Thames Water

Zedby

Hi, I was told by email from thames water that they were doubling my  D/D no explanation so I called them and was told that my meter was registering a leak of between 1-3 litres an hour. I asked if they would come and check the meter but was told they only come out for 10 litres or more, so I was told to get a plumber to come and find the leak. 
I had a profesional company come on 12/5/25 who were here for over 6 hours trying to find the leak, using various techniques including pumping gas through the system but could not find a leak. Cost of  service £1134.34.After emailing them again and again on 3/5/25 I rung the complaints line and gave them a piece of my mind!
Within 20mins there was a thames water van ouside my house, leaving me a note to say I had a leak on or near my meter.
By 6/6/25 they had dug up the road repaired the leak replaced the sleeving around the meter and Im now waiting for the tarmac people to come and fill in the hole.
Yesterday I got a call saying that I will be recieving a cheque to reimberse me for the £1134.34 up to 10 days time.
My arguement is why was it down to me to let thames water know that the leak wasnt on my property?
I pay for their service, wouldnt it have saved them the money if they had just come out in the first place?
I want to complain to thames water of the board that regulates them but as they are paying me back `Im not sure they will be interested?
Im lucky enough to have some savings but what if I hadnt? what about people with no extra money. If I hadnt had it investigated I would be paying twice as much for my water than I should be?

QrizB

I'd be asking your professional company why they couldn't find the leak "on or near your meter" when Thames Water's team could find it in 20 minutes?

I think Thames have done fairly well, to be honest. They're reimbursing you.

mmmmikey

Zedby said:

Hi, I was told by email from thames water that they were doubling my  D/D no explanation so I called them and was told that my meter was registering a leak of between 1-3 litres an hour. I asked if they would come and check the meter but was told they only come out for 10 litres or more, so I was told to get a plumber to come and find the leak. 
I had a profesional company come on 12/5/25 who were here for over 6 hours trying to find the leak, using various techniques including pumping gas through the system but could not find a leak. Cost of  service £1134.34.After emailing them again and again on 3/5/25 I rung the complaints line and gave them a piece of my mind!
Within 20mins there was a thames water van ouside my house, leaving me a note to say I had a leak on or near my meter.
By 6/6/25 they had dug up the road repaired the leak replaced the sleeving around the meter and Im now waiting for the tarmac people to come and fill in the hole.
Yesterday I got a call saying that I will be recieving a cheque to reimberse me for the £1134.34 up to 10 days time.
My arguement is why was it down to me to let thames water know that the leak wasnt on my property?
I pay for their service, wouldnt it have saved them the money if they had just come out in the first place?
I want to complain to thames water of the board that regulates them but as they are paying me back `Im not sure they will be interested?
Im lucky enough to have some savings but what if I hadnt? what about people with no extra money. If I hadnt had it investigated I would be paying twice as much for my water than I should be?

Hi - in your particular case it may have saved them money if they'd come out in the first place, but 9 times out of 10 these problems end up being on the customer's side so it's better to get the customer to check first, otherwise they end up wasting lots of time and money checking up on problems that aren't their responsibility. They have reimbursed you - would you have been happy to reimburse them if they'd come out and found it wasn't their problem? I can understand your frustration but I really don't think you have any reason to complain about Thames Water at all.

Zedby

Yes I take on board your comments. I was lucky enough to have the funds to pay up front but what about customers who dont? If I didnt have that money and couldnt get the leak investigated it would mean paying for water that I didn't use at the rate of 2-3 litres a day I know that doesn't sound a lot but over a year its an extra £420 per year.

Zedby

QrizB said:

I'd be asking your professional company why they couldn't find the leak "on or near your meter" when Thames Water's team could find it in 20 minutes?

I think Thames have done fairly well, to be honest. They're reimbursing you.

The company I used were tasked to find the leak on my property and as they couldnt find one their recommendation was for Thames water to come and check the Meter. 

mmmmikey

Zedby said:

Yes I take on board your comments. I was lucky enough to have the funds to pay up front but what about customers who dont? If I didnt have that money and couldnt get the leak investigated it would mean paying for water that I didn't use at the rate of 2-3 litres a day I know that doesn't sound a lot but over a year its an extra £420 per year.

Owning and maintaining your own property does have costs associated with it and of course it can be a struggle at times. If you can't afford the investigation you're not going to be able to afford to do any repairs which 9 times out of 10 are going to be yours. There's lots of help for those struggling to get by on low incomes, but sadly there are always going to be some property owners who find that even with this help, they cannot afford to maintain the property they are living in and may find themselves in the sad position of needing to move somewhere they can afford or renting. I'm not indifferent to the plight of those people, but my personal priority is supporting those on lower incomes who aren't lucky enough to own their own property with all the benefits that brings.