Thames Water - Changing to meter

qwerty99

Anybody had a similar problem?
I telephoned for a change to a meter in Feb. They would action it.
When nothing had happened by end of April, I cancelled direct debit in May
Wrote to chase them up at end of May and a reminder in mid June
Emailed in July
TOTAL ACTION BY THAMES WATER TO DATE: - NONE!

LATEST UPDATE - 8/7/05
An email has arrived, we're back at square 1 with them sending out a qustionaire by post!
Could be 7 months away from getting a meter.
Service - what service!

chillipepper_3

don't get one.

KTF

chillipepper wrote:

don't get one.

What makes you say that?

chillipepper_3

KTF wrote:

What makes you say that?

Please ignore my previous comment. I was expecting the meter to be expensive with water incoming costing over £1 per m3 and the same outgoing. It has worked out a bit cheaper and we will spend around the same as what we did without the meter.

hra_2

I'm having similar (maybe worse) experiences with Thames Water - but there's one fringe benefit - free water.

Well, free water and a big phone bill.

Thames Water have told me that since they didn't install my meter within a 3 month target of receiving my application, they have frozen my unmetered bill and all I have to pay is the service charge.

I applied for my meter in April and to cut a long story short, I'm still waiting. Thames Water tell me they have been deluged or inundated, or something similar, with applications for meters ever since the latest price increase and are struggling to meet demand which they unaccountably don't seem to have expected.

Their telephone customer service has been appalling enough but the worst part of the whole thing was an abortive installation attempt last month when I only just managed to stop the installation contractors digging up the concrete outside my block of flats, which was most definitely not on the paperwork previously written up and agreed by the surveyor!! My landlord and neighbours would have been really pleased. As it was an external meter fit I'd been told I did not even have to be there, and only was by chance! I am now back in the mode of waiting for a date for a re-survey.

Another little snippet for anyone else waiting for a meter is that Thames Water offer other specific compensation payments for missed targets, although you have to be persistent enough to persuade their customer service staff that these exist. E.g. £20 for survey cancelled at less than 24 hours notice. The payments are supposed to be credited automatically to your account, and if they aren't, and you have to chase it, then further compensation is due.

Nitewalker

Unfortunately i work for Thameswater and can advise you to do the following.

If you have a direct connection to the parent main and not on a shared supply you will need to contact the Meter Optant group located at Walnut Court: - 01793 542200. You should be entitled to the meter + fitting free of charge.

I would however like to state that if your family consists of 3+ people then it would be advisable to remain un-metered as it will probably work out cheaper.

Hope this information helps.

Cardew

Nitewalker wrote:

Unfortunately i work for Thameswater and can advise you to do the following.

I would however like to state that if your family consists of 3+ people then it would be advisable to remain un-metered as it will probably work out cheaper.

Hope this information helps.

I am sorry but advice like that is simply misleading. Your advice would only hold good if your property had a low rateable value(RV)

Prices for different districts within the Thames water area for unmetered charges vary tremendously. It can cost up to £1.40+ per £1 of RV plus a minimum fixed charge of £36.

You need to know your RV and charges for your district(for both metered and unmetered) to estimate if metered charges would be advantageous or not.

If you have a house with a RV of £350 you will pay over £500 per annum in some parts of Thames water. My 4 bedroomed house has(had) an RV of £700 so I would pay over £1,000pa.

There really is no 'one size fits all' solution when it comes to calculating which tariff is best for any given household.

skintchick

Hmm. I am in a similar situation and was told all I could expect was that when my meter is eventually fitted, they will charge me for the months over the three-month target as though I had been metred, based on two readings taken a week apart after the eventual fitting.

Does that sound as good as/better than the only pay the service chrage thing? They never mentioned THAT, OR any compensation for not meeting targets. Where do I find info on that?