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Massachusetts Water Company's Billing Errors Sends Out $4 Million Bill to Customer
Aired April 23, 2003 - 15:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now changing gears, but only slightly, we have the billing story from hell for you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A Massachusetts woman could have used a stiff drink after reading her recent water bill.
O'BRIEN: And she wasn't alone either. Mary Saladna reports now from our affiliate WCVB.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SALADNA, WCVB CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Doris Bellerose likes her water, and uses as much of it as any of us. But even with all the glasses she drinks, the dishes she watches and the tea she brews, there's no way she's wracked up a bill like this.
DORIS BELLEROSE, DRACUT RESIDENT: Three million, eight hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and forty-five dollars and 11 cents. But don't forget my $2.50 discount. That includes it.
SALADNA (on camera): Oh, that's right.
(voice-over): Doris said she wouldn't even know how to write out a check for that amount, which is why she says her latest water bill almost gave her a heart attack.
BELLEROSE: And I said, oh, my God. Oh, what a big number. I got all shook up. My pressure must have went up and everything. I couldn't believe it. I said, what kind of a bill is this? Then I said, it's a mistake. It had to be a mistake.
SALADNA: It was a mistake. A megamistake, made by a tiny glitch in the water district's new software program.
BOB COREY, WATER DIST. COMMISSIONER: And we said, uh-oh, somebody's really going to be mad or be surprised. So we immediately tried to get the post back. We have given it to the post -- to the mail driver, he picked them up. We sent one of our trucks to the post office and it says, oh no, that's federal government property now. You can't have the bills back. So they went out.
SALADNA: Forty bad bills in all, but no one has to pay them.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Million Bill to Customer>
Aired April 23, 2003 - 15:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now changing gears, but only slightly, we have the billing story from hell for you.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A Massachusetts woman could have used a stiff drink after reading her recent water bill.
O'BRIEN: And she wasn't alone either. Mary Saladna reports now from our affiliate WCVB.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SALADNA, WCVB CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Doris Bellerose likes her water, and uses as much of it as any of us. But even with all the glasses she drinks, the dishes she watches and the tea she brews, there's no way she's wracked up a bill like this.
DORIS BELLEROSE, DRACUT RESIDENT: Three million, eight hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and forty-five dollars and 11 cents. But don't forget my $2.50 discount. That includes it.
SALADNA (on camera): Oh, that's right.
(voice-over): Doris said she wouldn't even know how to write out a check for that amount, which is why she says her latest water bill almost gave her a heart attack.
BELLEROSE: And I said, oh, my God. Oh, what a big number. I got all shook up. My pressure must have went up and everything. I couldn't believe it. I said, what kind of a bill is this? Then I said, it's a mistake. It had to be a mistake.
SALADNA: It was a mistake. A megamistake, made by a tiny glitch in the water district's new software program.
BOB COREY, WATER DIST. COMMISSIONER: And we said, uh-oh, somebody's really going to be mad or be surprised. So we immediately tried to get the post back. We have given it to the post -- to the mail driver, he picked them up. We sent one of our trucks to the post office and it says, oh no, that's federal government property now. You can't have the bills back. So they went out.
SALADNA: Forty bad bills in all, but no one has to pay them.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Million Bill to Customer>
