Thames Water bureaucratic groundhog day

neighbour_2

Hi

This is being posted on behalf of a neighbour and is as much about the baffling administrative methods of Thames Water - or maybe not!

About 2 years ago my neighbours water meter broke and didn't record any water used for an unknown period until my neighbour pointed out to Thames water that econimical as she was zero comsumption was unlikely. At her instigation they installed a new meter.

Because she is on income support for health reasons they agreed a monthly installment plan that was meant to cover her etimated normal used plus an amount towards her estimated usage during the period the meter wasn't working. (I don't think she should have been charged - its their equipment after all.)

The idea being that after 12 months they would look at actual consumption and if the estimate for both the unmetered period and the current period was wrong it would be adjusted.

She has made these monthly payments since then although no adjustments have been made.

18 months later she has now had a letter from a debt collector for £49 and when she rang Thames Water to say why, she was told it was because her installment plan had been cancelled. After 20 minutes on the phone they confirmed that they were unable to tell her why or who had cancelled the installment plans, but because it had been cancelled this is why she had a 'debt'.

So then she asked when they were going to tell her whether she had been over or underpaying the montly amounts and was told she had a debt from August 2006. This is despite the fact that they confirm that her actual consumption is £13 a month based on meter readings and she has been paying £20 a month ie £7 a month has been going towards the period when she wasn't billed for water because the meter was broken.

So she pointed out that they had worked out how much she needed to pay to cover her actual consumption and the amount she may or may not have used when her meter was broken and how come she never cleared the debt and could go onto paying her actual monthly amounts of £13.

All they would say is because the payment plan had been broken.

When she said she didn't undertand the logic all they could say is that they had explained it.

Its just getting her down as she's tried hard to clear the debt caused by their faulty equipment but everytime it should be about cleared some bureaucratic or computer glitch seems to happen and she's 'in trouble again'.

These may seem small amounts but given her fixed income its a real worry.

Is there anyone at Thames Water who not only understands their billing system but can explain it everyday language?!

Thanks

caveat_emptor

No consolation to your neighbour but Thames Water have the worst customer service record of any utility and from my own experience I would agree. I heard an interview on the radio this morning with Mike Tempest TW Director of Customer Services who also agreed, so contact him at,Thames Water, Clearwater Court, Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8DB Phone: 0845 9200 888Fax: +44(0)1793 424 291http://www.thameswater.co.uk

Terrylw1

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me...RWE (owners of Npower) tried to sell them off for ages.

A debt collector will just have a amount of debt, not an understanding of where it came from. She would need to confirm any of that with Thames Water.