TULSA, Okla. — Some water customers say they can't get the right answers or help from the city to pay their bills.
Not for any financial reasons, but because they end up transferred on the phone to a local McDonald's.
A caller who wished to stay anonymous told 2 News she wasn't able to pay earlier in the week, and that the city only told her its phone payment system was hacked. She said it led to her water getting cut off.
Staff at the McDonald's on Gilcrease Museum Road didn't want to go on camera but did say misdirected calls slowed down Wednesday, after previously getting slammed with calls not for a happy meal, but from Tulsa water customers.
Another resident said while he hasn't encountered the issue, he understands the frustration.
"Oh yeah, I would get mad, because they transferred me to not their company," Jonathan Mayo said. "Don't transfer your customers over to a fast food restaurant."
Tulsa Utilities admits while there was a misdirect on the phone line, payments are still being received and that the issue has been fixed by the city's team as of Wednesday afternoon.
The city said the issue reached a quote, priority concern, but can't say for sure what caused callers to be transferred to McDonald's.
“The payment the customer made was properly received and credited to their account. The misdirect seems to occur once the caller has completed their transaction within the secure payment system and opts to be transferred back to the City of Tulsa. Rather than hearing a customer care agent after that secure process, they’re somehow getting routed to McDonald’s. The glitch is a misdirect and no customer information is compromised. While we are working with our vendor to identify and correct the misdirect, that customer and any others who may be receiving the same misdirect can rest assured there is no breach of data.”
The city said it's working with its payment vendor, Paymentus, to find out what caused the problem and determine how many customers were affected.
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