Fighting with Southern Water

Jo*_2

What a total bunch of cowboys these are :mad:

A few weeks ago i posted about how i had been paying for the wrong meter and that i was expecting alot of money to be returned to be in over paid bills http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1171925

I've been living here in a one bedroom flat since Oct 2004. At that time it was me and my fiance and we were paying £12.50 a month. 6 months later, my fiance moved out, so it was just me. Then in September this year, still living on my own, my direct debit was up to £34 a month. I called up once to query my payments and was told that i was using double what the average single person uses. I found that strange considering i was already trying to cut my usage, and was hardly ever flushing the toilet.

Then i found out all this time i'd been paying for the meter belonging to the couple upstairs. When we moved in, there was just a single woman living up there. Then around the time my fiance moved out, a couple moved in. Thats when my direct debits went up and last month i found out i've been paying for their water consumption and the womans before.

It was 6 weeks ago that i found that out. Firstly they sent me a bill for £800 :mad: I was in total disbelief and called them. They apologised and said that it must be due to the right meter being reset to zero, then later for some reason, it was moved to something like 340 cubic meters. Thats like 4 years consumption in a day and thats why the bill was so high.

Then i get a letter telling me that everything has been recalculated and that i'm £90 in credit. Just £90 :mad: If i've been paying roughly £300 a year on water, for the last 3 and a half years, theres no way they can come to that figure.

I phoned up and said that, and all the girl could say was "well we were good enough to knock £800 off your bill" as if i should have been grateful for their error :rolleyes: . She then told me that it had all been worked out and that the £90 was correct. I explained everything and she was totally dismissive but said they'd send me out a statement showing how they came to that figure.

Nothing came

Then i got a letter asking for the details of the couple upstairs. i called them to tell them who was living there. Asked for an update on my case. Nothing. No records of me calling to question the statements :mad: They said they'd look into it and get back to me

Two weeks later, ie today, i called them to ask again. Again there was no records. He said everything was correct, ie the £90. I asked him to find out who was paying my meter (there are four flats in this block and the couple upstairs werent paying mine) and find out how much they were paying, and work out from there what i was owed. No cant do that apparently :mad: But anyway he said it would be passed onto a supervisor to check into it again.

I seriously cant believe this

Cardew

If you phone you will be wasting your time, the call centre are not interested in problems and you will be fobbed off.

Write - not email - and include a copy to the Consumer Council for Water.

olly300

I have been having trouble with Thames Water on and off for 2 years about billing issues.

I strongly suggest instead of phoning them you contact Southern Water via email or letter.

That way you have a record of exactly what you said and they can't twist your words or pass you around the office, as all water companies are monopolies.

I have noticed with Thames Water when I've put things in writing at first they try and blow me off but once I point out that the next step is complaining to the appropriate regulator they soon behave. (In my case I have had data protection issues as well.)

In your letter/email state clearly in bullet points what has happened, state the finanical difficulty they are forcing you into and that if the matter is resolved within 21 days you will have no choice to complain to the Consumer Council for Water. http://www.ccwater.org.uk/ Then make a complaint to the Consumer Council for water.

Jellybean_2105

I have just been through the exact same thing with my water.

I would definitely contact the consumer council for water, they have been so helpful with my situation.

I'm not sure if your water company works the same way as Essex & Suffolk water. But they back dated my payments on their assesed charge which has now meant I owe them over £100 even through they know I use no where near that amount of water.

Unfortunatly because my property is now deemed unmeterable they are legally entitled to charge this

Hope you manage to get it all sorted soon.

Jo*_2

Sorry to hear about your situation Jelly. How do they think you owe them £100?

And thanks everyone, i will write to the water board and ask for help to the consumer council and see what happens

Jellybean_2105

Because my assessed charge was worked out at £141 a year for 07/08 and £147 for 08/09 totalling £288.

And so far i've only paid £180 my payments were so low due to my low meter readings when no one was in the flat above.

I've not even started on the sewage company yet so I dread to think how much I am going to owe them.

Jo*_2

ahh i see. I guess this is the situation that the couple above in my flat are gonna be in. Good luck

deanos

Just do a quick calculation, take a reading today including red digits and then again in 7 days, x your usage by 52 and there is your annual bill , divide this by 12 and this is roughly how much you should be paying a month.

Or if it was a brand new meter when you moved in then your meter should have been on zero and you can work out how much you have used since you have been there quite easily.

Jo*_2

It wasnt a brand new meter when i moved in but i know that when the engineers came out to confirm that the meters were mixed up, they reset my true meter to zero for some reason. Would that make a difference?

madmich666

hiya

I've had nothing but problems with Southern Water.

First was the fact that I didn't live in the property for the first billing period and it took me 4 months and 2 complaints letters to get it resolved.

The second is that i then moved in half way through another billing period. They estimated my bill which i disputed and they sent me a revised bill but still charged me the same amount for 1 month as they were going to for 6 months. The cheek of this company. Yet another fight on my hands there.

I could go on for ages about how poo they are and i really hope you get your situation sorted out. Just be strong and if in doubt question everything they do.

olly300

Jo* wrote: »

It wasnt a brand new meter when i moved in but i know that when the engineers came out to confirm that the meters were mixed up, they reset my true meter to zero for some reason. Would that make a difference?

Not really.

They need to estimate the units you have used fairly whether the meter was set a 0 or another value.

http://ccw.boxuk.net/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.704