Getting it ALL back from Severn Trent?

MikeBer

I was not surprised that Severn Trent Water was shown to be grossly overcharging their customers. This January I received a bill that was 38% higher than for the same period in 2005! My house usage should be ~ constant.

I wrote to complain about this but only received a standard reply, citing cost increases, etc. I felt powerless to do much. I think I should get back a lot more than the little bit (£2-3/year) that Severn Trent say they will send their customers. More importantly, I think my January bill for 2006 should be a LOT closer to what it was in 2005.

Does anyone have an idea on how I might tackle this? Customer Services at Severn Trent don't seem too cooperative...

Thanks.

The_Biff

Could this be Britain's biggest robbery? And how many officers will spend time inside?

Lady_K

Didnt see this thread till now I just posted on another that I've recieved my bill for 06/07 and its exactly the same price as last year with no refund or credit or mention of it. It was dated 4th March

Cardew

MikeBer wrote:

I was not surprised that Severn Trent Water was shown to be grossly overcharging their customers. This January I received a bill that was 38% higher than for the same period in 2005! My house usage should be ~ constant.

I wrote to complain about this but only received a standard reply, citing cost increases, etc. I felt powerless to do much. I think I should get back a lot more than the little bit (£2-3/year) that Severn Trent say they will send their customers. More importantly, I think my January bill for 2006 should be a LOT closer to what it was in 2005.

Does anyone have an idea on how I might tackle this? Customer Services at Severn Trent don't seem too cooperative...

Thanks.

Whilst not excusing whoever within Severn Trent carried out this alleged fraud, I hardly think 2-3 pounds a year constitutes gross overcharging.

mallard

Difficult to know how much they overcharged. They have to been told to rebate all customers and presumably some of those might not have been overcharged. We have had problems with them for years especially their damn estimates - they are never correct and they seem to charge you want they feel like that day! I must admit when we complained to OFWAT and Watervoice, customer services wrote to us quickly although they tended to ignore us as customers.

Interesting whether they have been reported for corporate fraud? They obviously know they were overcharging and so acted dishonestly as a company. Not only should they be prosecuted but we should get a damn sight more than 3 quid!

Discogod

i think that's hte idea..... i heard on the radio last week we'd get this reduction to our bills in the near future..... there will be an investigation by whoever is doing it, then of course they'll show their findings & the company will probably be fined (or whatever appropriate). I'm sure i heard they'd then say they'd have to compensate the customers once it's all tied up....... my ears do deceive me sometimes though!

Wombat

I'm on a water meter with Severn Trent and have just had my payment schedule for 2006/7 which shows an increase in payments of 76%.

Nothing is owed from last year so how can they justify an increase of this size?

Maybe an increase in the price of black masks and swag bags?

Cardew

Wombat wrote:

I'm on a water meter with Severn Trent and have just had my payment schedule for 2006/7 which shows an increase in payments of 76%.

Nothing is owed from last year so how can they justify an increase of this size?

Maybe an increase in the price of black masks and swag bags?

Seems far too high an increase.

I am also metered with Severn Trent and have just had my payment schedule.
On 27 Jan I was £54 in debt - they do not take any Direct Debit payment from me in February and in March my payments increased by 27% from £30.39 to £38.61(11 payments in the year) so I am paying an extra £92 a year. As £54 of that is to pay off the outstanding debit balance, my payments have gone up £38 a year.

The measured water supply went up from 100.49p per cu meter in 2005 to 108.77 in 2006 which is an increase of 7.8%.

Sewerage charges went from 65.92p to 73.23 an increase of 11%.

Standing charges increased by about the same amount.

So as you owed nothing at the end of 2005 your charges should have increased by less than 10%.

whitewail

It will come out that Severn Trent is a totally corrupt company. The SFO should criminally prosecute all the Main Board members, they were all involved! There has been a major cover up to try and protect these thieves.Pay offs to Mark Wilson, early retirement packages for others, Walker, Arculus, Duckworth, Banyard.
The best way to handle Severn Trent is to change service to other carriers. Less expensive, can't be any worse?
Fool me once???

oldwiring

Cardew wrote:

Seems far too high an increase.

I am also metered with Severn Trent and have just had my payment schedule.
On 27 Jan I was £54 in debt - they do not take any Direct Debit payment from me in February and in March my payments increased by 27% from £30.39 to £38.61(11 payments in the year) so I am paying an extra £92 a year. As £54 of that is to pay off the outstanding debit balance, my payments have gone up £38 a year.

The measured water supply went up from 100.49p per cu meter in 2005 to 108.77 in 2006 which is an increase of 7.8%.

Sewerage charges went from 65.92p to 73.23 an increase of 11%.

Standing charges increased by about the same amount.

So as you owed nothing at the end of 2005 your charges should have increased by less than 10%.

Re above inflation rises. The government santioned increaaes deom stat 05/6 to 10/11 for all cos to provide for ifrastructure improvements. Part of the increaes will relate to that, tough, that said, the increases seema tad high.

oldwiring

whitewail wrote:

It will come out that Severn Trent is a totally corrupt company. The SFO should criminally prosecute all the Main Board members, they were all involved! There has been a major cover up to try and protect these thieves.Pay offs to Mark Wilson, early retirement packages for others, Walker, Arculus, Duckworth, Banyard.
The best way to handle Severn Trent is to change service to other carriers. Less expensive, can't be any worse?
Fool me once???

Could your statement be considered libellous and thus damaging to the owners of this site?