Hello All, A friend has just informed me that Northumbrian Water, have charged him an extra £4.55 Dishonoured Direct debit fee after the DD for sum of £50 ish failed to be collected by them. Is this not another "overcharge penalty" for the service. All answers, advice and info will be gratefully received. "EXEMPLO DUCEMUS"

Hi, I have recently received a number of letters from a debt collection agency, and now one from their solicitors, about a water biil. Back in 2008, I was asked to babysit a building site for a friends, friend. I lived in the site caravan and let contractors and potential buyers in to the site on weekends and during the evening. I was asked to keep people out, which I did. I am now being asked to pay almost £700 for the year I carried out these duties in water rates. I have asked the debt agency for proof of the bill. I have also told them I was not resposnsible for the building site, but they are just increasing the amount owed and threatening with a CCJ. Where do I stand as I dont have any bills, I have never signed any contract and certainly dont have the money to pay for someone else's house build! Unfortunately I also dont have the details of the owners of the house which sold according to the internet for £3 million. Thanks for any advice

Hi all. Had a debt letter from Wescot today claiming £931.00 On behalf of Anglian Water. The bill had both my name and ex wifes name on it. I have no idea why they are contacting me so I called them. Apparently the bill is for an address that my ex lives at and dates back to 2005. He also mentioned something about closure in 2008? My ex still lives at this address so why the hell are they contacting me! I was with my ex in 2005 and I can only asume that it is from a previous property but she dealt with all the bills. What can i do about this? please help Chris

Hi, I've just had a letter from Southern Water saying that they will change the billing from rateable value to average consumption of other properties in the area. Looking at the estimate the bill will be £100 more than the current one. I asked how it worked and they said that they will now estimate the bill by averaging the use of other 3 bedroom houses in the area and charge me that. Can they do this? I live alone in a 3 bed house, and the other houses have full families etc... in them? Not to mention the majority of them have gardens and my garden was paved :-/ I told them to install a meter, but they said they were unable to due to the pipes being inaccessible. Surely this isn't my problem? Any advice would be handy...

Just after some advice. We have an outstanding bill to YW on a former address. We were initially contacted by Rockford who wanted £50 paying monthly but we told them we can only afford £5. They agreed to this but kept sending letters to us claiming that a repayment plan had not been set up. We have paid this for a few months now. Last month we were contacted by LCS and I replied telling them how we have been paying an agreed sum of £5 to Rockford and that we will continue with this and to provide their banking details for a standing order. In response to this I have received a letter asking me to call them to discuss this. It also says in regards to the call: 'There are a number of reasons for this and may be a simple clarity of details held pertaining to you'. Obviously there are not problems with any of the details they hold. They have my address and that's all they need so this is obviously just to get me to call. My question really relates to the repayment plan I had with Rockford. They weren't at all happy with the set up so this looks to me as though it's been passed on in the hope that LCS can get more money out of us, but good luck to them. So basically is there anything that says LCS should continue with my prior arrangement set up with Rockford? Thanks Lee.

Hello, first time on here hope I've got the right place to find what I'm looking for. We bought our house in 1999, the vendors retained some land approx 2 acres, the main water line that feeds our house runs under the land they retained, It was stipulated that we have access to water pipe for repairs and renawals etc, it was also stipulated that the vendors retain the right of use from that line from one tap for agricultural use only. This has never been a problem as the land has had very little use and the owner is very rarly there. The only problem we have had is when he left the tap running and we had a greatly reduced water pressure. A potential problem may now arise as they are selling the 2 acres and it is advertised as having a mains water supply, can his original right of use made in an agreement with us now be passed on to new people, they may go in to the land and if the water is in constant use it will greatly affect us through lack of pressure, can we ask the vendor to remove the detail as it having mains water supply? I would be very grateful for any input, many thanks, David

Hi all (again). Needing a lot of advice lately! I am proof that burying your head in the sand is the worst thing you can do Yorkshire Water have a CCJ against me for unpaid water charges. I haven't made any payments against this CCJ. I received a letter dated 01 March advising me that if I didn't contact them within 7 days they would be applying to the High Court for a Writ of Execution. The amount outstanding was £674.96. I called and made an offer of payment £20 every 4 weeks, I gave her my income & expenditure details which showed £20 was what I could afford. She said that the minimum payment she could accept was £75 per 4 week as this was due to the fact that when 2013/2014 water bill is added it is £928.68 and it needs to be cleared within a certain period? Anyway, I made the payment of £20.00 there and then on the phone and she said that I needed to call by Friday (today) and make a payment of £8.68 (which I have done) which would stop the issuing of a High Court Writ. My question is what do I do? I can't afford to pay £75 every 4 weeks but I also really don't relish in the though of HCEO.

