Devious and unfair Thames Water - customer BEWARE!!!!

missbargain

I am writing about Thames Water extreme deviousness and unfarness in charging their customers extortionate water rates.

My husband and I have lived in our property (3.5 bedroom) for over 4 years, and have been paying close to 800 pounds a year in water bills.

After hearing on this website about Water Meters, we decided to request one to be installed. The Thames Water engineer took almost 6 weeks to arrive, turned up when we were not at home (without previously calling) and left a note through the door that, actually, THERE IS a water meter at the property!!!
We absolutely had no idea we had one, as it is underneath the pavement on the street, nor we knew at the time, having moved here from another country, that we had a choice about Water meter vs. RV (the option is not clearly stated on any of Thames Water bills). We have been paying our bill in good faith, believing that Thames Water was charging us close to our real consumption, when actually, it turned out that we were paying almost 60% more than what we were using, according to the water meter under the pavement.

Now, Thames Water is refusing to refund the overcharged amount (close to 2000 pounds), basically saying: Tough luck, why didn't you "discover" your water meter earlier.
But one would have thought that, water meter having been at the property from even before we moved in, Thames WAter would have charged us according to the meter, not to the RV! This is so devious and unfair, as they must have known that there was a water meter at the property when we moved in, as they had installed it themselves! But they chose to charge us RVs, as they knew, as we were only a couple, that that way they would be making more money out of us. We don't really have any recourse, as they don't have to give you the rebate, even though they KNOWINGLY grossly overcharged us.

Just shows with what contempt and discrespect Thames Water treats their customers, and unfortunatelly, they are given legal rights to do so, and the consumer is the one left with the short end of the stick.

I believe that these days, largely thanks to this website, most people are aware of water meter vs RV charges issues. But when we moved in (especially having moved here from a long stay abroad) we had no idea about these things, and just trusted that we were charged fairly, for how much we consume, not some widely overestimated estimation. Totally unfair, devious and contemptious. Thanks, Thames Water!!!

Cardew

Do you know if the previous occupants were paying a metered charge?

You say you were paying an estimated charge?? Why was it not based on your Rateable Value(RV)?

Normally 'estimated charges' are only if you have applied for a meter and one can't be fitted.

I would take the matter up with the Consumer Council for Water.

missbargain

Hello, Cardew

Thanks for replying. I think I used the wrong term "estimate", meaning that that was our RV estimation. We have been paying RV up to now, which turned out to be about 50-60% higher than our actual usage, as shown by our newly discovered water meter. In the past, we used even less water than now, as my husband was working full time, and now he is not, so the discrepancy was probably even higher.

I don't know about previous tenants from whom we bought the house, as we have never met them, they were foreigners and moved back to Holland. So, in essence, we don't even know how long the water meter was here for, but surely some time before we bought the property.

I will take this up with the CCWater, but I hope that this won't be a loosing battle, as it is the Govenment who allowed water companies to pay rebates only from April this year. We have got 133 pounds rebate for one quater, but they refuse to pay for the 4 years before that, our estimate is that we payed about 1800 pounds more then we really used. They said that that's all that they are reqired to pay by law, bad luck for the previous years/quarters.
However, this may be the case for new water meter installations, our case is somewhat different, so I will try to fight this.

I can just imagine how many people, perhaps older, or disabled, or just foreigners or people who simply don't know (like ourselves), are paying extra simply because they don't know that they have water meter in/around their property. Surely Thames Water knows it, as they had to install it!

I certainly won't let this go easily, especially when I think what would have happenned if it was us who were underpaying Thames Water, they would be chasing us for their money to the end of Earth, that's for sure.

Thank you again!

Cardew

missbargain,
Firstly I wouldn't state for sure(unless you are certain of your facts) that Thames Water installed the meter.

It wasn't always mandatory that the water company installed meters. In fact I had to pay a plumber to install my meter and the water company(Severn Trent) sent their man to check the installation conformed to regulations.

There was a post on here a couple of years ago about a water company(I am pretty sure that it was Thames) who had done exactly the same to the poster's father. i.e. previous occupant metered and father charged on RV basis.( I will see if I can find the post later*)

If CC Water won't take up the case, then try the publicity angle Newspapers, Which etc. Even local MP!

The Government encourage the use of meters(conservation of resources blah blah blah) the angle I would take is that Thames are not acting in that spirit etc etc.

Good luck, and keep us informed.

* Edit
Found the post, but it wasn't quite as I remembered. In this case the previous occupants had gained exemption from the Surface Water Drainage(SWD) charge as the water ran to a soakaway. The new occupant was charged for SWD.

missbargain

Hello again,

I really appreciate your help in this matter, your suggestions are a great starting point for me.

