Northumbria Water seem to be the latest bastard company trying to fuck us over. £41.05 p/m for a single person rarely at home seems exortionate!!! What is every1 else being charged? Do they even check the meters these days or base it on past usage? I have of course complained
Tell me about it mate, they raised mine by fucking £8, asking me for £36 a month for a 1 bedroom flat. I rang & tried to talk them down but they were having none of it after asking how many shits pisses baths & washings i do per week so i told them to do 1, literally. They're getting Fuck all from me for their greed. Also, by law they're not allowed to cut water off to you're property, & even if this law is lifted, it's impossible for flats, they only own the pipage in the main street (usually under the nearest road in you're street), so the pipes running from that to you're actual flat can't be touched. If they did manage to get the rights to touch those pipes, they then shut the water off to who ever is above/below you lol. I think if your a house owner it's diff, but for flats they can't do shit.
Hmmm - I might refuse to pay it - I live in a rented house, but did you say they defo can't turn it off yeh? Aye they have asked me the same questions. It would be interested to hear other charges people are being scammed out of because around 3 year ago I was only paying £15 p/m for a single flat, but have always used the same amount of water. Northumbria Water are getting as bad as the Energy Companies (and all other corporations). The rate of increase since we had to start paying for water is not proportionate to anything really.
1) Are you even on a water meter? I doubt it 2) They can and do turn it off, all they have to do it attend the house and knock on the door, if you dont answer they can post a card "notifying of turn off" and they will return in 7 days and disconnect the water for safety reasons as they state if a house is empty it can be a safety issue to be supplying it with water. NEXT
If it's possible for them to touch the pipes that are seemingly our responsibility, they cut off water to more than just you. Unless you're a single home owner. Either way, I'm sure I'll find out soon enough I will pay it if I really have to, but for now I'll wait & see for my self what they can do, & report back here!
depends on your setup, sometimes 2 or 3 houses share a "tap" (little brown steel covers you see in street) if this is the case they cant but some houses have single supplys and iv had two cut off before. I HAVE thought about flipping the cap and turning the tap back on in the street before. I have the tool to reach down.. Theres no way they could know....
So you have a meter? How can you compain then? its done on a clock reading like gas or elec. If you use it you pay for it. One thing I would do it check the Serial number of the meter on your water bill and then go down and check its the same meter that is going to your flat. Iv got a case going on where I have been paying someone elses water when iv got a empty flat. The fucking idiots got the serials wrong and are charging me for the wrong meter. If your in a block of flats id definitly check this out
I'm guessing that the meter hasn't been checked and that they are basing the reads on estimates - the only explanation to the high costs. If other people are being charged this high tho maybe they are consistent with this price hike? Def worth matching serial numbers to meters tho - if you have only discovered their error due to a vacant property there could be discrepancies all over the place
I only found out cos the flat was empty so i thought this has got to be wrong. If I was living in the flat i would NEVER HAVE KNOW. And me as a single bloke could be paying a family of fours water who live upstairs! Its unreal I threatened them with legal action due to harrashment cos i am refusing to pay now and they want me to attend the flat to have the guy check the meter serials that are in the street. I refused to attend (cos the flat is miles away) but they said they couldnt check the serials unless I was there? fuck em, ill still be getting charged for upstairs but i wont be paying it and i bet they dont have shit unless somewhere in the contract it states i have to be at the flat when they attend
On another note, Admiral have just charged me 80 bar for informing them of a new address - WTF! Is this acceptable?
yeah water rates ARE a joke you pay the same of more for a one bed flat that you do for a 4 bed house, i dont know how they work it out but it seems to go by postcode. i pay £30 in NE6 and £42 in DH0
Result - reduced from £41.05 to £18.73. Worth complaining, otherwise they will just take your earnings without you knowing otherwise. It all depends upon whether you get a decent customer advisor, ot a terribly bad one - basically the prat on the other end of the phone when I moved in did not enter my move-in meter read into the system.
SO what happened ? you provided a new water meter reading and they then reuced your bill? is your bill taken from one reading then estimated untill next reading (which could be months?)
I have now had the opportunity to investigate the issues that you have raised and I can confirm the following information. In the email you sent dated 6 October 2010 I can see that you provided a start meter reading of 156 cubic metres, taken on 28 August 2010, the date you moved into _____________. This information does not appear to have been acted on... I have found that in our records the final meter reading taken on 28 February 2010 was 31 cubic metres at _____________ and it had been empty on our system until you took up residency in August 2010. As we did not have a water meter reading from you when you actually moved in, the reading of 31 cubic metres was used as the start reading. This meant that when the water meter was read on 12 October 2010 it was 171 cubic metres and you were therefore charged for 140 cubic metres of water.
This is shocking TBH - can't be bothered to complain further (well within rights) because there is always going to be inconsitencies when you are hiring people solely based on their customer service skills. Bet loads more are being jipped too.
