“Dear Thames water,
this REVIEW is to convey the ordeal i am going through with Thames water and it is causing me a great deal of mental stress and affecting my health as well.
I moved into the property in November, since then I have been paying my bills regularly every month. but the payment stopped getting debited since April 2022. since then i have been following up for my bill and asking why i am not getting debited or what my bill will be from April. every time i call in this 3 months the answer is always you will get an update in 10 working days, I AM CURRENTLY CHATTING WITH A CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT AND SHE SAID THAT SHE WILL A NOTE THAT I AM GETTING DIFFICULT.
like seriously??? i will contact Citizen advice as well with the mental torture i have o go through with Thames water.
I hope my enquiry will be resolved AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
I HAVE SENT EMAILS”
“On 23 June 2022, my house (37 Tunnel Avenue, London Greenwich) was severely blocked the shower drainage in the ground floor toilet. I phoned Thames Water emergency services 08003169800 to report this problem around 14:00pm. I got a very quick response from Thames Water which sends one engineer with engineering van at 15:30pm to this house. The engineer opened the underground sewage drainage cover outside of the house, it filled with sewage inside. He used the mechanical drive equipment in the engineering van to drain the sewage totally out within an hour and half hours. We greatly appreciate Thames Water’s quick response and wonderful job (This case number is: 00177731).”
“I called for a broken outside valve, and the customer service was amazing. Told me engineers would be by within 6 hours. 30 minutes after, the engineer arrived and within 2 minutes he fixed everything. Left me with a card with the incident reference and everything needed. I paid £180 a plumber who couldn't do anything.”
“Their smart meter is a scam. They said at first we had a leak, then it was share usage. Now apparently everything is fixed but when on holiday there is still water consumption at 5am.... If you can refuse the smart meter as it will not save money but just make you pay more.....”
“Our water bill spiked inexplicably, we dutifully paid (an insane and implausible amount) to avoid any debt collection issue. But I also requested a leak investigation. This was in August 2021.
They sent an engineer who said he found a leak around September 2021, and so they arranged a repair and said we'd be reimbursed for the amount we have overpaid. Fair enough.
Got some news that unfortunately the repair had been delayed, it could take weeks, maybe all the way until November! Fair enough, we can wait, I understand these things take time.
Whoops, it's been delayed now because there is a hotel in the area they need to talk to before they can fix the leak. Fair enough, it will be done in late December they say.
January comes around, the leak has not been fixed, Thames Water now says they don't have a date for when the leak will be fixed.
We continue this dance until April, this time, Thames Water sends us a bill, another huge one that makes absolutely no sense. I call in to say "hey, this bill is not reasonable as there is an unfixed leak' they say 'we understand, but you still need to pay, we don't care if it's a ridiculous amount that we know makes no sense, and no, we don't yet know when your leak will be fixed. Pay us anyways, we will adjust later.' At this point I'm expected to take them at their word...it's April, so they have already proven that their word cannot be trusted.
I contact the Consumer Council for water (CCW) to complain, and the CCW is very understanding. CCW says not to pay the bill, and gives Thames Water a call, they are not impressed either. They tell Thames water to schedule a repair.
All of a sudden, I get a call from Thames Water saying they've scheduled a repair for May 9. This essentially means that if they really cared to do this, they would've done it sooner. My bill has been 'generously' frozen until the repair is made.
Here we are in present day, it's May 20th, 2022. Thames Water sent a team that has determined that the issue has magically fixed itself, but that they didn't do anything. Our water meter is miraculously reporting normal usage again. However! There is a tiny leak on the side of our property (well, our landlord's property, rather). The engineer explicitely said it was much too small a leak to explain the large bill. Essentially 'we have done nothing, but the leak looks like it fixed itself, we have no idea what the problem was, we have failed to find it, anyways, life goes on'.
I ask what this means about my bill, and Thames Water says that now that they have done nothing but usage is back to normal, I am still expected to pay the previous completely ridiculous bill that was frozen. Why? Because thames water has failed to actually find out the problem. They said an 'adjustment' can't be made until our landlord fixes the tiny leak that the engineer said was too small to explain the bill, but not otherwise. In the interim, Thames Water tells me that they will move to debt collection in 2 weeks if we do not pay the bill that CCW previously advised us not to pay.
When they want money '2 weeks or else', but when we want a repair 'please, you must understand! we need 9 months!'
Absolutely shameless greed and apathy, abject failure and intimidation at every level. This company is a joke.”
