Thames Water - What a joke!

JohnG

We decided last year to have a water meter installed, we sent off the relevant request (April 2008) and waited and waited. We chased them up and eventually someone came round and did the necessary survey and said someone else will come round in due course to the installation soon - Great!
So we waited and waited and waited and eventually we sent an email asking why the delay? We got an apology and confirmation that install would be done by 31 August 2008.

We waited again and still nothing so once again we had to chase them up, eventually we got the thing installed on 4th November 2008.

We understood that we would be compensated for the delay and the fact that we were paying the higher standard rate than we should of been based on a meter, but I sent an email on 4th December 2008 just in case to ask when and how much we could expect to pay in future (bearing in mind we should receive a credit of somesort).

All we got was an automated reply so that someone would get back to within 10 working days - guess what? No one did and only now we have just rcvd a new statement for this year which is unbelievably based on a standard monthly charge for the whole year! No mention of a *~#^"*meter!!

So my wife rang up the relevant number straight away and after going through the usual long winded phone system ends up speaking to lady in India who refused to help her as I, her husband, was the account holder/name! What a joke - why on earth would anyone, let alone me, be concerned when she was just enquiring about a billing query such as this?

So anyway, I go through the same phone system and eventually I also got to speak to a lady in India, I explain the problem and she says she will contact the relevant dept to arrange for a meter to be installed! What?? I explained, two or three times, in a very clear voice that the meter was in place so why were we not being charged by a meter? All she could say was that they had a record of my call and that someone would get back to me within 10 to 20 days to arrange for meter! :doh:

Needless to say we are not at all impressed and have just sent off a suitable email to the customer service address - I wonder if it will have the desired effect? I'm not at all confident that it will.

These things are sent to try us I'm often told - they certainly seem to be :wall:

Cheers
John

1274

I had exactly the same frustrating experience. 8 months after my request for a meter and numerous chasing calls to TW, I got fed up and raised a complaint with the regulator. The result: backdated reduction in bills for 5 months (they get 3 to fit the meter) and compensation of £20. I suggest you escalate things as TW customer services are hopeless and will promise the moon but never do anything

deanos

I would put everything down in a letter and send it recorded delivery, they have to respond in 10 working days otherwise you can claim £30

"Responding to written complaints
If you write to complain about our water or wastewater services, we will send our reply within ten working days of receiving your letter. If we take longer than ten working days to send our reply we will automatically pay you £30"

http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/3018.htm

Cardew

JohnG wrote: »

So my wife rang up the relevant number straight away and after going through the usual long winded phone system ends up speaking to lady in India who refused to help her as I, her husband, was the account holder/name! What a joke - why on earth would anyone, let alone me, be concerned when she was just enquiring about a billing query such as this?

That is fully covered in the operator's protocol 'dealing with customers' Paragraph 27(B)4/iii/d;)

Doubtless the manual gives the protocol for stating on any unusual query:
1. We have a record of your call.
2. Someone will get back to you in 10-20 days.

JohnG

Thanks for the replies guys, as you could doubtless tell, I was still letting off a good deal of steam at the time of my message.

I havnt heard anything back from Thames Water so I will try to get a written letter off to whom it may concern (:T Deano ) though it's a matter of finding the time even with the possibility of £30 compensation. (I'm a bit slow when it comes to official letters etc).

I once thought privatisation was a good thing sadly it doesnt appear to of helped with TW if their customer service and, indeed, general operation is anything to go by.

John

JohnG

I hadnt heard back from TW since my email the other day so rather than wait further or send a letter which could be another 10 days delay, I called an alternative customer services phone line (on their website) in the hope of getting hold of someone who could help.

Thankfully, once I got through the usual maize of multiple choice questions, I finally managed to speak to someone (In England) who understood the problem and was willing and able to help.

Having first established that there had been no further action within TW flwg my earlier email, I was assured this time that it would be dealt with asap and that someone would call back within 5 days, hopefully to confirm suitable credit for previous over payments and correction to future payments.

Whilst on the phone I took the opportunity to reiterate a number of my other complaints/concerns (In a calm and resonable fashion) and pointed out the Thames Water Mantra, something like "If the customer had a choice they would choose Thames Water" well you can imagine what I said to that.

Also, I was able to allow my wife to speak to them in future without much fuss - they ought to offer this option in the first place, might save a lot of aggro.

deanos

Worth sticking a letter in the post tho, did you get the womans name and extention number so you have 1 point of contact ?

swiftnick

Had a similar experience with Thames Water, after moving in to a new property we were told we needed a water meter fitted.

They came and fitted under our sink only for water to leak all over the kitchen carpet.

We complained and they sent another engineer out to sort the problem.

Again it still leaked so another engineer came out to sort it, which he did this time and promised to raise an issue and provide us with a dehummidifier.

2 yeras later we're still waiting for it!

Hope you get it sorted.

Nick

JohnG

To update, I finally recvd a tel call from a TW representative, though it was in response to my earlier email and nothing to do with my last chase up phone call when someone said they would get back to me within 5 days .

Anyway, the good news was my account has now been switched over so that I will now be charged based on the meter (plus standing charge). Hopefully all in all, saving 50% on what we would otherwise be paying each year going by what we have used since Nov 08.

More good news was that I will be receiving a a decent sum back (About £270 :T ) for the previous overcharge and the delay of the meter installation. Plus, although I didn't pursue it at the time, I will receive a £30 credit to my account for their late response, so that was very pleasing.

Thank goodness it all now seems to be sorted but, although I'm very pleased with the final outcome, I still have my concerns about TW's internal communication/systems.

Cheers :beer:

JohnG

sailorstuart

Congratulations on your success.
Thames Water customer services is shoddy at best. Its own procedures contravene the standards regulated by OFWAT.
It is always best to write and I have today written a registered letter to the CEO David Owens.
My letter concludes as follows:

Conclusions

My experiences lead me to conclude that TW:

· Will never be able to meet the requirements of GSS Reg 7 with regard to email response. Acceptance of an email enquiry takes 5 working days and a formal response takes 20 working days; 5 calendar weeks. As a response can raise further questions it is highly likely that issues will not be resolved for months. In some cases, such as mine, years. The GSS Reg 7 standard is 10 working days from receipt of a query.
· Has reduced its ability to communicate efficiently with its customers as a result of subcontracting a large part of this function to several 3rd party sub contractors.
· Has an IT customer communication system that lacks the functionality to ensure that 3rd party subcontractors have access to or are able to efficiently share and update customer data.
· Should consider rewording its ‘Statement of Intent’. Whilst credit control is an important business function the TW statement of intent is at best threatening and at worst openly aggressive.
· Does not appear to have a reliable business process audit system as the deficiencies of its customer services function seem to have existed for several years.


I hope that my letter will prompt you to at least investigate my concern with Mike Tempest. For my part I will follow the complaints procedure as defined by OFWAT, although to be honest, I am close to registering a formal complaint about TW performance to the Consumer Council for Water.

If in doubt and to get TW to improve write to the CEO. Together we can get them to make changes and improve. We owe it to all the 'Orphans and Widows' out there who do not have the ability to present their case or are not registered mebers of Money Saving Expert.