The City of Chino Hills has recently learned of businesses offering payment services for City utility bills. It has become apparent that customers need to be made aware that the City has no "authorized" or "official" bill payment locations operated by third parties.
Use of these third-party payment services can and do result in delays on the payment of your bill. Payment using a third party vendor can take over three days to transmit and post your payment to your account. This could result in penalties for late payments, or in rare cases, even service lock-off.
Many third party payment services charge a fee, which is not charged by the City and is in addition to the amount of your bill. They also do not have access to the City's billing information to ensure that you are paying the correct amount for your bill or any penalties.
The City of Chino Hills offers several methods for paying your utility bills, all of which are operated by City staff:
* Payment by check, via U.S. Postal Service mail
* Online bill pay (including bank draft, auto pay via Visa or MasterCard, and immediate pay via Visa or MasterCard)
* Walk-in payments at City Hall
* Drive-through drop-off box at City Hall for both regular hour and after-hour payments
The City urges you to take advantage of these authorized payment methods, none of which carry an additional fee from the City of Chino Hills.
Any dispute of a delayed payment, penalty, or lock off situation involving a third party payment center will need to be resolved between the customer and the payment center. Those disputes do not involve the City or its payment processes, and the City will not be responsible for waiving fees or dispatching staff for after-hours service reactivation. The City urges you to take advantage of its free payment services that are readily available to you, and to refrain from using third-party payment centers to pay your utility bills.