just sent my htc one x to o2 for the second time and just been told its water dammiged. i kno for a fact the phone has not been near any water o2 are saying phone has got suface corrosion throu the usb charging port. heres the full story got the htc one x in april was sent in for repair in aug as it had crashed and was in a turn on and try to boot then would go off and repeat the cycle. phone was replaced with a recon unit. phone that i got was crashing poor signal very bad wifi but perservied with it until feb 2013. sent it in for repair and got a text tonight to say that the phone was not being repaird under the warrenty. i rang cs to find out what was going on and he spoke to the repair center who said water damage via the usb port and that there was staining on the pcb. i kno for a fact that the phone has not been near any water or in a kitchen or a bathroom as he implied. also he was very quick to tell me the repair would be £181 then after a few mins a good will of £120 would get me a phone reduced from £300 so i was more suspicius and told them no if i accepted that then i would be accepting that i was admiting doing the damage to my phone. also a funny thing is my partner had a htc one x that went faulty and it was sent in for repair and it had very big faults ie screen not working proper crashing poor signal and no one could hear you on a phone call. got phone back repaired with no info and first day back it started to crash rang o2 and they rang the repair center who said the phone had that many problems it should have been replaced with a new referbished. so any way o2 cs said they would send one out and to have this one sat ready so we did that got new one and it wouldnt turn on so anouther call to o2 and the advisor said it had been checked and updated to the latest firmwhare and couldnt understand why it was sent out faulty. any way they replaced it for the htc one x pluss. im questening the reliabilty of the repair center and also wether they just sent my phone with any mother bord out hoping for the best. aparently there is photos being sent with the phone im going to get a engineers report done on it etc. has any one else sufferd simula with phones from o2 and also is there any other advice any one can give me. im not going to let this drop as i clearly belive im in the right here

I have noticed on the bill Thames Water have a charge for waste water to be treated. Was this always the case but not itemised? As I have never seen this on a bill before. Seems like an extra revenue source has been created to squeeze consumers pockets further. Thanks.

This is my first post and I am wondering if someone can give me advice. I have checked through several threads and made notes but am now confused as to how to proceed. Just a brief explanation so far: I have received a claim form from Northampton Bulk Centre regarding impending action. I am searching through my paperwork and am panicking. I only received it on 13.2.13 and the date of issue is 13.2.13, so I only have a short time to reply. I am sending back my acknowledgement stating that I am going to be contesting the claim. I requested my water company allow me to install a water distiller and have found that the Dept of Health will cover the payments for this. I have received no response from the water company, just a string of aggressive and threatening letters. Any suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks.

Strange question maybe, but I moved into a shop with flat above it. The Electric and Gas were single suppliers, so one account for each utility for both shop and flat. The water companies have separate accounts, so we get 2 demands for clean water for shop and flat, plus 2 separate demands for sewage/waste water. So for one supply of water to both flat and shop, used by my wife and me, we get two bills, and we get two bills for waste water. The hot water/central heating is fed from the same boiler to both parts of the building, the waste is taken into the same drain.The shop has two sinks and one toilet Can they reasonably charge twice for the same supply ? Or am I being stupid ?

Can anyone tell me this - if I moved out of a property in 2008, my only crime being that I didn;t tell the water company, (I was up to date), if the new occupant chooses not to fill in the form or pay the water, can they then come after me for nearly five years worth of water rates?! I didn;t tell them I had moved out fair enough, but I owed nothing, and I moved to a property where I had no responsibility for any of the outgoings, so they didn;t need to know where i was going. I know the person who lives there now, and I collect his dog daily for a good walk'. The water company say they have asked the neighbours who lives there, and been told it is me. However the landlord has confirmed who the tenant is and how long he has lived there. Clearly the tenant has a lot to answer for to the water board, but I do not, and I am so angry with the waterboard as they insist I pay then nearly £2K, unless i give them details of the current resident?!! This is nuts isn;t it? Any suggestions chaps?

