The lack of communication within the company is ridiculous and is harmful.

Candace B. (.

I would actually give them negative -5 stars if I could!! Their customer service is trash no matter who u talk to, we paid our bill on Friday and here it is Tuesday and our power got cut off!!! For what? Apparently they don't have phones and neither do their servicemen. Which is crazy to me. They just need to fire every person who works there and start over cuz they are all trash! Or maybe they need to learn to to talk and deal with people and get phones for their service men so they can communicate with each other cuz as of now they cant! Surly we aren't The only people who've had problems with fountain utilities. Why hasn't something been done yet? Ridiculous

Joshua B.

They charged us not once but twice for a balance we already paid. We have the confirmation numbers and proof that they charged us for a balance that was already paid. They never even added one of the payments made to our account. When my wife called to speak with them she had them on speaker and the associates seemed really rude and condescending. They kept speaking over her and acting confrontational about her issues and concerns. We know the calls are recorded. My wife sent a complaint about the issue not being resolved and feeling like the associates were trying to intimidate her when seeking help with a billing dispute. The associate that the complaint was about responded to my wife about herself which is a conflict of interest. You can not handle or respond to a complaint about yourself. A lawsuit against the city would cost a lot but a Class A lawsuit about a specific negligent employee who did not try to resolve the issue or help us cost a lot less!

jaclin S.

The online payment for utilities use to work good every month. However this past year of trying to pay online has not been working. It always says session not working. Calling in my payment has been a pain since it takes forever. Why isn’t there an app? These days with technology there should be a better way.