£1259.55 estimated water bill!

net78

Hi after chasing/ringing severn trent for several months I have received an estimated bill from a property I moved out of in Nov2010.

The problem started when we gave notice and gave them final readings in Nov-We had lived there since April 2010.The water meter reading we gave was the same as we moved in!! Severn trent queried there must be a fault with meter andwould get back to us ..which they didn't.We rang them in Dec and Jan I told someone would ring us.. still nothing.
To be honest I've forgot about it till now and received a letter today with the amount of £1259.55!! for 6 months feel sick and I'm sure this is wrong :eek:

Cardew

Well you obviously could not use that amount of water.

I suspect that the meter has not been working for a long time - years?

They have not appreciated you only moved in in April 2010 and have probably assumed(or the computer has!) that you had lived there the whole time the meter was broken.

net78

Thanks for the reply.

It was a new build. Shall be on the phone to them tomorrow.

DVardysShadow

net78 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

It was a new build. Shall be on the phone to them tomorrow.

Get your evidence together. If you are on a meter where you are now, that should give a fair indication of your usage.

wild666

net78 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

It was a new build. Shall be on the phone to them tomorrow.

Don't phone use email or letter keep a record of everything. If the bill doesn't say the period it covers then find out when this bill does cover then find out how much a property with that rateable value would pay per year in water & sewage charges and offer them half of it and not a penny more. You could also first ask them to prove you have used that amount in 6 months even if they threaten court action they will have to prove that you used the amount of water equivalent to the bill in 6 months.

I think if you put pressure on them to prove this is 6 months usage and offer the amount of 6 months payment on a similar property that is charged by rateable value they will snap it up as a court will ask them to prove their claim if you turn up at court and contest the amount.

I am not 100% about this but if you have a meter number for the property and they had to change it then the new meter may have another number so this would go against the water company.
Many times when taking on large company's it is that you are prepared to put things in writing, and ask them questions in writing that makes them back down, over the phone they may think you are trying to pull a fast one.