Hi All, I'm hoping someone might be able to offer some advice... I bought a new-build flat (for my sins) on the Hyde Housing shared ownership scheme in 2007. Since then, my water bill has continually increased year on year from £13 to £98 per month. Early last year, Thames Water confirmed there was a leak in underground pipework feeding the property. In December, following a lot of further investigation and heel dragging, they confirmed it was a customer side leak and that I would have to arrange for repair. On review of my water bills, it seems that the leak started in year 3. Despite initially arranging for investigation, Hyde Housing are now washing their hands of the matter advising that I am responsible for the repair as leaseholder. Whilst that might be so, I can't help thinking that new pipework should last longer than 3 years. Does anyone know what rights, if any, I might have to pursue this and whether I should be forcing this issue on Hyde (or Rydon Construction as builders, or via the Zurich Warranty)? Yours very stressed and fed up, Laura

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel so sick at the moment and really do feel like everything is getting on top of me and can no longer cope So, the past 18 months have been pure hell. I lost my job twice, have spent the past year earning next to nothing and my wife only works part time. We have a CT debt which I'm dealing with on another post, countless Payday loans which we are working through, and now this has just come through my door. I've been totally irresponsible and stuck my head in the sand and everything is just spiralling out of control but just when I think we're starting to get on top of things something else jumps up and knocks me down again. I came home from work yesterday to find that Marstons had visited us in relation to unpaid Water Bills. They have posted a letter through with the following: Debt £787.42 Costs £ 147 Execution Costs £111.75 Officers Fees £362.38 Total Levy £1358.55 It then follows with the wording regarding non payment in full, siezing of goods etc I've been reading about Stays etc but just don't know where to start let alone get this sorted before they come back again. I just feel like a complete let down to my family at the moment

I am having major issues with welsh water at present. I have recived court papers from nottingham that are taking me to court for unpaid water bills. This is where things get a little dicy and need some help please. I am a single person, living along for the past 10 years and welsh water have had me on the unmetered water and sewrage bill through whole of this time. However on 3 occations I have requested a meter be fitted "On there Advice" thus reducing my bill by a third however they have still not come to fit it after trying numerous times. I paid them £300 off one bill a while back now, and I said to them then this will be the last payment I make until my water meter is fitted and I am billed for the correct usage of said water. This has been ignored totally and so I am being billed 2/3 to much for water and sewrage and now I am ending up with a CCJ because of there incompatance. Can someone please help as I had the papers served on 24th Jan but they arrived yesterday. Much thanks

Morning. I have been away for the past three weeks and walked into my house this morning (about an hour ago) and found a letter on the doormat from Wessex Water threatening a County Court Claim for an unpaid Water Bill which has genuinely been overlooked. As it stands, I do not have £156 just to give away to the Water Company. My financial situation is absolutely dire at the moment as my house mate is making no contribution to Rent, Council Tax or anything else for that matter. But routinely helps himself to my food and electric, gas etc So I've stopped buying food for the moment and have made other arrangements to eat! Kicking him out is proving difficult but I'm getting there slowly. Basically, I don't want to arrange a repayment plan at this stage, because I simply don't know how my finances are due to pan out over the next 6 months. Long story short, I have a serious medical condition which will require surgery within the next month or 2. The recovery time is closer to 6 months and I am on Employment Support Allowance, DLA and the rest because I cannot work more than 10 hours a week without become physically and mentally exhausted. I also have reasonably serious Mental Health Conditions which certainly along with the other medical condition above doesn't bode well with stress at all......... I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not looking for a way of not paying the bill. Personally I am more than comfortable with paying the water bill. But my financial situation is constantly changing so I don't want to agree to say £20 a month because in 2 months I might not have it. Then again, I might have more. I have read that water is not to be considered a Priority Debt. If this is the case, why am I being threatened with a County Court Claim for £156? Can anyone suggest how I can tackle this one please? In the eyes of the Council with Council Tax etc, I am classed as Disabled and a Vulnerable Person if that makes any difference?! Is a £1 Token Payment Per Month an option for now until I know what my circumstances are? Also, because of the disability. I do use an awful lot of water (About £350 Per Years worth) Please ask if you need any further information. Thanks and hope you can help me out Shark

Hello all, My partner and I are living in a private rented property which has now been without hot water (not even warm) for just under two months. We have incurred great expense of having to travel to relatives for our weekly bath/shower and also costs associated with continually boiling kettles for hair washing etc. Now, the problem is that our landlord has messed us (and others) about something chronic. My partner has lost days at work and I myself could well do without the stress at the moment as I am dealing with bipolar. I have spoken to my family and things have gotten to a stage where I now want to take my landlord to court for damages. I believe that the amount of time that he has taken to resolve this matter is outrageous (particularly given the time of year). This matter has made the property unihabitable. What is everyone's opinion on the idea of legal action? Many thanks, timetoshine

basically as the title says folks. i am with a local housing association called home housing.. currently residing in durham. this has went on for 11 days what can i do?! thanks in advance rikki

The house I had built in Whyalla South Australia did not have a water meter installed when I took possession. I had to organise an installation with SA Water and they have sent me bill for the meter. who is responsible for this account , myself, or should it have been supplied by the builder when he built the house?

