Sparkletts PureFlo, DS Waters Surcharges Added Without Permission Internet
Recently PureFlo water was obtained by Sparkletts. I received correspondence from Sparkletts that my account and invoicing would remain the same. The first invoice they charged me a $3.00 "Paper Invoice Fee," even though I was on bill pay with PureFlo and was told that would transfer over. I called and they waived the fee. The second month I was charged a $5.14 "Energy Surcharge Fee," which I also did not authorize, and which was not on the first invoice. Again, I called and they said they would try and waive the fee from all future invoices. I told them that I would not be paying fees that I did not authorize and that if they continued to charge these unauthorized fees that I would cancel my account. I am concerned that many people will not check their invoices and will just pay these sneaky fees. If there are any more unauthorized fees I will terminate my service.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Heather
El Cajon,California,
United States
Update on Energy Surcharge
#2Author of original report
Mon, September 24, 2018
I received my next bill and the energy surcharge is still there, as both a "past due" and current fee. I told them to cancel my account. The customer service rep tried to tell me that the charge is a federally mandated cost. This is incorrect. Per Sparklett's website, they use the US Energy Information Administration's website to calculate their costs.
That does not make it a mandatory fee in any way, shape, or form. In fact, Sparklett's says here: https://www.sparkletts.com/bottled-water-energy-surcharge that they "reserve the right to apply the surcharge in our sole discretion." I told the customer service rep that this was not charged by my previous water provider, PureFlo, and that I did not agree to pay this fee.
In fact, I was told that nothing would change with my billing when the switch was made to Sparkletts and that is obviously false as well. Advertising this fee as a federally mandated charge is fraud.