While consumers are always warned to read the fine print and many of us have complained about fees being added onto a transaction, it appears a computer malfunction was the cause of a $100 million error in Orange County.
The initial attention was drawn after a local Twitter user posted on the social media site that he had gotten a water bill from Orange Water and Sewer Authority for $100,000,188.92. The user jokingly asked if he could pay the bill in installments.
Hey @owasa1, I just got a water bill for a hundred million dollars. Specifically, for $100,000,188 and 92 cents. Can I pay in installments? pic.twitter.com/t4Jd6wAneb
— Kieran Healy (@kjhealy) June 14, 2017
While the balance due on the bill, a picture of which was posted online, was $189.92, it was a $99,999,999 service fee that sent the bill through the roof.
OWASA rectified the bill, according to the same Twitter user. The local water authority then sent a press release clarifying the situation that had impacted approximately 1,600 customers.
Officials say a computer malfunction from a third-party service provide “caused mistakes to be included in electronic bill reminders” that were sent out on Wednesday. The error has been corrected, according to the release.
The third-party is responsible for sending bill payment reminders to customers who pay their OWASA bills by automatically charging the customer’s accounts.
Stephen Winters – director of Finance and Customer Service for OWASA – issued a statement in the release:
“We sincerely apologize to our customers who received the erroneous electronic notifications and we are working with our service provider to try to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The malfunction alerted the approximately 1,600 customers to the “large erroneous payment” that would be taken from their bank accounts. But officials say the customer balances and amounts due “were not impacted and therefore were and remain correct.”
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