I checked my credit report recently and noticed that Anglian Water have been searching my file, 3 times over the last two months. I haven't lived in an Anglian Water area for well over 6 years, so it must be for an unpaid bill that is over 6 years old. They haven't written to me or attempted contact but I would really like to get this resolved. Can anyone give me some advice on my course of action please?

plz can someone help us we have just moved into a council housing home, and there in a problem with the sewage pipes at the rear of the property, as they keep blocking we have been in touch with the landlord who sent out a chap with drainage rods to clear the blockage but the next day it was blocked again we phoned again and was told that it belongs to anglia water and they are responsible for the sewage they have come out and said that they are not other people in the street have complained to anglia water as well as they have been told that it is anglia water responsible and they said its not these homes are council house but some have been sold off so can some one tell me who is responsible for the sewage an as this is now the 6th day this is been block are we intilled to compensation and who from. thanks

My parents live in a housing association house (over 25 years same house, London). They are an elderly couple, both pensioners, father is 80+ years old. Recently their boiler failed and it's been taking an incredibly long time to get it repaired. It failed right at the end of November, reported on the evening of November 29th, and to date it has not yet been repaired. One of the engineers i talked to (housing association is contracted with a large independent boiler/heating company who handle repairs) told me straight out the reason, he said due to the age of the boiler and the fact that it's an obsolete model, ideally a new boiler would be installed, however, the company's head office will allocate a maximum amount of money to each repair and because the engineer spent a long time trying to repair the problem and got head office to acquire a new part already (valve), they won't replace the boiler and instead they'll wait for a different part (flue) which will take weeks to get hold of. Of course, they didn't say weeks, but the flue fault was diagnosed on the 7th of December and still they're struggling to find the part even though the problem itself was reported on the 29th of November. (The engineer originally thought it was a valve fault only, having installed the valve on the 7th, he found the flue fault after). Also, initially they wouldn't give an exact date of when the flue will be in stock, just kept it vague "showing in stock", "maybe tomorrow", "supplier will get back to us" etc. Finally a lady answered the phone who was from a different department and helping out with the phones during a busy period and she called the specific departments/planners and found the date which was the 19th of December...but not guaranteed, expecting another call (although previously when they stated they'll call back with a more accurate date of when the part will be in stock, they never called back). An Important Note: The reason why the fault came about in the first place is because when the boiler was installed about 8 years ago by the same company (different engineer), it was installed BADLY (not my opinion but the new engineer said so). The flue was cut too short hence it eventually collapsed and the engineer told me this is very dangerous (and it resulted in other parts failing internally as a domino effect, valve, ignition, etc). I'm guessing it's possible that it was releasing dangerous fumes indoors, possibly for many years. Since the flue collapse though it kept overheating and cutting out so it didn't have a chance to poison anyone to death. But, the problem itself came about because the company's original engineer did a poor and very dangerous botch job with the installation. He even shoved the boiler in to accommodate the pipes, so much so the pipes got pushed (right side) out an inch off their fixings on the other side of the wall (downstairs toilet). Surely it can't be right for anybody to be made to wait this long for a repair? Especially two pensioners in this weather, some nights the outside temperature has fallen to minus. They left fan heaters, but they're no substitute to central heating especially considering the house is poorly insulated with normal glass windows as opposed to double glazing, no cavity wall insulation and loft has a thin piece of wool that was there since the 1980s, add to that they're paranoid about leaving these fan heaters on overnight as they're worried something will catch on fire or the room will overheat while they're asleep. Also, the immersion heater that has been used in the past as a backup in case the boiler stopped working died at the same time (or maybe before and no one noticed) so there was no hot water either, but the immersion heater was finally repaired on the 12th of December, however, it takes about 4 hours to heat up as the cylinder is large, whereas the boiler only takes 30 minutes, so not ideal but better than nothing. The engineers/electrician that have come out to try and repair the problems have been fantastic, sympathetic and all around great. However, the head office's decision to try and find the part of an obsolete boiler just so they can make a profit on the job seems incredibly wrong considering they knew how long it would take and how difficult it would be; they don't seem to be in a hurry. They're saying the part will be in stock on the 19th of December and an engineer will show up close to that (following day if lucky) to repair it, however, based on how many delays there have been and how they've already struggled to find the part in question AND put into that the fact that a lot of engineers will be off for Christmas, i'm not holding out hope. And i wouldn't be surprised if after the flue is repaired some other fault is found which will take several more days for the parts to arrive and that will definitely mean no boiler before Christmas (unless they have loads of engineers working through Christmas?). What if anything can be done? The problem was reported on the 29th November and the boiler is still dead and two pensioners have no central heating during an incredibly cold period. The electricity bill will no doubt be massive but the suffering, stress and the long LONG wait is what's really wrong (and the original dangerous botch job), all so that the contractor can make sure they make a profit on the call out and not a loss. Apologies for the long post. Cliffnotes: 29th November: Boiler died. Reported by phone. Two pensioners living at premises. 7th December: Boiler is obsolete hence difficult to find parts for. Head office decide to order part anyway (flue) even though engineer recommends a new boiler. Boiler failed due to initial botch job installation several years ago by same company but different engineer. Note: Current fault was caused by initial botch job boiler installation by same company whose original engineer cut the flue too short hence it collapsed. New engineer told me this is very dangerous. 19th December: Part will apparently be in stock on the 19th of December. Boiler is still very much dead.

