Sneaky repair bill

matthill1981

Have received an invoice from south staffs water for a repair to a pipe in my property. This invoice is for £512 including VAT for....

Invoice wrote:

To comply with DFN No 080671394. To excavate locate burst & make required repairs at: ##############. Work completed 26.3.09 - Unit Price £278

Branch Stop Tap - Unit Price £168

Vat - £66.90
Total - £512.90

Whilst I am aware that the pipe falls under my resonsibility (it's under my property) I have some issues with the way this has been handled.

Firstly, the repair was done whilst no'one was home. I don't know what has been done, where. I signed nothing to say I authorised the work, witnessed it or accepted completion.

I am under the impression that this is a pipe that feeds the four properties on my row of semi detached houses which I am told makes it joint responsibility.

I was not given a choice to source my own contracter to complete the work who could have given a more competative quote.

They have given me the option to pay £85 for 6 months, this I find to be most unsatisfactory, my partner is a student and is no longer working.

I feel I should should send them an invoice for repairing my gate they broke whilst gaining access to my property, of course they have no proof it has been repaired but isn't that exactly what they have done to me?

Thoughts anyone?

Gothicfairy

I am guessing they needed to make the repair as soon as possible and didn't have the time to contact you and wait until you found your own contractor ?
Were you aware of any problem before this happened ?

matthill1981

Gothicfairy wrote: »

I am guessing they needed to make the repair as soon as possible and didn't have the time to contact you and wait until you found your own contractor ?
Were you aware of any problem before this happened ?

We had received a card a while back which said they would be investigating a possible leak on the 4 properties and they had no idea which property it was on.

If the leak was bad enough to require immediate repair we would have been having problems with our water pressure. We have had full pressure constantly since moving in here in 2001.

The manner in which this has been carried out is no different than the old trick of tarmacking someones drive when they are out and lying in wait with a bill for them upon their return.

JohnnyM_2

I recently had a mains supply pipe leak under my gravelled driveway. Severn Trent supply me.
When I called them about it they said that providing it was buried under concrete or the house they would repair it for free. However, they did say that they would not make good the driveway afterwards, but a couple of quids worth of gravel from B&Q once the area had dried out sorted it.

Speaking with the surveyor who came out to look at the job and detect the leak, he told me that they do not advertise the fact that most leaks will be fixed free of charge. Historically, they used to charge people but this just resulted in people either not reporting the leaks, or just not paying the bill when the leak was fixed. He said it was costing so much money to recover money from customers and they were losing so much water to unreported leaks, that they decided it would be easier and cheaper just to fix them for free.

Incidentally, Anglain Water operate a 'one free fix on your property' policy. It might be worth arguing the point more with them advising them that other water companies do this sort of work free of charge.

Good luck.

matthill1981

This is a copy of the letter I sent to south staffs water regarding this

Letter wrote:

Following consultation with the citizen’s advice bureau we unfortunately are unable to accept the proposed payment terms of £85.40 per month for six months.

Whilst we understand that the liability for repairs to pipe work within our property falls on us, we were given no fore-warning that your engineers would gain unauthorised access to our property to carry out work. Taken from your own “Code of Practice – Leakage” document on your website (http://www.south-staffs-water.co.uk/downloads/CODELEAK.pdf) Page 6, Final Paragraph “we will issue you with a Defective Fittings Notice that gives you 14 days in which to ensure the leak is repaired or faulty fittings are rectified. We may be able to offer assistance for the leakage on your supply pipe.” Having received no such notification we were denied the opportunity to source our own contractor who could have offered a competitive quote against your own. This not only goes against your own code of practice but against common sense and business ethics.

Furthermore, having inspected the area where the “supposed” work was carried out we have found it to be approx 1ft away from a recent repair carried out by yourselves, following consultation with a civil engineer we are informed that the disturbance of the ground caused by the first repair could have caused damage that required the second repair.

They have replied, as paraphrased over the phone by my partner

"We have not breached our codes of practice, we sent you a notice and included a copy"
This copy is a letter stating that they suspect a leak within the 4 houses on our supply and will be investigating. This is not a notice that I have a leak and have 14 days to get it sorted.

They claim the invoice amount stands and see no need to update their codes of practice.

My reply will be composed tonight, and mailed in the morning.

matthill1981

Well I've just got home and read the letter, they have attached two letters.. WE NEVER GOT EITHER and as I pointed out in my reply lack of return does not constitute confirmation of our receipt.

These letters also do not say our property, they list the 4 houses, they neither say a date nor time, they do not include what we should do IE turn our boiler off to avoid damaging it.

They are refusing to acknowledge that this repair was 1 foot away from a previous repair meaning the first repair could have caused damage to the pipework needing this repair. I have replied I will take a photograph with tape measure in situ if needs be.

I have then queried the amount of the stop tap on the invoice which is 168 (ex VAT) when my enquiries for finding a stop tap turn up none more expensive than 15 pounds.

I'm sending everything recorded delivery now and have asked they do likewise, I'm not just taking this. Just because they have a monopoly and I can't get my water elsewhere does not mean they can treat a customer like this.