Our Water Usage Issues

CJ and I have had an interesting experience with our water since moving into our house in January.

Our first bill charged us for 2000 gallons of water. We figure that since we hadn't lived in the house for a full month that our water bill would be higher the following month.

We were right. It was much higher the following month. On our second water bill we were charged for 11,000 gallons of water. After doing some research I found that there was probably no way that CJ and I were using more than 5,000 gallons a month considering that we didn't have any leaks that we knew of (and I'm pretty sure we would have noticed a 6,000 + gallon leak). CJ decided to sit on this bill and just see what the next was like.

Our third water bill charged us for 14,000 gallons of water. Ok, now there is something seriously wrong here. There is no way we are using that much water and we wouldn't be able to miss a 9,000 + gallon leak. So CJ called in. The lady he talked to said she'd send someone to check the meter and we'd need to call back in a few days.

The first time we called back they hadn't actually looked at the meter even though they said it would have been looked at by then.

The second time CJ called back he was told that there was nothing wrong with the meter, it was functioning perfectly.

(The following dialogue is paraphrased and based on what CJ told me, I wasn't actually part of the conversation.)
CJ: Then why are we being charged for 14,000 gallons of water?
Water Company (WC): It can be surprising how much water a household uses.
CJ: Sure, but 14,000 gallons?
WC: It appears that that is about the same amount that was billed this time last year.
CJ: Really? 14,000 gallons of water in one month? Our neighbors only used 4,000 gallons last month.
WC: Well, you can't compare different households because everyone's water consumption is different.
CJ: 10,000 gallons different? What else can I do to get this resolved?
WC: If you don't think you are using that much water you probably have a leak, you should call a plumber.
CJ: I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a 10,000 gallon leak. There has to be something else that the water company can do to look into this.
WC: All we can do is send a technician over and explain to you that the meter is working.
CJ: Fine, let's do that. How about tomorrow around 4:30?
WC: 4:30 doesn't work because we make our last appointment for the day at 4pm.
CJ: How about during the day on Saturday?
WC: Our offices aren't open on Saturday.
CJ: So you are saying that I have to take time off of work to do this?
WC: Yes, you could do it on your lunch break.
CJ: Fine, then tomorrow at noon?
WC: We'll have a technician at your house tomorrow at noon.

The next day at about 10am I got a call from CJ. The water company called him to tell him that he didn't need to be there to talk to the technician because a technician looked at the meter in the morning and noticed that it had the wrong kind of valve so it was calculating water consumption on a different scale (something about how many rotations of the dial = how many gallons of water; we were being charged for 14 rotations on a valve that calculated 1 rotation as 1,000 gallons of water when there should have been a valve that calculated 1 rotation as more like 250 gallons of water). This means that the first 2,000 gallons we were charged for was actually only for 4 -5 days of water usage and not half a month like we thought.

My thought was "Really? And you first technician didn't notice this?" Apparently CJ had the same question and was told that it was something that wasn't very noticeable.

This is when he brought up that the previous owners of the house had been charged for a lot more water than they actually used. The water company said that if they contacted them they would be refunded for their water usage. CJ called the selling agent from when we bought the house. He didn't answer so CJ just left a message. Hopefully the previous owners call up to get their refund and also complain profusely that this even happened in the first place.

Long story longer: it is all worked out now and we should no longer be charged for an outrageous amount of water usage; which is a huge relief.