One week ago I moved in a flat which I am going to leave by January as the house is going to be sold, Today I received this letter: The Landlord is unwilling to pay this bill and says that before moving in we agreed that I would be paying all bills except council tax. What should I do in this case? Should I write Thames water that it is unlawful to disconnect the supply as the property is occupied??

Hi there hoping you can help me? We moved into our current property in Dec 11 and duly registered with the water company as new customer over the phone, they asked us basic details of names/address etc and then told us that everything was set-up and we would receive out bills in due course as they were due( monthly payments), since then however we have never received a bill or any other paperwork from them other than just advertising flyers and then today we receive A Claim form from CBCC at Northampton for £469.74. We have never received ANY paperwork from them regarding our account and admittedly we have not contacted them since as there have been a lot of personal and family problems/bereavements which caused their entire existence to completely slip our minds where they have never sent us any bills or paperwork to remind us they need paying. Where do I stand with this and what would be the best way to proceed? Thanks in advance, Saerimmner. Also apologies if this has been posted in the wrong section and if so fplease feel free to get a moderator to move it

My partner and I have been working hard at paying off debt to get his credit rating up so we can get a mortgage before our second child is born. All was going well, we had paid off around 7k in the last six months, cleared all outstanding debt and his rating had shot up to excellent. Then at the beginning of Nov, we got an unexpected water bill for £600. Part of the reason it was unexpected was because over the past year ourwater bills had suggested that we were in credit. Prior to this, around the time I was expecting our first child, we were going through a rough time financially, and we had run up a large bill and had reached the stage where court papers were issued by YW. We managed to raise the money to pay this off before a CCJ was issued forunately and our account was clear. Then, as mentioned, for about a year afterwards our bills seemed to suggest we were in credit. To be honest, this seemed fairly plausible as we do seem to be paying a lot for water, and we never got round to questioning it. Then in November, we got this huge bill so I phoned up to see what was going on. I was told that this was correct and the situation with the other bills was a known problem after accounts had defaulted badly and then been paid off. The girl on the other end of the phone agreed that it was misleading and it was something they were trying to resolve. She then suggested that we could set up a payment plan for the outstanding balance and the bills going forward to all be rolled into one and go out by direct debit. This sounded really reasonable so we paid £200 there and then towards the outstanding balance, and an £80 direct debit which could be adjusted subject to meter readings. Fast forward to today, and my partner has done a routine check of his credit file and found that Yorkshire Water have been entered as a new account and they have filed a year's worth of missed payments. Needless to say this has had a very detrimental effect on his credit rating, dragging it down from excellent to fair and ruining our chances of a mortgage any time soon. Is there anything we can do to resolve this? What would happen if we paid off the balance and cancelled the payment plan, going back to quarterly bills. It just seems that we've worked so hard to pay off so much debt and get in a position to buy a decent house and now because of this we are right back to square one. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!