American Utility Management AUM billing,scam,overbilling,lying Oak Brook, Illinois

American Utility Management (AUM) provides the billing for our complex, which is owned by Village Green Companies. Like others who have filed reports about AUM's shady billing practices, I've found that AUM refuses to provide any details regarding how they arrive at customer bills. When confronted with a demand for billing details (through the BBB), their paralegal simply provides a copy of their PUBS billing formula, which takes the total consumption for the complex, subtracts a portion for "common area" use (paid by the complex) and uses a ratio (based on the number of tenants in an apartment) to determine the bill. Over the past year, my bill has gone up and down for no reason whatsoever; when I asked the complex to explain, they said that our village raised water rates. That kind of satisfied me until this month, when our bill dropped by over $4. As it is, we are being billed for around 6,000 gallons of water, based on our village's current rate, which is extremely high for a 2 person household where one person is at work 8+ hours/day. AUM, however, refuses to provide the "common area" percentage so I can determine if I am being overbilled (and considering that our bill went down as soon as they shut down the swimming pool, I suspect that's the reason). They claim that, as a third-party utility biller, they are not obligated to provide the same details that a utility normally does, such as how much water you are being billed for. They simply throw a figure at you and demand payment (which, as others have pointed out, often gets posted conveniently late, so they can tack on a late fee). They also charge each tenant a $3.75 "administrative fee" for the privilege of THEM sending YOU a bill (I think that fee should be paid by the people who contracted with them... namely, the complex).

They are shady, and that is borne out by their refusal to provide transparency. Should anyone be expected to pay a bill when they have no idea what they are being billed for?