South West Water

[rob200375]

Hi,

I have had an ongoing complaint with SWW for 2 1/2 years

The points

· moved in nov '03 wanted a meter, couldn't have one because no outside stop cock, queried this, came and dug couldn’t find, nothing more happened for a while
· had a bathroom fitted in Feb. '04, plumber advised of faulty internal stop cock, complained to SWW about no outside stop cock as cant repair inside, without one.
· they came and dug still couldn’t find, this went on for 2 years, numerous calls on my part none from them.
· was promised calls from sww managers, none received,
· last 2 weeks stop cock found 5 feet from where they have been looking in all along - very frustrating
· received bill in April, refused to pay this one as they wouldn't fix stop cock, received a red bill saying pay up £160 within 14 days (not sure on length).
· Called sww and advised about complaint and they put payment on hold.
· Have had no correspondences about poor service over stop cock during whole saga, it has had to be me all the time.
· Contacted water council about this, and were shocked at delay.
· Then stop cock fixed, get new bill saying £160 to be paid within 7 days or they will claim through courts plus £140 fees. - total would be about £700,
What I am asking is do you feel it is fair for me to ask them to remove the outstanding balance of £160 as a good will gesture, for all the problems I have had over the last 2 years or should I ask for more, say 50% of the bill (£250).

I would appreciate your views on this. As we have a lot of people with a lot to say.

[Bookworm]

You poor thing!

To be honest, I can't think right now how best to handle this, but I'm sure there's got be some kind of redress for the appalling service you've had... I'll do a bit of research and see what I can dig up (hopefully, I'll be more efficient at that then SWW!!! lol).

In the meantime. let's hope a water-minded fellow comes along and reads this...

.

[Bookworm]

Ok, first things first:



SWW's own Customer Code of Practice

then this is from their Really useful handbook:

Go to Page 10 "If things go wrong".

I think that to remove this particular Sword of Damocles from your head, I would suggest paying the £160 in full, or negotiate repayments. The problem is that you can't legally withhold payment of your water bill because their service has been sh1tty, it doesn't work like that.

Once you have that breather in place, then you can go after them for solving your complaint, by exhausting their complaint procedure first, then onwards. I certainly would expect a fair amount of compensation for my troubles, that's for sure!!!

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[rob200375]

as i have had a complaint dealt with by the water council, should i direct further chasing throught them or through sww

[Bookworm]

I don't know... But I would think that like with bank charges, if you haven't followed the complaint procedure, they'll try to wriggle out on a technicality. So my advice would be, if you didn't do it right then, do it right, now.

I don't know what a water council does!

[rob200375]

update

received a £100 goodwill back on bill happy with this.

all resolved.