Surely, I can't be certain that Thames Water themselves have installed the water meter, I wish I could check somehow. The previous owners moved to Holland (we lost contact) and the ones before them were elderly couple who passed away long time ago.

But yesterday I went to Thames Water website, and it says there (under "billing") that, when people move to a new property that has a water meter, that they will be charged according to the meter, not RV. However, I don't remember any correspondence from Thames Water about it when we moved in, nor did they mention it over the phone when we initially called them to transfer the account to our names. Unfortunatelly, we had no idea about these things, and we would not have still known about it had we not discovered this website.

We were really shocked when we realised how much more we were paying, especially as we were careful with our water use even before we knew we had a meter for purely environmental reasons. We don't have power shower, we never once had a bath in 4 years (don't know why we installed the bath in the first place), we really take care not to waste water.

Anyway, I will first write the letter to Thames Water, I think that may be the procedure to start with. I am sure that they will just give us their standard response. After that, I will call CC for Water and if that does not help, I will contact my MP/local newspaper, as you have suggested.

Thank you so much again!!! Mb.

maggiean_2

Hello MissBargain..

I have searched the webb and found your thames water story. ther EXACT same thing has just happened to me. I have been paying massive water bills for at least 5 years, since I moved in. Despite calling Thames Water to ascertain why my bills are so high. There are 3 people in the house, my husband and 8 year old. Our bills are £660 pa and have been more in previous years.

Thames water came last week to install a meter, at my request on the basis that our bills just seemed too high. Well, the engineer informed me within 20 mins that there is a water meter outside and has been since 2001 !!.

My question is this , did you manage to get your money back from thames water at all.?. I am livid that they have been overcharging me for years when there was a meter installed by them before i moved in.

Any advise you can give me would be great, as i can see you have already been down this road. I suspect I will have a battle on my hands. Although had we not paid in full we would have been taken to court and no doubt black listed.

Maggiean

Gothicfairy

I would have thought that a water meter would show in the house sale information ?

There are lots of properties around the country that have meters but are being billed on RV, it could be that one was fitted years ago and was not transferred over to the water company, or that the meter was used to work out assessed charges etc.
Most companies would not bring a meter into charge unless asked in that kind of situation as they would say it is the householders responsibility to find out if a meter was installed.

Cardew

maggiean wrote: »

Hello MissBargain..

I have searched the webb and found your thames water story. ther EXACT same thing has just happened to me. I have been paying massive water bills for at least 5 years, since I moved in. Despite calling Thames Water to ascertain why my bills are so high. There are 3 people in the house, my husband and 8 year old. Our bills are £660 pa and have been more in previous years.

Thames water came last week to install a meter, at my request on the basis that our bills just seemed too high. Well, the engineer informed me within 20 mins that there is a water meter outside and has been since 2001 !!.

My question is this , did you manage to get your money back from thames water at all.?. I am livid that they have been overcharging me for years when there was a meter installed by them before i moved in.

Any advise you can give me would be great, as i can see you have already been down this road. I suspect I will have a battle on my hands. Although had we not paid in full we would have been taken to court and no doubt black listed.

Maggiean

Welcome to the forum,

MissBargain posted this thread in 2008 and from her profile doesn't use this forum much so may not see your post.

The meter installed may have been installed in 2001 but the occupants reverted back to being charged on the Rateable Value.

If your unmetered bills are £660, I don't understand how they "were more in previous years" Thames water have increased their charges every year and so RV based charges would have increased every year.

Why did you wait 5 years before applying for a meter?

maggiean_2

Thanks for the quick feedback..

The engineer who came to the house confirmed the meter was installed by Thames water and that they should have had a record of it. When we moved into the house, Thames Water should have continued to charge as per the meter. There was also no mention of the meter on the house information at all.

but yes you are correct Cardew, I should have insisted on the water meter a long time ago. But it annoyes me that they probably had a record of the meter, but continued to bill us on the RV. When the engineer took it out, he gave me the meter reading. I cant believe that the householder should know if there is a meter when moving into the house. I live on a private road and the meter was outside in the street.

Maggiean

Gothicfairy

If they installed a meter but the last owner did not want to be billed on it (within the year) then it reverts back to RV and remains like that.
They might well have had the meter serial number but if it was taken out of route it would not be read and they would not bill to it.

It is the responsibly of the house owner to know how they are charged for things like Gas, Electric and water. You would hardly move into a property that required LPG heating and then wonder where the gas meter was would you ?

Not much you can do now I am afraid.

maggiean_2

Hi there Gothicfairy, just thought i would let you know the end of the story. after several letters to thames water, they sent me a cheque for £2,500 which they had backdated to when the water meter was installed in 2003. It just goes to show, if you dont back down they will reimburse you, but i had to fight to get it back. so perhaps the universe does care what i think after all ?