United Utilities slow repair and staff stretching the truth

SimonFin

Hi all,
three days ago I found my drains blocked, so called out Dynorod who quickly identified the issue as being the responsibility of United Utilities. I rang them the following day (it took Dynorod some time to turn up) and was told that I could expect a visit before 10PM the following day. The following day at 4PM I got a voicemail - "We don`t think we can make it today, it`ll probably be tomorrow", meaning up to 48 hours after I first told them about the problem. I complained and kept chasing them up, explaining that the raw sewage was below our back door and around the grid, meaning we couldn`t let our dog out to do his business - we had to take him for a walk out the front of the house and deal with it that way. My wife is disabled and has great difficulty in walking the dog, and I explained that this is obviously putting us at great inconvenience. UU`s response was that they were busy so it was taking some time - the obvious reply was "Employ more engineers then, I don`t care how busy you are when my neighbours poo is knocking on my back door step". After a series of phone calls they eventually organised a van to come which turned up about 19:30, so about 27.5 hours after they were first informed of the problem. I had already raised the issue of compensation and had been told that the engineer would have the paperwork for me. The blockage was cleared and the engineer washed down the patio, and when I asked about the compensation paperwork was told "The office never said anything about that". So after he left I rang the office, to be told that he`d put on his report that we hadn`t been "materially affected" by the blockage.


I left a message at the call centre and was contacted today and told that because the leak hadn`t covered more than a certain percentage of my garden, I hadn`t been materially affected. I asked why the engineer hadn`t told me that, and was given a fob-off answer. I explained that we had been seriously inconvenienced and had suffered materially as we had lost the full use of our garden for over 24 hours. At this point I found that the clean up job from the previous night had been done very poorly, and there was still a lot of toilet paper etc firmly attached to the patio. I hadn`t been able to see this as it was dark and wet when the engineer left the previous night. I raised this issue and was told that they`d organise for someone to come out. I asked them to be certain it wasn`t the engineer who had essentially lied to my face, and said I wanted to raise a complaint about this as if he had told me at the time he didn`t believe I had been materially affected I could have challenged his decision.


I`m now awaiting a second visit for someone to finish cleaning my patio, and a return call from the network engineer about the poor level of service shown and compensation due. I`m really annoyed about this, as UU are very keen on getting their money but seem uninterested in doing anything to earn it.


Any ideas on how to sort this out - in terms of ensuring a prompt and good quality clean up job and the compensation that I believe we`re due because they failed to meet their guaranteed service standards and did such a poor quality job.


Thanks.

Cardew

How much compensation do you want?


Are you going to claim from Dynorod as 'it took them some time to turn up'?

SimonFin

Dynorod turned up within the timescale they were expected to turn up in. UU turned up after 24 roughly 7 times as long as they should have done. They also left a lot of mess that had to be cleaned up, requiring a second visit. Dynorod don`t have a guaranteed service level, UU do.


In terms of compensation, a good starting point would be the £75 they pay if you`ve been materially inconvenienced. Add on something for the hassle of having to spend an hour over two days speaking to them on the phone to get them to do their job, and for their engineer lying to my face, and you come to some kind of sensible figure.

Cardew

Then put in a claim for £75!

bluewire

Unsure why you think that the 24 hour response was too slow and you are owed money for this. Their website says:
And this is what will happen

We'll try to get to you within 24 hours of being told about the problem. We prioritise all calls and during really busy times (like when it's raining heavily) it may be up to 48 hours.
http://www.unitedutilities.com/blocked-drains.aspx


I think that you are simply fishing for cash in the day to day claim culture that we see everyday.


Maybe you need to have a word with your neighbours (and yourself) and find out what they have been flushing that has caused the drain to block and ask them for some cash too.

SimonFin

Thank you everyone for the incredibly helpful replies. United Utilities have been in touch to apologise for the slow response and have refunded over £160 (for half my sewage charge) and £25 by way of apology for the slow service.


Posting so that people searching can see that this level of service isn`t acceptable, despite the thoughts of some posters.

SimonFin

bluewire wrote: »

Unsure why you think that the 24 hour response was too slow and you are owed money for this. Their website says:
And this is what will happen

We'll try to get to you within 24 hours of being told about the problem. We prioritise all calls and during really busy times (like when it's raining heavily) it may be up to 48 hours.



I think that you are simply fishing for cash in the day to day claim culture that we see everyday.

I think perhaps you need to look closer - they HAVE to attend within 4 hours. And you may find it acceptable to have human waste preventing you from using your garden, but some of us apparently have higher standards.

SimonFin

Cardew wrote: »

Then put in a claim for £75!

Thanks for that very helpful reply - that really helped point out how to make the claim, the process to be followed and clarified the requirements on United Utilities to deal with issues like this in a prompt manner.

Cardew

SimonFin wrote: »

Thanks for that very helpful reply - that really helped point out how to make the claim, the process to be followed and clarified the requirements on United Utilities to deal with issues like this in a prompt manner.

As you appear to have studied United Utilities' T & C's, I assumed you would know how to write a letter and say I want to be compensated.


You thought £75 was a fair sum, but you have hit the jackpot and are obviously happy and contented.


So very well done!