Thames Water opened an account in my name incorrectly = ruined credit score
Sam19745
Forumite 1 Post
Newbie
in Water bills
I have been in contact with Thames Water since the beginning of the year regarding an account that was created in my name despite my not being a listed tenant at the property. I was living with the occupier of house 'A' until we both decided to move into house 'B.' I am a registered TW account holder at house 'B' and a listed tenant with a rental agreement that started on 01.06.2019, which is the date we moved in.
House A is run by a management company and during the month of June when they were between tenants TW assigned the bill to me. I only found out about this in the beginning of 2020 when the new tenant kindly let me know. I have had numerous phone calls with TW to have this corrected, and they have assured me they will, however, nothing has been done. Due to Corona, I may need to move and with the horrendous credit score I am on now I probably won't pass any landlord checks. I have emailed their complaints dept etc but nothing has been done. I'm at my wits end now. I work hard to make sure I pay off my debt and was quite proud of my credit score before all of this.
What are my rights in regards to escalation, and what can I do to inform any prospective landlords that carry weight?
House A is run by a management company and during the month of June when they were between tenants TW assigned the bill to me. I only found out about this in the beginning of 2020 when the new tenant kindly let me know. I have had numerous phone calls with TW to have this corrected, and they have assured me they will, however, nothing has been done. Due to Corona, I may need to move and with the horrendous credit score I am on now I probably won't pass any landlord checks. I have emailed their complaints dept etc but nothing has been done. I'm at my wits end now. I work hard to make sure I pay off my debt and was quite proud of my credit score before all of this.
What are my rights in regards to escalation, and what can I do to inform any prospective landlords that carry weight?
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However your prospective Landlords will never see you "horrendous score". You are the only one that sees it.
Check your credit reports at the main providers for free.
Link here explains more: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/check-free-credit-report/
All I can advise is to sign up to the three main credit agencies (Experian, Equifax, Transunion) and ask them to file a change of details request / dispute with Thames Water. You may have to sign up to credit referencing agencies for a free trial and generate a credit report with each of them so that they can see your Thames Water account details (make sure you cancel the free trial before you get charged the following month). They'll then send a request to Thames Water asking that their credit team queries the issue. Make sure you include all the relevant detail you can and if possible evidence for them to forward on to TW.
As well as that, I'd advise contacting Thames Water on all available channels (Phone, Email, Twitter / Facebook) and explain your issue and how it is unacceptable treatment of customers. If you do not receive a reply within 10 days working days, then send them a follow up stating that they have now failed their guidelines set by the consumer water council and you are seeking additional compensation (believe you are entitled to £30) and that you will give them a further 10 working days to reply before escalating further through other channels. This will also increase the priority of your case within Thames Water's own complaints management system and hopefully lead to a swifter resolution.
Finally, I've started a petition on change.org after my own poor treatment entitled "End Thames Water's Monopoly of the Water Sector" if you search on change.org (I'm unable to post links on here). Please feel free to sign, share and voice your own dissatisfaction on there in how they treat their customers.