TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Ajah Shivers lives in a rental home in Largo with her three young daughters and was stunned to wake up for school and find no water.

“I just kind of got up to go brush my teeth, wash my face and use the bathroom, and I’m like the water is off,” Shivers said.

Her only water source was stacked in a corner of her kitchen, and she wasn’t getting answers.

Pinellas County Utilities told her that her management company, Main Street Renewal, had bounced a check, and since the bills come out every few months, more than $600 was owed. But she couldn’t pay it because the bill wasn’t in her name.

When she called me, Main Street Representatives had told her in writing that it was her responsibility because they had transferred the bill into her name.

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That’s when she knew she’d Better Call Behnken.

Pinellas County supplied this letter stating the bill was in fact in Main Street’s name.

Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken reached out to Main Street headquarters, and within hours, they paid the bill and called Shivers to apologize.

“They started calling me. I didn’t even have to call them, they started calling me,” she said. “There was something about somebody else stepping in and helping us and speaking for us. You guys were our voice.”

By the time her daughters got home from school, the water was on.

“When I got you involved it just blessed us because we were able to get water the same day,” Shiver said. “It took me five days to get some kind of something but it took you literally not even a day, a couple of hours to get a result.”

Main Street Renewal sent this statement:

We have been in close contact with Ms. Shivers to resolve the issue and address her and her family’s needs. On September 24, Main Street Renewal paid the outstanding balance on her bill to ensure the water was turned back on immediately, shortly after we clarified the issue with the utility company. We will also cover Ms. Shivers’ water bill for the month of September and have provided cases of water in preparation for the upcoming storm. We look forward to continuing to serve Ms. Shivers and her family.

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