The website operated by a company called Doxo.
The Bladen County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday and learned about a website which Bladen residents are unwittingly using the wrong website to pay their water bills online.
Director of Computer Operations Robin Hewett told the board that a website that appears to bill itself as Bladen County Water Department, accepts a customer’s payment, charges them an additional processing fee and then mails a check for the payment to the county. Hewett said that because the check is mailed, it can creates a lag in the county receiving the customer’s payment and could result in late fees being billed to the account.
Hewett told the board that thus far he is aware of one customer who used the wrong the website to pay their water bill.
Hewett said when someone does a web search using either Bing or Google search engines, the county’s website will come up as the very first site and reads “Public Works-Bladen County, NC.” The correct website county residents can pay their water bills through is: Public Works-Bladen County, NC
Hewett said when someone does a search using the Bing or Google search engine, the second website looks legitimate and reads “Bladen County Water District Bill Payments.” To those who are unfamiliar with the county’s site, the way in which the second website is set up, it appears they are on the correct website for making their payments. The second website seems to be operated by a company called doxo.com. Hewett said the county has no affiliation with the second website. He told the board that as of Tuesday’s meeting, the web link is showing up in both Bing and Google search engines. He said there is nothing the county can do at this point other than trying to let citizens know that the Doxo.com operated site is not the correct website for payments.
He said that a notice will be sent to customers with their next water bill. Commissioner Charles Ray Peterson said, “You’re not fixing the problem by sending an insert.”
Commissioner Daniel Dowless asked if the county could hold the company accountable for any late fees a customer could incur by using their system. County Attorney Allen Johnson said that he could send a letter to the company on behalf of the county.
A cursory view of Doxo.com’s website shows it to be an app through which clients can pay all of their bills. The website claims the company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
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