Repairing City Damage

What Happened

Ms. T had a small leak on her water meter and called Toronto Water to fix it. The City worker accidentally snapped the pipe that held the meter. He turned off the water, then hooked Ms. T up to her neighbour’s pipe so she would have access to water until her pipe was fixed. No one told Ms. T what she was supposed to do next. Ms. T sent Toronto Water a number of emails and got consent to get three quotes for the repair work. It then took four days for the repairs to be completed. No one told her who was responsible for paying for the repairs. When she contacted Toronto Water, she was told that a manager was reviewing the matter. A Toronto Water manager later told her she should make a claim with the City insurer. After several attempts to resolve the matter with Toronto Water, Ms. T called her Councillor, who referred her to the Ombudsman.

What We Did

We called the Toronto Water manager, who told us they were not aware that the matter was outstanding. The manager we spoke to said he would review the file and contact Ms. T directly.

The Result

Ms. T wrote, “The water meter situation has been totally resolved … I didn’t get all of my money back but I was satisfied with the amount I did get.”