“Kept ringing my mum with an automated message, rang them back to tell them that she is 91 & dying of cancer & all they are interested in is her paying a year ahead bill ! They wont send a bill for the 1 MONTH that she actually owes ! Disgusting & shameful greed”
“Moved into a 1 bed property November 2021. Had to sort out 2 x leaks the day I moved in. I am frugal with water use. Phoned Thames and registered as a customer. Explained that I can't access the meter. Agreed on £22 a month. Sent an estimated bill which expects over £60 a month. Can only assume they are charging me for the previous occupants water leaks. Very unfair.”
“Spoke with a fella by the name of Imran from customer support services. Absolute legends this guy, fully supported in my issues, I'm new to London, so he sorted my bills out, ironed out some errors on my account, sent out an engineer to double check our digital reader. I recommend supporting your local water services in London, these guys help you way more than you think! Well done Imran, cheers mate.
FYI I'm from Perth, Australia, and we have something called Watercorporation (like Thames Water), which back at home was known for awesome customer services. I'm happy to see here in the UK, in London, I see this same super supportive behaviour through with our, although private, city wide water provider here in London!”
“Thames water is truly one of the worst companies I have ever worked with. Avoid them if you can. They provided an egregious price for their services. Almost triple what the neighbor in a much larger flat pays. When I asked for clarity on this, they said to talk with my local officials as they do not have any control. I then asked for a water meter to be installed. They scheduled an appointment and didn't show. Then when I reached out they said they came. Very unprofessional company.”
“They charged me and my wife £800 pounds for water one year. I ask them to check the meter as I thought it's leaking . They said someone will call me to check . Nobody call me , they just replace meter for new . And send me the bill . £800 pounds bill for couple of hard working people who are spending most of the time at work. Wankers and liers. Absolute morons...”
“Quite simply the worst company to have to deal with. They are so lucky that Londoner's have to use them otherwise they wouldn't have any customers.
In the space of a year they have overcharged me, undercharged me, cancelled my account, cancelled my water supply, taken unauthorised money out of my bank, only paid some of it back etc.
They also seem to have a completely untrained support team that have no idea how to do a simple task - put you through to someone else with no notes on what you've already discussed.
Say they will call you back and then never do.
Seriously just the worst.”
“Thames Water, Did work at a neighbours driveway
Pumped clay water into road, Causeing drain to be blocked and road covered with Clay soil, residents driveways and cars have got dirty with clay soil, our road is a private so caused more issues, all residents concern reported these issues to Thames Water,
Very bad service from Thames Water regards to residents causing all sorts off issues”
“Strange call from Indian call centre - I think my smart meter is going to be changed for the third time but who knows? Why oh why can’t Thames Water have proper call centres?”
“The customer service is the worst I have ever experienced anywhere. The online chat is terrible nobody knows what they are doing, they do not read what you type or have a clue on what you are asking them. I find myself repeating everything 10 times. Its frustrating! Even to the point they tell me my account is with another water company when they have just sent me a bill and i have paid it! I am then asked to send them a picture of the bill they sent to me! The was no apology nothing! When you call the customer service team its the same thing. Rude and unhelpful staff. I put off getting in touch with thames water for the longest time because i just know it will be a stressful unpleasant customer service journey. Avoid at all costs!”
“Where do I start with this company.
Firstly, non of their staff seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet. Each time you deal with a different person you get a different result. They don't seem to have much respect for customers or each other!
I can go on about all the problems we have with this company over the years but sadly, the first response person you receive on the phone will be the last person there you speak to.
No management to deal with problems or reassure people just blunt & dismissive staff. ( because its like that and that's the way it is!)
Just very poor service from a company with a licence to take money off you.
Also, you should have a tick for the company never got back to me below.”
“Have been a customer for many years. Service regarding shared blocked drains has always been excellent up till now. Due to medical problems I am priority customer which now means I have to wait up to 2 days rather than 3 days I certainly do not regard this as a *priority* service and can only assume that the level of customer services has been reduced to save money due to losses incurred last year making customers suffer.”
“Have been a customer for many years. Service regarding shared blocked drains has always been excellent up till now. Due to medical problems I am priority customer which now means I have to wait up to 2 days rather than 3 days I certainly do not regard this as a *priority* service and can only assume that the level of customer services has been reduced to save money due to losses incurred last year making customers suffer.”
“How can I be expected to pay £50 a week for water okay I’ve got a little bit of arrears Please £50 a week that’s my shopping money to feed my kids totally disgusting”
