Water Bill dispute help if water board not helping

LauraHa

My 86 year old parents noticed a dramatic increase in their water usage, and contacted the water boards, who discovered they had a leak and “fixed it”. Which they didn’t, they called them out again and repaired it properly a second time, so they were told,  we contacted them again and they said it is high and they would investigate, they haven’t and keep sending bills saying using more than normal and charging them more.  Who can I escalate this to to help get it sorted.  There is no way they are using the amount of water they are claiming they are using!  

elsien

Have they checked the readings that the bills are based on?

Voyager2002

If the leak is their side of the meter then it is their responsibility, and they should be engaging a plumber.

LauraHa

Yes they have.  The original leak was their side now we don’t know and they are expecting my parents to go out into the road turn off the water.  Then do the same indoors, I mean they are 86!  I can help on weekends but I work full time!  Is there somewhere I can escalate to?

MattMattMattUK

LauraHa said:

Yes they have.  The original leak was their side

Who is "their", your parents side or the water supplier's side? If the leak is on your parents side then that does make them liable for the water, though water suppliers will sometimes waive the increase costs of one leak they do not have to, if the leak was on the supplier's side of the meter then that would not have impacted the meter readings.

LauraHa said:

now we don’t know and they are expecting my parents to go out into the road turn off the water.  Then do the same indoors, I mean they are 86!  I can help on weekends but I work full time!

The customer is expected to do the basics in most circumstances, if the water supplier incurs cost and the cause is on the customer's side of the meter then the customer becomes liable for those costs. 

LauraHa said:

Is there somewhere I can escalate to?

No. Essentially you want to "escalate", but there is nothing to escalate. Your parents have a leak, they need to get a plumber to deal with it as it appears to be from the customer pipework, it is not the water supplier's responsibility. 

mmmmikey

LauraHa said:

Yes they have.  The original leak was their side now we don’t know and they are expecting my parents to go out into the road turn off the water.  Then do the same indoors, I mean they are 86!  I can help on weekends but I work full time!  Is there somewhere I can escalate to?

Hi @LauraHa unfortunately I think you might find it difficult to escalate on your parents behalf unless your parents have formally advised the supplier that you are authorised to do so. I'd suggest you call the regular customer services team in the first instance to establish what their policy is in this situation. They may not be willing to discuss your parents specific issue but they should be able to give you some general information. Is it possible they don't know your parents are elderly or maybe the customer services agent they spoke to didn't check?

As far as the leak is concerned, if it's causing the meter to read high then the only one place that would be the water supplier's responsibility is where the meter joins the pipe that goes to your parents house. So most leaks that show on the meter are the customer's responsibility and for that reason the normal thing to do is to ask the customer to do some checks in the first instance. That's no excuse for the customer services agent being unhelpful of course, and as you point out they've already been out once, I'm just saying this to give you a bit of background which may help you in your discussions.

With regards to escalation, it's probably going to be easier to do the checks that the water company has asked for and you may well hit a brick wall if you don't do those checks first. It hardly seems right in the circumstances but if you just want to get this sorted as quickly as possible then that may well end up being your best option.

Hope you manage to get something sorted

EDIT I've crossed posts with @MattMattMattUK but we're saying essentially the same thing...

tim_p

LauraHa said:

Yes they have.  The original leak was their side now we don’t know and they are expecting my parents to go out into the road turn off the water.  Then do the same indoors, I mean they are 86!  I can help on weekends but I work full time!  Is there somewhere I can escalate to?

Could you book a day or a half days leave and get involved. Phone the water company with your parents present and get permission to speak on their behalf and also read the meter while you are there. 

elsien

Surely they could do that on a weekend without needing to take leave? Severn Trent Customer service is open for at least some of that time.

jimjames

LauraHa said:

I mean they are 86!  I can help on weekends but I work full time!  Is there somewhere I can escalate to?

I assume it's not so time dependent that a weekend isn't an option? Can't you do the checks at the weekend for them?

elsien

Although it’s a fair point, that  if the older people didn’t have family or anyone to help, what are they meant to do? 

Does water have a priority register for these situations?

mmmmikey

elsien said:

Although it’s a fair point, that  if the older people didn’t have family or anyone to help, what are they meant to do? 

Does water have a priority register for these situations?

There is a priority register, however not every plumbing leak is down to the water supplier so it does seem fair enough to ask customers, even the elderly, to do whatever they would do if for example the washing machine plumbing sprang a leak. I would expect the water suppliers to be more flexible for vulnerable customers though. In this case we don't really know what the communication has been between the OPs parents and the water supplier.