Review of our local torture chamber aka: Lake Worth Utilities Customer Service

Click title for link - the following post appears on yelp.com and carries a date of 5/27/11:

"Your tax dollars at work!

Or maybe NOT at work. Much has been said about the inferior customer service provided by this public utility but recently I had the misfortune of experiencing it for myself.

Their office is located in downtown Lake Worth off Lake Avenue inside a historical building that I think may have once housed City Hall. First I went inside a room where the cashier's office was located where I could hear people (presumably city employees) behind a door cursing at the top of their lungs and telling crude off-color sexual jokes. Thought to myself, "WOW, wonder what else they do all day."

Waited in line here for about 45 minutes only to be directed to another sad-looking waiting area with cheap fold-up chairs and several people seated who looked like their patience was wearing thin. Lady at the desk growled at me to put my name on the clipboard and said they'd call me. Waited another 45 minutes while the woman at the desk and another large woman yelled out names. Both women were extremely rude to customers and appeared to be perplexed at even the most basic questions posed to them after which they would usually either lecture or scream at the customer. Eating and slurping down soft drinks while waiting on the public also appears to be in the Lake Worth Utilities SOP as this also was taking place.

Woman at the desk finally called my name but couldn't resolve my problem so she had to summon a supervisor. This took an additional fifteen minutes after which I received a stern lecture on how I must not have paid my bills and that's why my charges were so high. Finally lost it and told her to actually read the billing statement after which she discovered the error and said she'd look into it. Waited another twenty minutes and then was told I MIGHT be receiving an amended statement in the next week. With that, she briskly walked across the hall and slammed the door. No apologies. No real resolution to my problem. Just a door slam.

Wasted about two hours waiting in this pathetic dump only to be treated like garbage. This utility charges considerably more than FPL for juice and delivers a far worse product and piss-poor customer service. Not an indictment on ALL City of Lake Worth employees, just on the utilities department which seems to be run by a team of clueless morons. And don't bother calling them to try and get your problem resolved as you'll be on hold endlessly (I waited 40 minutes before I finally gave up). Really feel bad for the other people who have no choice in who provides their electric service. As for me, this experience alone was enough to get me to move out of their service area."