UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas — Courtney De Leon opened up her November statement at Falcon Ridge Apartments to find out her monthly utility bill had more than doubled and her water charge was suddenly skyrocketing.
The apartment's utility bill, which is separate from rent, had gone from around $220 to $486. More specifically, the charges for just her water usage had gone from around $30 dollars to $230.
"I was thinking that can't be right. There's no way that's right! I don't use that much water," De Leon said. "I don't have a leak in my apartment. Where is this coming from?"
At the same time, De Leon had also noticed a continuing water leak in front of her apartment building and was worried that might be a factor. She took the bill to her apartment management, before October 25, and later made a complaint to the Better Business Bureau to try to get it adjusted.
Still, the water charges were not adjusted by the 1st of November when rent was due. De Leon paid the same about as last month as a precaution. She also called KENS 5.
"I didn't want a lease violation for not paying the bill," De Leon said. "I wanted help getting the issue resolved."
KENS 5 reached out to management at the Falcon Ridge Apartments on Nov. 5 and the local manager told KENS 5 there were aware of the issue and they would have a district manager adjust the bill that day.
Management then followed through that evening and reduced the utility bill by around $250.
Implicity Management Company Regional Director Ashley Johnson quickly followed up with KENS 5 the very next day and assured us that the tenant had never been required to pay the large bill. Johnson also said the leak outside the building was a contributing factor and they would be getting it fixed as soon as possible.
Johnson specifically told KENS 5 via email, "At no point did we attempt to charge the full account or collect payment for the water bill. We have consistently communicated to the resident that we needed time to make the necessary adjustments, and we have been working diligently to resolve the issue. The corrected charges were applied on November 5th, as soon as the adjustments were finalized."
De Leon said she was relieved to see the charges go back down.
"We were worried that we were going to need to take money (from somewhere) we didn't need to be taking it from to pay, so it's a huge relief. Huge," De Leon said.
De Leon was briefly worried that next month's bill would be affected as well but Johnson later told KENS 5 on the phone that management would make sure to check the next month's utility bills and make adjustments if needed.
De Leon said she's thankful she no longer needs to worry about those bills and she's glad she called KENS 5.
"We greatly appreciate it and I know the other tenants here greatly appreciate the help KENS 5 provided us," De Leon said.
If you have a problem like this, we want to help you fix it! In our series, Call KENS, we do our best to solve problems for our viewers. The number to call is 210-470-KENS, or fill out the form on this page.