A GRANDMOTHER has died after suffering a heart attack when her water company took £7,000 from her account, later demanding even more cash.
Caterina Giovinazzo, 88, collapsed and spent 40 days in intensive care in Sanremo, Italy, shortly after the shock of seeing the amount.
Caterina Giovinazzo reportedly died on Christmas Eve after her water provider charged her a shocking bill
CENCaterina was mistakenly charged a whopping £13,000 for her consumption between August and October[/caption]
The bill, totalling a shocking £13,333, was related to the period between August and October.
Half of it was paid automatically, with the rest sent to the woman as an outstanding debt, Italian media reported.
Caterina, from Camporosso, died on Christmas Eve, with more than 200 people attending her funeral.
Turns out the whopping amount was in fact a mistake from the grandmother’s water provider Iren Group.
It was later found that the maximum consumption of the woman’s home was a few cubic meters for a mere fee of £48.
The Italian multi-service company deals with electricity, heating, water, as well as technological and environmental services.
Caterina’s brother, Rocco Giovinazzo, told local media: “I went together with my nephew Luigi to the Iren office in Camporosso to report the issue.
“The employee compared the Iren data and those provided by us and realized that what was recorded on the bill did not correspond to what was reported on the invoice.
“We managed to get the credit institution to put the sum already paid back into my sister’s account and not even cover the other £6,667 in balance by March 4, 2024.”
Iren Group admitted it was their mistake and told local media: ‘We will immediately contact the family to verify the reasons that produced this amount.
“We are very sorry for what happened to the lady.
“In the event, it is proven that the error was due to Iren, even so the customer will pay absolutely nothing.
“We will try to investigate how this situation happened.”
It comes after a savvy tenant revealed how he outsmarted his landlord and turned his heating up.
Alin Oiste, 33, said his landlord had locked the heating system in a bid to save cash and that it was all controlled remotely from his phone.
He went on to say that the landlord would only heat the property in Yorkshire if the temperature dropped below 16 degrees – which gave him an idea.
The 33-year-old shared a video to TikTok where he removed the wireless thermostat from his wall and placed it in his fridge.
His crafty manoeuvre tricked the system into thinking that the house was around eight degrees, and immediately started the heating.
Alin said that he would then remove the device from the fridge in the morning, after a night of warmth.
The crafty tenant even revealed that he only put the thermostat in the fridge at around 10.30pm, as he knew his landlord wouldn’t notice the drop in temperature.
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